As most of you know, over the last couple of months I've been organising a tag rugby tournament called 'Strictly Scrum Dancing'. I am delighted to say that the event was a huge success raising €1150 for the amazing charity ChildLine.

Organising this was definitely a challenge as we had many set backs along the way for example securing the venue for the after party took almost 6 weeks and then with a week to go to the event our rugby venue pulled out and even on the morning of the event we had small problems but I'm delighted to say every challenge we faced we tackled head on and always found an appropriate solution which in some cases was borrowing kitchen tables and the likes from our neighbours and anyone we could find but at the end of the day it solved our problem.

Despite these setbacks the event went off very smoothly. We started registration half an hour before the event and when each team registered and paid their money they were given a program including the details of each team, what group their team was in and the timetable for the day to ensure each team knew exactly who and where they were playing at all times. We had 3 pitches going at all times with 3 Connacht academy players referring which led to a total of 60 students playing at one time which I know sounds like a lot but it all went off extremely smoothly.

Even though our original venue pulled out we managed to secure a large green in the center of college which turned out to be huge success as attracted a lot of supporters which created a fantastic atmosphere on the day. We also had a DJ and pizza stand on the day which was a major help to gathering supporters.

On the day we sold raffle tickets for our raffle and had 6 different spot prizes to make the event a bit more interesting. The prizes included; Biggest Princess, Best Female ,Best Male, Scoring Star, Best Try, Best Dressed. We decorated the prizes before the event and posted a picture up on our event page in order to create a bit of hype and to get our players excited.

Overall the event went extremely well with 100 students involved. Luck was definitely on our side as the sunshine decided to pay a visit which as many of you know is extremely rare in Galway and with all the lovely comments and great feedback from the event I was absolutely thrilled and even though it was such a relief that it went off ok I'm also sad that it is over as there was so much excitement and anticipation involved in the organising of the event.

In order to make as much money as possible for Childline we have decided to run a raffle on the day of our event 'Strictly Scrum Dancing' which you can find out more about in my previous post below. We are hoping to sell tickets both before and on the day of the event. The winners will be drawn on the day of the event but we will be taking your details when we are selling the tickets in case you are unable to make the event for whatever reason.

We are still working on getting a great selection of prizes to ensure that this will be a sell out. At the moment we have secured a signed Irish Rugby jersey and are currently in talks of getting both an iPad and tickets to an Irish Rugby game. In addition to these fantastic prizes I'm hoping to get various restaurant and hotel vouchers along with another few prizes.

I will keep you updated in the upcoming weeks on details of when and where we will be selling the raffle tickets and of course you can contact me directly by email: karensweetnam1@gmail.com to try figure out an appropriate time if these arrangements don't suit you.

Hi guys! Just to keep you updated with my progress, I have decided to organise a Tag Rugby Tournament along with one of my peers Johnny Moore. We are hoping to have the event in the beginning of March but have not finalized a date yet due to complications with our chosen venue.

At the moment our plan is to have 25 teams with 10 people per team. The games will be played 7 aside and there must be at least 3 girls playing at all times. Our aim is to charge each player €10 which will include their entry into the event for the day and entry into the nightclub that night which explains the 'Dancing' part of our event name. On the day there will prizes for 'Best Team Name' and of course for 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the tournament.

We have already been on air in Galway Bay FM discussing the event and we are hoping to get air time on both Galway Bay FM and Flirt FM in the upcoming weeks in order to promote our event as much possible in order to ensure that all tickets are sold.

This will most definitely be a talking point on the calendar with brands like Redbull already agreeing to attend with their wings team and Bank of Ireland agreeing to organise a guest appearance from Irish International Rugby Star. These are only some of the exciting features we have planned for the event along with some great prizes.

I will keep you updated with more details of the event as I can guarantee you this is not one to be missed.

This is a very simple idea and all started off as a bit of harmful fun around the table until I realized what I was actually committing to but of course I couldn't go back on it once they mentioned that they would donate to Childline. So in order to help my fundraising my friends and family have decided to challenge my weaknesses and if I overcome these challenges they will donate to my profile

As pathetic as it sounds my first challenge is to not get KC's (my favorite take away) which if any of ye have heard of, would know that it is a pretty well known chipper in Cork where you could be queuing for over an hour on a Friday or Saturday night. The challenge is 2 months which unfortunately for me is going to be quite the task but I'm willing to give it a go in order to receive two donations of €50 each.

I will keep you updated on any more challeges to come.

After attending a 100minds focus group last week we were informed that a new target of €2000 has been set for the participants and if we manage to achieve this target we will be invited to the 100minds Ascent event which will be a workshop that will be extremely beneficial to our career.

In order to reach this target I brainstormed different ideas that I could do as well as the Tag Rugby Tournament that I have explained in my previous updates. After a lot of deliberating I decided bag packing was the best option and had the least risk involved. Thankfully I was able to get a date in Marks and Spencer's in Galway on the 19th and 20th of February so if your passing definitely pop in to support the cause and remember every cent goes directly to Childline.

First of all I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has donated so far, it is greatly appreciated and every cent of your donation goes directly to ChildLine and will have such an impact on so many children's lives across Ireland.

So far our event Strictly Scrum Dancing is all going according to plan. This week we launched our marketing campaign on Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/events/1717941385086360/ , thankfully this got a lot of interest and we received a lot of positive feedback. Today we picked up 250 wristbands for the players that will include your admission fee into the event and entrance into the after party that night. We also managed to get our hands on 250 wristbands for just the after party that will be on sale at €5 for those of you who don't want to get down and dirty on the rugby pitch but still want an excuse to put on your best frock and enjoy the madness.

Our raffles is definitely going to be an exciting feature on the day with the prizes we have in store. Last week I picked up a signed Irish rugby playing jersey and not to mention the endless amount of meal vouchers and a cheeky manicure for the girls just in case all that mud was a bit too much to handle.

I will keep you updated with any exciting details in the upcoming weeks and if you want to get involved on the day whether its a player, volunteer or referee just email me on; karensweetnam1@gmail.com

I just want to say a big thank you to anyone who popped into Marks and Spencer's in Galway while I was bag packing. I was completely taken back by peoples generosity and overall I raised €1274 over the 2 days.

Even though I have now reached the initial target I am still working extremely hard to raise as much as I can for this amazing charity and any donations- no matter how small, are greatly appreciated.