Hurley to Rise

Advice from distant Ireland

The other day, I got a nice message from Paddy Sullivan, an Irish fellow who saw some of my Hurling videos on YouTube. (And before I go on, let me say that I already know of some errors I portrayed in those videos. I’ll get back to video making once spring hits.)

As usual when someone contacts me, I beg for advice, encouragement and ideas on developing as a player.

Here’s what  Mr. Sullivan had to say:

Well, John, you’re lucky you picked hurling. Basically, all of hurling’s most important skills can be practiced and perfected alone. Try to “shake hands with your hurley” every day. Just 20 minutes a day can greatly improve your skills.
For example striking out of the hand. Strike off you left and right. Attack the ball on the rebound. Run at it, don’t crab over and back like a tennis player try to “intercept” the ball. You should aim to take just one “touch” of the ball with the bás of the hurl gain control over the ball and deliver it to your catching hand. Turn to the other side of the body and strike again.
Pick ups also are easy to practice alone. See how many pick ups you can do in half a minute, 30 is a OK score. When rising the ball not to the hurl KEEP BOTH HANDS ON THE HURL one handed pick ups in open play are a bad habit. If it goes wrong you look really dumb, if it goes right no-one notices so it’s just not worth it.
Learning a game with no institutional knowledge is tough but not impossible. There’s no reason why you can’t play or at the very least train with a nearby team. Last summer I decided to take up aussie rules football. I’ve a mild exposure to the sport but i still had to learn all the stuff kids learn. Like I do with hurling, I took time to hone skills I could alone (bouncing the ball, controlling a bouncing ball, handpassing). To an extent that when I did play in my first match I was asked when I moved to Ireland.
You can do the same, John, cul4kidz.com is the GAA website aimed for kids focusing on summer camps under this franchise. On this website are step by step tutorials on all the basic skills of hurling.

All those bold highlights are from me, by the way, because I want to offer my reactions to each.

All of hurling’s most important skills can be practiced and perfected alone  — Whew! I’ve actually been worrying about that since Day 1. This is a team sport after all, but then again the technical aspects of the game are very difficult, so getting them down is three-quarters of the challenge.

See how many pick ups you can do in half a minute, 30 is a OK score — One thing I’ve been wanting is some sort of measure of skill. Watching actual hurling competition, I’ve see some amazing athleticism, but when a top athlete plays against a top athlete, it all flows so smoothly. At this point, I’m far too inexperienced to see what subtle moves make for a good play worthy of imitating. So this simple, specific goal, seems like a good one to strive toward.

There’s no reason why you can’t play or at the very least train with a nearby team — The number of hurling teams in the U.S. is very, very small. There certainly are pockets in the big cities, but once you move outside of those zones, you might be lucky to find a college team. However, I am lucky enough to have at least one team within driving distance — The Baltimore, Md., Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) sponsors a team. I hope by the time they start up their spring training, I’ll have the nerve to finally join them. (Crosses fingers)

Cul4Kidz.com is the GAA website. The GAA is the governing body of hurling and a few other sports. Based in Ireland, it offers an extensive Web site on the games. Since this group is so thoroughly intertwined with these sports (hurling, camogie, gaelic football, rounders, handball) it does its best to promote them. My only wish is that they’d spring for a site that really breaks the games down for a foreign audience. Something like the Cul4Kidz.com site, but explicitly meant to appeal to adults unfamiliar with the sports. Granted, Cul4Kidz.com is helpful to me, especially the FunDo sections, but some adult players might cringe at using a kiddie site for learning.

Hurling movie nabs an Oscar nomination

It took about a half-hour for me to realize it, but “The Secret of Kells,” the same movie I posted about here, nabbed an Oscar nomination.

Here’s the trailer:

And here’s the hurling sequence:

Okay, 34 seconds does not make a movie a “hurling movie,” but I’ll take what I can get.

Way to go, Ireland. Way to go, hurling!

Still confused by hurling?

I’ve been working at this blog for months now, and despite that, I’m sure half the people who stumble on this site find the whole sport a bit mind-boggling.

Well, lucky for us, the humor Web site, Cracked, has an explanation here.

Of course, you can still catch up by reading my much less humorous delivery of the same information here, here and here.

Hurling collides with the fine arts

If you’re looking for a nice golf painting to hang in your mancave or office, it’s pretty easy. There’s a billion of them. You can get lovely images of stalwart golfers knocking the ball out of sand traps by the dozen. Or how about an oil that simply shows an awe-inspiring hole? No problem. Maybe a quirky sculpture of a golfer? Yep, we got them too.

The biggest single Web page collection seems to be here at the Kenny Gallery, which hosted an exhibition back in 2001. The Galway, Ireland, studio presented art of all varieties: From the standard game painting (shown at right) to slightly strange sculptures.

Of course, given hurling’s 2,000-year history, it’s popped up in art over the centuries, including this portrait of the Tipperary Hurler from the 1800s. An English artist from the 1600s offered another glimpse of the game here.

Paul Downey has at least one dynamic watercolor painting (shown at right), which features teams from Tipperary and Galway. I particularly like this one because it shows the inherent danger of the sport as grown men swing clubs around one anothers’ faces.

For a more folksy look at the game, check out this painting created by Janet Hyland.

I was also amused to see that hurling, of a sort, has even managed to sneak into animation.

The clip below is from the feature film called “Brendan and the Secret of the Kells,” a group of kids chase after the sliothar (the hurling ball) and a goose at the same time.

And if that interests you even slightly, check out the film’s trailer here.

Still, there’s just not enough hurling art for my taste, so I’ve been working on my own bits of “fine art” for hurling. While I’m no cartooning expert, I’m competent enough to be willing to post them here:

	Just click on any image for a larger view!

Bear with me because these just are quick sketches (usually done in 15-20 minutes) and done directly on scrap paper with a ball-point pen. They’re nothing great, but I can only hope that somewhere down the line, someone looks at them and says, “Hey, this ‘hurling’ game seems kind of neat.”

The Wolfhound Guide to Hurling

For Christmas, my saintly wife helped stoke the fires of my interest in hurling by purchasing “The Wolfhound Guide to Hurling.”

This slim, little volume (which is just about shown at full size in the image at right) offers a stripped down look at the Irish sport and its origins.

Early chapters focus on its place in Irish folklore and history. Later chapters offer a glimpse at key players since the inception of the Gaelic Athletic Association, which is the governing body of the game.

Finally, it wraps up with a reprinting of the official rulebook of the game.

I found the book’s coverage of its lengthy past incredibly interesting. For example author Brendan Fullam was able to dig up several centuries-old accounts of matches:

[The ball is] followed by the entire party at their utmost speed; the men grapple, wrestle and toss each other with amazing agility, neither the victor nor the vanquished waiting to take a breath, but following the course of the rolling and flying prize; the best runners match each other, and keep almost shoulder to shoulder through play and the best wrestlers keep as close on them as possible to arrest or impede their progress.

But the highpoint of the book is certainly these historical passages. From there, the “Guide to Hurling” leaves those of us without the Guiness-soaked genes a little lost. Sure, a list of the “best hurlers ever” is good for a barroom debate, but without any context, it doesn’t help me one bit.

Likewise, I would have appreciated even a basic rundown of equipment. What are the parts of the hurley called? How long do they take to make? Do players wear spikes? When did helmets come in? How has the sliotar (the ball) changed over the years?

And for God’s sake, I really need a thorough explanation of just how teams make it into different play levels. Fullam describes the two levels of play: A teams are the best and B teams aren’t, but I’m left guessing as how that’s determined, as I did here.

Sure, I’m glad to own “The Wolfhound Guide to Hurling,” because I liked the historical elements and the fact that it doubles as a pocket-sized rulebook, but it needs to offer a little more if its really going to introduce folks to this great game.

A month later, I test the Hurling Elbow

After taking a month off from pretty much any hurling activity, my right elbow is feeling much better.

I did this not on a doctor’s recommendation, but merely based on advice I had seen on the Internet. As you may remember, I self diagnosed myself with a strained (or at least achy) annular ligament, a cord of tissue that helps keep your two lower arm bones held together while allowing them to twist.

My time wasn’t completely restful. I spent many afternoons at Springettsbury Park’s roller hockey rink and even at Roll ‘R’ Way in York City. I totally love inline skating, and  both facilities give me a good workout. At the rink, I take my hockey gear and fire pucks and balls into the net. At Roll ‘R’ Way, I do laps to the latest Taylor Swift songs.

My self-imposed “elbow” rest ended on Black Friday when I took the ole annular out for a spin. The family and I decided to go bowling, an activity that is specifically mentioned as a stressor on the annular ligament.

I’m not much of a bowler. In two games I managed a 73 and a 95, but I did win both rounds.

I think I could have done better, but my least-favorite ligament didn’t much like the idea of chucking a 16-pound ball across a room. With each roll, it jabbed me with a spike of pain.

No, it did not like being tested in that way. It clearly prefers a life of web-surfing and arm-chair lounging.

But there is good news in all this: Just a few days later, it seems to be in pre-bowling shape again. Sure it hurts a little, but not too bad.

I’m thinking that if the weather clears as the forecast is promising, I might just trot out into the local ball field and try taking a few whacks on the hurley.

It certainly can’t hurt … much.

Tennis elbow? No … hurling elbow

I’ve been taking a slight break from my hurling efforts — it has given me a chance to practice my inline skating and hockey skills. Those two activities, and the combined version of them (roller hockey), are the only other sports that I’m even slightly good at.

But the sad part is that I’ve HAD to take a break from hurling because of nagging pain in my right elbow. For me, the right arm is considered my dominant arm in hurling, which means I hold the hurley with my right hand at the bottom of the handle. It’s used to put all the force on the stick and also is key in aiming my strikes.

But that all has stopped for now. You see, my elbow is hurting, and its proper function is quite neccessary in hurling.

The best description of the pain is a soreness that is deep tissue. In particular, the soreness spikes when I hyper-extend my arm, when it holds weight (like a gallon of milk) and sometimes when I make a twisting motion to my lower arm.

At first, I thought this might be Tennis Elbow, but some Internet research leads me to a different conclusion: The annular ligament.

This little ligament is what holds the upper arm to the lower arm. It is essentially a loop of tendons that holds the radius (one of the two lower arm bones) to the ulna (the other one).

It’s function is to allow our arm to twist, and right now, mine hurts.

This web site (and several others) actually specifically mention this as an injury that hurling players get.

What’s particularly strange is that I can type, write and do any other wrist-motion activity, but once I have to engage my elbow, I get pain.

I haven’t had a doctor officially diagnose this, but it will happen soon enough.

Until then, no more hurling.

The Basics of Hurling (Part 3) — Team Spirit

Counties of Ireland (Green) Dublin Wicklow Wexford Carlow Kildare Meath Louth Monaghan Cavan Longford Westmeath Offaly Laois Kilkenny Waterford Cork Kerry Limerick Tipperary Clare Galway Mayo Roscommon Sligo Leitrim Donegal

Counties of Northern Ireland (Pink) Fermanagh Tyrone Londonderry Antrim Down Arma

In part two of this series on the Basics of Hurling, I talked about the pride players take in playing either (or, in some cases, both) hurling and gaelic football.

What I didn’t explain was the source of that pride.

You see, for hurlers and gaelic football players, it’s all about playing for your home team. In fact, that’s all they can do.
According to the rules of the Gaelic Athletic Association, players can’t bounce around from team to team, as is allowed in most pro-level sports. Instead, every player must stick with his home team. There is simply no other alternative. Why? Just because that’s the rule, I suppose.

As I understand it, the GAA has governing boards for each of the 32 counties of Ireland. To assemble a hurling or football team, each board can select only players who were born within that county. Counties don’t trade players. Counties don’t bid for players. There are no free agents. The county gets only the players it has developed from birth on.

Some might say that such a set up fosters weak teams, after all, a rural county such as Leitrim just doesn’t have the people that a metropolis such as Dublin contains. If it doesn’t have the people, then how could it expect to develop the talent? Well, the GAA has solved that problem too. County teams in Ireland must perform well or else they get booted from the top level of play. To graduate out of a lower pool, the team must show a solid win-record for several seasons in a row. At the same time, poorly performing teams get demoted into a pool more suited for their talents.

(Of note: There are neighborhood teams like Major League Baseball’s farm-team system. These teams are built from a smaller area, but individual players are called up for national-level play. Essentially, the neighborhood teams serve as spring-training for the best players.)
The tiered system is a set up that helps keep games entertaining, and can let weaker teams grow without scarring their all-important pride.
Even better than the pool system, there’s no love-hate relationship between players and fans like there is in the U.S., where a pro-player is adored while he’s tallying points for the “right” team. But then his contract comes up, he finds better deal elsewhere and his old fans are now his worst enemies.

Ireland’s setup for its GAA games would certainly be interesting if it was imported to the U.S.
Imagine, for example, how it might work for the NFL, which, for the most part, is America’s only game where foreign-born players are pretty much non-existent.

Pennsylvania would be split right down the middle, from Tioga County to York. The western half of the state would house the Steelers’ pool of talent. The East side would be the Eagles’ domain. Pa. players could only hit the field for those teams.

And me? Well, I’m from Corning, N.Y., so if I had any sort of football talent, I’d have to travel back home and play for the Bills. Looking at Buffalo’s 2009 record, they might actually  consider it.

And its this unique system that helps fuel local pride in Ireland. Counties pour their money into developing talent, and they make their own heroes. So why would anyone do anything but cheer for their home team?

You have to admit, it’s certainly an intoxicating idea. You play to win. You play for your people — the ones you went to school with, the ones who run the corner store, the ones who deliver your mail.

You play to make them proud.

The Basics of Hurling (Part 2) — Professional amateurs

I spent most of the summer reading “Ireland’s Professional Amateurs: A Sports Season at its Purest,” a book by American writer Andy Mendlowitz, who spent eight months abroad as he explored the dynamics of hurling and gaelic football.

To be frank, it’s the perfect intro to the Irish sport from an American’s point of view.

In particular, Mendlowitz seemed to write the book as a wake-up call for America’s professional athletes. That’s because the top-level hurlers and gaelic football players are completely unpaid. Just like America’s best athletes, these guys are hounded by the national press, featured on kids’ posters, draw millions of TV viewers and help fill the stands with paying spectators.

But for all that grief, they don’t earn a dime (or whatever the Irish equivalent is).

Mendlowitz doesn’t portray this as any sort of travesty either, and most of the players agree with him. They play for pride’s sake, not because there’s a paycheck involved.

That means that every player who needs to pay the bills has to hold down a regular job too. Early in the book Mendlowitz meets Johnnie Daly, a player for County Clare, who spends his day working in the Irish version of the DMV.

His nights are split between his family and gaelic football practice.

Mendlowitz quotes Daly: “One of the guys said the next few weeks everything else comes second — (gaelic) football has to come first. But how can you put your little daughter second?”

The book recounts numerous examples of player sacrifices for the game. And more importantly, it often circles back to American professional athletes, wondering whether they love the game more or the paycheck.

At least in the case of the Irish athletes, it’s the game. And make no mistake about it either, these guys are most certainly elite athletes, not your local “beer and pretzels” baseball player or late-night-at-the-rink hockey player. These guys are heroes to legions of kids, interviewed by the national media and tended to by a small army of coaches, doctors and  trainers. These guys are the real deal, even though they don’t make deals before they hit field.

I plan on writing more about “Ireland’s Professional Amateurs” because even beyond its focus of the unpaid athlete, it offers a lot of background information on hurling, the GAA and Ireland itself.

Needless to say, my future blog post is not something you should wait for. Instead, if you’re a fan of hurling, much less sports in general, you need to give “Ireland’s Professional Amateurs” your undivided attention.

Hitting breakthrough (Part 1)

While out practicing one afternoon, I really began to think about how I was hitting the sliotar (the ball used in hurling) versus how I had seen it in various clips and on RTE.

After some consideration, I realized that I was “pitching” the ball to myself the way you would for pop-fly practice in baseball. I would toss the sliotar way up in the air, wait, and then slug it.

But that was generally different from what I was seeing in games.

Their pitches were quick. They were often on the run and facing a charging opponent. That meant they needed to move the ball fast.

You can see some examples of this (along with some gaelic football) in this clip, which is actually the 2007 title sequence for RTE’s Sunday Game program.

So what I realized is that I needed to practically deliver the ball to my swinging hurley, rather than hope my timing was right as the sliotar came back down.

Here’s what I devised: No more big tosses in the sky. Instead, I toss the ball only a few feet to my right side and then swing.

The result? Vastly sped up hits. Cleaner hits with no weird vibrations from missing the hurley’s sweet spot. More accurate hits that are more like line drives than pop-ups.

It’s epiphanies like this that keep me going.

(And look for my second Hitting Breakthrough entry soon.)