MLU Skills & Drills Clinic

General

On the Thursday before the tournament starts (July 3rd) we will be holding an MLU Golden Keg Skills & Drills Clinic in Gonzaga College in South Dublin. It will be delivered by MLU’s Portland Stags star Mark Burton and some other MLU players. We will give a full rundown of what will be covered before and after the event.

Registration

If you want to take part in the clinic, please register using this online form.

Location

Gonzaga College is in Ranelagh, Dublin 6. To enter the college you must use the side gate entrance and NOT the main driveway – this is very important!  Google Map here. If coming by car, there is limited fee parking on roads near the back gate and paid ticket parking on Park Drive itself. If coming by public transport take the Luas to Cowper and it’s under a 2min walk to the gate.

Once you enter the school you walk straight past the tennis courts keeping them on your left. You will see fields on your right – ignore them! That’s where Ranelagh will be training. Keep walking with the school on your left – you should be beside a row of bike stands. Walk past the school until you see 2 more tennis courts. Take a left to the far end of the courts and then a right in to the playing field that we will be using. This is the hallowed U-14s rugby pitch famed for being where the likes of Dominic Ryan and Kevin McLaughlin began!

Time

The clinic will start promptly at 7pm and end at 9:30pm. The back gate will be open from about 6pm but will be locked at 7pm.

Cost

The cost of the 2.5 hour long skills and drills session will be €6 per person. This will include entry into a MLU Portland Satgs raffle!

Raffle

There will be a raffle at the end of the session with prizes of merchandise, discs and more.

The coaches:

Mark Burton is one of the Portland Stags most explosive and experienced players. Mark has previously played on Seattle Sockeye and with the Seattle Rainmakers. The Portland Stags are one of the top teams in the MLU (Major League Ultimate) having narrowly lost out this season on a place in the MLU Championship game, losing by a single point to Vancouver. Mark has Irish relatives and is very excited about re-visiting the country, having been here as recently as last year.

Cameron Bailey is an All-American high jumper. He says: “I also tripled jumped in college, would be glad to run a jumping clinic, on form, technique, and session on building muscle. I have played for Ghetto Birds finishing top-5 in regionals, and Seattle Raptors of the AUDL leading them in D’s and goals. Play cutter mostly, favorite pass is the lefty backhand. I have coached football, and basketball at the middle school I am a teacher for. I have also coached track to middle and high schoolers. Something fun: I have hitch-hiked to tournaments and cheaped out on hotels by sleeping on the field”.

Brad Houser Brad has played almost exclusively for his co-ed team, Ghetto Birds, for the past 4 years. Since then, Brad and the team have progressed from a progressing team to a team competing for a national bid from the pacific northwest.  He currently plays for the AUDL team, Seattle Raptors as a downfield defender. Brad coaches and organizes “Teanumclaw” to participate in local tournaments and attempts to blend competition with an amazingly spirited and fun team. Look to see a team of blue tank tops challenging any willing players they can find to “Miniature”, a fast paced small game played on the sidelines of the ultimate field. Brad’s best throw is the “Kahyee”, a push pass blade into a corner of the end zone

Nick Dare:  “I’ve played on Domino @ Worlds 2010, Seuss 2010, Voodoo 2011, Bigfoot 2012, Ghetto Birds 2013/2014, Raptors 2014, Relampagos @ Worlds 2014. Coach Frisbee at Pacific Lutheran University. I am handler, my best throw is the Nick Dare”.

Sam Cooper plays with the Seattle Rainmakers and Seattle Voodoo. He didn’t submit a bio but he’s tall, blonde and athletic. He played on the team that beat Bad Skid in the final of Windmill Windup 2013.

Post-clinic pint

Mark and his coaches are keen to meet everyone and chat in a relaxed environment after the clinic. To allow for this we are going to go to McSorleys pub in Ranelagh afterwards. It’s about a 3min cycle, 5 min drive and 10 min walk from the back gate.

Ranelagh Training

Ranelagh will be training in the grounds of the college from 6pm until about 8:30pm as they do each Thursday. The clinic will not be held on the same fields as the one they train on but on a private, enclosed area further from the gate. Please respect that this is their training ground and don’t interfere with their training. Thanks!

Thanks

Big thanks to Mark Burton, the coaches and the to the Stags owner Nathan Schorsch for making this happen.