By Tom O’Connor
Medill Reports

Far from Ireland, Gaelic games are thriving in Chicago even as the number of U.S. residents born in Ireland fell between 2009 and 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Players with and without Irish roots are building communities around these centuries-old traditions, despite resource challenges and competition from mainstream American U.S. sports. The community and energy behind two Gaelic games — hurling and camogie — were on display at the Continental Youth Championships at Chicago Gaelic Park in Oak Forest, the Joe Hurd Memorial Tournament in Naperville and a Chicago Celtics youth training session in Peterson Park. Both are fast-paced stick-and-ball sports often described as a mix of lacrosse, baseball and hockey. Hurling is traditionally played by men and camogie by women.

Hurling in action: fast, physical and skillful. Rival suburban Chicago clubs Cusacks and Naperville compete at Commissioner’s Park in Naperville on July 26 with the same intensity seen in Ireland – on a rainy Midwestern morning that feels distinctly Irish too.

Under-6 players with the Chicago Celtics club on the city’s North Side hold their hurleys after practice at Peterson Park on July 16. Gaelic games programs for children are growing across the U.S., with approximately 2,000 now playing throughout the country, according to the governing body, United States Gaelic Games Association.

A child plays with a hurl while a man takes a video call on the sidelines of the Continental Youth Championships at Chicago Gaelic Park in Oak Forest on July 25. More than 1,500 players from U8 to U18 competed during the four-day event this year.

For players with the Glenside Gaelic Club from Pennsylvania, the Continental Youth Championships meant more than matches. They played cards between games, one small moment in a tournament that drew 154 teams to Chicago Gaelic Park in Oak Forest on July 25.

Caroleann Gallagher, left, sits with Kathleen “Nanny” Meelee, both originally from Ireland, as storm clouds gather over Chicago Gaelic Park in Oak Forest on July 24. To Irish ex-pats in the Chicago Celtics club, Meelee is a surrogate mother — and to their children, a grandmother. “Because we don’t have families here, we’re dependent on each other a lot more,” Gallagher said.

Camogie is about the connection as much as the game. Two girls from competing teams share a chat upfield during a match at the Continental Youth Championships, held at Chicago Gaelic Park in Oak Forest on July 25.

Founded in 2013, the Naperville Hurling Club has grown to 55 members today. Nearly all of them are U.S.-born, as is the trend nationwide with about 70% of Gaelic games players identifying as U.S.-born, according to the governing body, United States Gaelic Games Association.

Alison Rosy, a camogie player and public relations officer with the Naperville club, says the sport’s uniqueness and sense of community appeal to players like her. “I just don’t want to see it end,” she said at Commissioner’s Park in Naperville on July 26. “I do hope it becomes a stronghold out here like it is in the city.”

Volunteers form the backbone of the Gaelic games in the U.S., just as they do in Ireland. From organizing tournaments to mentoring players, their dedication sustains the sports. Here, a youth coach, standing at right, celebrates his team’s point at the Continental Youth Championships as organizers look on from a golf cart at Chicago Gaelic Park in Oak Forest on July 25.

Families and friends gather in the bleachers at Chicago Gaelic Park in Oak Forest on for an evening hurling match on July 25 at the Continental Youth Championships. Gaelic games in the U.S. thrive not only as sport, but also as community.

Tom O’Connor graduated from Medill in 2025. Find him on Instagram @tomreports_.