The Milwaukee Hurling Club (MHC) has promoted the sport of

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

through education and game play since 1996. The

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

Hurling Club (MHC), founded by Tom Mills, first introduced the sport of hurling to Milwaukee in 1996 with 30 members. In 1997, four teams were formed and this enabled the club to hold regular games. From 1998 through 2001 the league featured 6 teams. The number of people playing continued growing, and by 2002 the membership grew to 160 members playing on 8 teams, as well as 30-plus members participating in

Camogie Camogie ( ; ) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and worldwide, largely among Irish communities. A variant of the game "hurling" (which is played by men only), it is organised ...

. In 2010 the MHC grew to over 300 members, including over 100 youth. The Milwaukee Hurling Club's 15th season featured 10 adult co-ed teams, and 6 youth teams.

The Milwaukee Hurling Club and the North American Gaelic Athletic Association

The Milwaukee Hurling Club attempts to develop American players unlike some of the clubs in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

which bring in players from

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The club is funded by the players and sponsors. While the MHC plays games among the 11 teams within the club there are travelling teams which compete in North American Gaelic Athletic Association (NAGAA) tournaments. Specifically, there have been two men's and a women's (

) travelling teams. The traveling teams are made up of players who also play on the coed club teams. In 2007, the Milwaukee Men's Junior B travelling team captured its first NAGAA Championship. In 2008, The Milwaukee Men's Junior B travelling team repeated as NAGAA Champions and will move up to Junior A in 2009. Due to the success of promoting the sport of hurling the club administrator, Dave Olson, was honored by the GAA in

with the {{usurped,
President's Award
}. This was the first time ever that an American had been recognized with such an honor. As the MHC has grown and become more organized it has been more involved with the NAGAA but has still maintained an independent status. The separation specifically allows for

coed Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

teams which is not allowed on official NAGAA teams. The mixed teams is generally the only difference as the MHC follows rule changes made annually by the GAA in

External links

Milwaukee Hurling Club
Hurling clubs in the United States Sports in Milwaukee