Too many GAA players are being burned out before they can fulfil their potential

“Thankfully, I had my parents guiding me. Other lads wouldn’t”: Shane Kingston 

I REALLY enjoyed Shane Kingston’s piece in the paper last week in the run-up to the All-Ireland U21 hurling final. 

There were many great insights but there was one particular quote (above) that has stuck in my mind since.

It was a short line, it was an honest line but it was a powerful line.

It tells us of the many problems we currently face in the game when it comes to protecting our players from the next generation all the way through to the current and future superstars of the game.

I’m going to take a tweezers and like a surgeon, I’m going to dissect and an analyse it in more detail before sowing it back up and hopefully leaving it in a better state than I found it.

Our beautiful game is now riddled with stories of young, dedicated and talented players having being left with no choice medically but to give up on the game they love. 

Two recent and notable instances include Clare’s 2013 All-Ireland winner Darrach Honan and Waterford senior football captain Paul Whyte. Both players, on medical grounds, hung up their boots at the tender age of just 26.

The reason? Wear and tear over the years from playing as much sport as they possibly could. 

This has been cited by both as a principle reason for their early retirements. Both these gentlemen retired with hip complications but there are other parts of the body, the knee and the back which are also leading to situations similar to this across the country.

These are the ones we hear about due to their elevated status as inter-county players. This is a problem that is sweeping the game and it is only going to get worse.

This should not be put down to bad luck and we should not just acknowledge that this is now just part of the game. 

There is scope and time to change things and we need to start at the start and work upwards. Shane’s words last week should serve as a chilling warning to all those in GAA and further afield. 

Something needs to change. And quick.

So let’s look more closely at the aforementioned quote:

“Thankfully” 

Straight off the bath Shane introduces the element of luck. There should never ever be an element of luck when you are talking about the health and wellbeing of any young man playing our national games. 

There is also a sense of relief. This is borne out later in the passage 

“When I was growing up, I was playing on a scandalous amount of teams between hurling, football, and soccer, across school, club, division, and county.”

The relief stems from the fact that if he kept going at this rate he too could have been facing into an uncertain future dogged by injury and niggles. It’s scary to think that a future superstar of our game has had to rely on an element of luck to be in the position of a role model to kids across the county.

“I had my parents guiding me.” 

For ‘parents’ insert coach, trainer, mentor, manager, teacher as appropriate. Without guidance, there is no doubt that Shane was going to run himself into the ground and rather than flourish there was a high probability that he would have floundered. 

The background and experience that Shane’s parents had in the game was the leadership he required from a young age. 

Not everyone, not even most young players, have this experience at their kitchen table. This needs to change.

“Other lads wouldn’t.” 

And finally Shane finishes off with a chilling message. Shane was educated on the pitfalls very early on in his career. But how many of his friends and teammates were not? 

And how many of them are now suffering in their early 20s because they played too much ball, and went to too many training sessions as they were developing. At the time there was no problem. In fact, playing so much was seen as a good thing.

So using these words, and taking on the examples of the likes of Darach Honan and Paul Whyte, what can we do to protect the ones that bring so much joy to the lives of thousands up and down the country every year?

Firstly, I think it needs to start with educating the masses. 

Education should be front and centre and as there is currently huge chasm between what many kids are being allowed to do every single week and what they should be doing from a medium to long-term health perspective. 

Individuals likes Shane and Kieran Kingston should be promoted as leaders in this respect. They have devised a system and schedule that has protected and enabled Shane to reach the top.

Noe, I am all for allowing kids to play and try as many sports as they can as a child. 

This is important in any kid's development. I’m not advocating playing GAA and leaving all other sports in the shade. 

This I believe is counterproductive to the future of the GAA. But I do believe that combined thinking is required here from an education perspective and the department of health, supported by the GAA and other stakeholders should be looking to get into schools and clubs at an early stage and champion the benefits of looking after your body by not overdoing it.

Secondly, there are also initiatives which can be introduced and implemented without needing any interjection. 

Dual players at juvenile right through to senior level need to be carefully managed and club administrators/coaching teams need to bear this in mind throughout the year.

Finally, we also need to look at the role physios, physical therapists, strength and conditioning coaches are playing in our game. I think they need to be more, rather than less involved at all levels of the game and this needs to be promoted and supported by the GAA. 

I found that over my playing career I went to numerous different physios and therapists. 

But would I do that with my GP? I certainly wouldn’t. 

The consistency element is missing when it comes to injuries and this is something that needs to be examined and carefully planned at club and county level. We have a lot work to do there is no doubt about that but the first step is to start the conversation about change. 

There is a problem, no doubt about that, but the way I see it there is also a solution. 

In modern society the old way of thinking is outdated. 

We need to move with the times and we need to be quick about it or else the irregular stories we hear about the role models in our society will get a whole lot more regular.