MOTION: Hurling isn’t a game where you just stand around. You need to be on the move through the entire game. (Photo courtesy of Columbia Red Branch Hurling)

In my previous posts responding to the questions from new-hurler Mike, I talked about enhancing game awareness in hurling and some helpful hurling videos for new players.

This time I want to sum up a few things that are key development points for every person playing hurling or its sister sport, camogie.

• STAMINA — Hurling is a sport where you are in constant motion if the sliotar is within half-a-field of you. That means that you’re easily moving 70 percent of the time. As you’re on the field you can’t just stand there, you have to constantly be ducking around other players, avoiding your mark and keeping the ball in sight. All that hustling means that you have to have some some fuel in the tank at all the right times.  Since I’m in my late-late 30s, this is clearly my biggest fault — I just get winded way too quickly. Boosting your stamina comes in two forms — diet and exercise. Diet wise, you need to be eating a high fruit and high veggie diet and keep your hydration levels at their peak. For exercise, it’s all about practicing ahead of time to keep moving. Running is the best exercise for sure to develop stamina, but suicide sprints are even better.
• FOOT SPEED — While I talk about movement in the section above, a totally separate focus needs to be placed on maximizing your top speed. You can impress your coach two ways: (a) Having a sensational blow-them-out-of-water sprint or (b) Having a high-speed cruising run. Either is fine. Increasing foot speed is a remarkably difficult feat, though. My suggestion is to work on increasing the speed of the “chop” in your run — you know the quickness of your foot hitting the ground. In particular, the best way to do this is speeding through “tire” or ladder drills.  You can do these at home on your own simply by laying a ladder on the ground and running through the openings as fast as possible — making sure not to trip.
• ONE-TOUCH POSSESSION — Over in Ireland, the one-touch possession is taught at the earliest levels of learning the sport of hurling. The theory of the one-touch is that you need to gain possession of the ball in one attempt. You can’t drop it or bobble it. You need to gain immediate possession. This buys you time on the field because the other players are still reacting from their own attempt to gain control of the sliotar for themselves. Increasing your one-touch performance is best with the assistance of another player, or at least a person willing to throw the ball to you. To practice have the other player throw or hit the ball toward you. Your job is to scramble for the catch or, if you don’t make it, pop it up from the ground and gain immediate possession. Once you do, take three steps and fire it back to your helper.
• ACCURATE PASSING — One of the key skills of the game, passing helps teams keep control of the ball, which means more scoring opportunities. When you practice passing, you must practice at both short distances and long distances, and while you are in motion. The exercise in the section above transitions into the exercise you can do to improve your passing. Once you have the ball, you must get it within three yards of the your target.  If you haven’t recruited a helper, that’s fine — just fire your passes at a tree trunk or other vertical target. Remember, your passes shouldn’t necessarily be powerhouse hits. A more gentle strike will help your teammate catch the sliotar.
• ACCURATE STRIKING — This skill is key for everyone, not just midfielders and full forwards. You need to practice hitting the ball into a goal or a goal-like structure. Most of all, practice making points because “racking up points” is the scoring style that can be entirely in your control — the opposing team can rarely take a point from you once it gets over their heads. Scoring goals, on the other hand, requires being close and betting on the fact that the goalkeeper is off his game.  To work on point-scoring, strike from a variety of distances and, most importantly, angles with the intent to hit a high-up zone in the point-scoring area. Don’t have any hurling goals around? Never fear. I’ve substituted batting cages, baseball backstops, football goal posts and even trees for my practice goal.  Further, remember that you need to be making these strikes while on the run. Nobody in hurling will let you stand around and take a shot at the goal.

Visit the Columbia Red Branch Hurling Club in the Portland, Wash., area.

LEARNING CURVE: Playing hurling is a different from many team sports since it’s difficult, if not impossible, to truly set up plays that outwit your opponents.

We return to my conversation with Mike, a guy working out with the St. Louis hurling clubs, as he worked to learn more about the national sport of Ireland.

Mike continues on in his letter (which I’ve edited a bit):

This weekend in the rookie’s practice I had a very good run on goal, soloed it with people hacking away at me, juked the heck out of one guy… and then completely messed up at the mouth of the goal … I didn’t even think about looking for teammates or even just attempting the point. On the other hand it was my first legit attempt on goal, and actually the first time I ever possessed the ball in a game-like setting.

Besides working on fundamentals, and working on looking for teammates with a better position, is there any way I can improve my situational awareness? I’m not sure how I got so close to the goal because the only thing I was thinking was “Oh crap you have the ball!” Is this something that comes naturally by just scrimmaging?

Basically I am asking, how do I become a sound offensive (or all around player) and actually be productive with the ball?

• Practice your basic skills at a decent clip.
• Learn to listen to your teammates.

Good luck out there, newbies!

ON THE MAP: If your hurling club isn’t listed on Hurley to Rise’s “U.S. Clubs” page, please get in touch!

In the last year or two, the number of hurling teams here in the U.S. has exploded. Here at Hurley to Rise, I’m doing my best to keep track of those clubs. I do so on this list of U.S. hurling teams, but I need your help!

If you have an active club here in the U.S. and it isn’t listed there, then send me a message or leave a comment here or on the list page. If you play a team not listed, then send me a message too.

Why should you do so? Because people are looking for you, and this list is another way to find your club.

What I need: Club name, base city, state and website URL.

Let’s hear from you!

SEE IT PLAYED: Finding hurling videos on YouTube can be somewhat challenging. One tip is to look up videos featuring some of the game’s best players, such as D.J. Carey.

Mike, a reader from St. Louis, chimed in with a few questions and comments about hurling. First up, he mentioned his efforts to find hurling clips on YouTube.

I’m brand new to hurling, just picked it up two weeks ago for a local club. I am in love with the game already, I have been watching clips on Youtube almost nonstop, and I can’t wait for the season to start.

• “Hurling skills” -- There’s a series of Gaelic Athletic Association videos on developing basic skills of the game. These mostly feature kids learning, but in truth most Americans are at this level.
• “Hurling drills” — Here you will find a few ideas for team drills you can run.
• “GAA” followed by an Irish county name, “Kilkenny,” “Galway” “Cork” and “Tipperary” will generally get you the best clips.
• “All-Ireland” will help you find some high-skill matches.
• “Christy Ring,” “Eoin Kelly,” “Henry Shefflin” “D.J. Carey” and “Joe Canning” are some of the great athletes of the sport, all worth searching.
• “RTE” coupled with hurling will find you plenty of great commentary on the sport. RTE is one of the broadcasters that carries the sport on Irish television.
• “Hurling” coupled with “goal,” “free,” “puck,” “tackle,” “solo” or “sideline” will dig up some skill videos as well as some great game clips.

I’ll get to more of Mike’s letter next time, where he asks about offense, speed and on-the-field jitters.

Have you got a hurling-related question for Hurley to Rise? Even if I can’t answer it, I’ll find someone who can. Just send me an e-mail at john@johnsimcoe.com

Hurling is catching on in America, and clubs are eager to show you more about the sport. Don’t hesitate to contact your local GAA.

St. Patrick’s Day is almost upon us, and that (according to my blog statistics) means that there’s a sudden, huge upswing in the interest in the sport of hurling here in America.

Well then, I’m glad you found Hurley to Rise. Since I started writing this blog in 2009, I’ve watched as this sport has grown exponentially across the United States.

Clubs are popping up in more and more cities here in the U.S., and not just the big, name-brand cities, but the smaller cities too. Likewise, there’s similar growth in colleges.

But if you’re looking into hurling for the first time, I figured you might be interested in learning the basics of the sport before you venture out to join your local club.

SOME TERMS: Over on this page, I have slowly been adding a list of hurling and gaelic football-related terms to help newcomers to the game. No need to be completely ignorant on the sport, right? (Seasoned American hurlers, please suggest terms to add!)

A QUICK OVERVIEW: The extreme basics of hurling are covered here. Most importantly, watch the video, which is the best explanation you’ll find of the sport.  You can also learn more in this section of the Hurley to Rise blog: The basics of hurling

ATHLETIC LEVEL: The best hurling players in the world are in spectacular shape. In fact, many of the hurlers here in America look pretty good too. If you play, you might soon find yourself fit as a fiddle as well. But to start out in the game, you don’t need to be an amazing athlete — or any sort of athlete at all (which was/is my case). This is a sport that is easy to learn, but difficult to master. If you can accept the fact that you may never be a master at it, you can play. My advice, just give it a try and have fun.

PHYSICAL CHALLENGES: In hurling, you do a lot of running — usually in the form of stop-and-go sprinting. You also might get bumped around by other players. That being said, I’m a horrible sprinter. Slow as molasses, in fact.  To me, it doesn’t matter. I just like to get out there and my teammates seem to be accepting of that.

SKILLS: Aside from running around a lot, there’s a few other skills (hitting and catching the ball) you’ll develop as a hurler. I have offered tutorials of these skills in a variety of blog posts. I suggest you check out some of them by visiting the “Skill Development” section.

WHAT TO BRING:Aside from enthusiasm and a willingness to try something new, you should:

• Wear shorts and a t-shirt.
• Bring a water bottle.
• Bring a spare t-shirt, too. One of your shirts should be light colored (white or yellow), the other should be dark (Navy, black, dark green or dark brown). The spare is so you can be split into teams for a scrimmage.
• If you have them, bring cleats, otherwise sneakers are fine.
• If you’re of drinking age, many clubs have drinks after their practice, so bring some money for that.
• If you have some sort of sports helmet (Lacrosse helmets being the best), bring it.
• A towel to wipe down is also a good thing.

EQUIPMENT: Most clubs will have spare equipment available. You won’t have to bring your own hurley (the stick) or sliotar (the ball). Helmets are usually at a  premium, but many clubs do have spares. Once you decide whether or not you like the sport, you can order your own later on.

COST: Hurling isn’t a very expensive sport despite the unique nature of it. Here’s a rundown:

• Stick ($35-$75)
• Ball ($10 per ball. We’d suggest you get at least 3 of your own)
• Helmet ($110. Often provided by the club.)
• Membership fee (Varies. My club’s yearly fee is less than $100)
• Traveling (Varies. Many clubs travel to other cities for games. This isn’t a requirement, but it’s a lot of fun)

WHAT ELSE? Quite simply, prepare to have a lot of fun. Prepare for some exciting challenges. Hurling is a great game, and we welcome you to it.

LUCK OF THE IRISH: Enjoy this coloring page on your own, or just ask and Hurley to Rise will send you a version to use for your own events.

While this isn’t exactly hurling related, I just wanted to point you to a St. Patrick’s Day-themed coloring contest going on here in York, Pa.

Your kids can color in the image at right to win some prizes from The York Emporium, a local bookstore, including a spot on their St. Patrick’s Day Parade float.

Details on the contest, and the coloring page image can be downloaded in this PDF.

Still wondering why I’m even mentioning this hyper-local contest on my blog? Because I’m the artist of this beauty of a coloring page!

Yeah, I know I should have added a hurley and sliotar into the image somewhere, but I couldn’t figure a way to do it and still have it appeal to those not familiar with the gaelic games.

HOW THIS IMAGE CAN HELP YOUR CLUB

The greater message is this though: GAA clubs in America (and elsewhere) need to offer a full-course menu of activities during their recruiting efforts. You certainly need to appeal to adults with the promise of comradery, after-game beers and athletic competition. But you also need to start catering to the family crowd as well. Do this by offering parent-friendly leagues, sideline activities for kids in tow, game instruction for kids, picnic events and crazy things like coloring page contests.

With that in mind, hurling and gaelic football clubs are welcome to use the image for their own events — as something to hand out to kids during a publicity campaign, an activity to keep kids occupied while mom and dad are on the pitch, or even on a giveaway t-shirt. Just let me know and I’ll send you a raw image.

Further, I can help you come up with other, more GAA-themed coloring pages and images if you are so inclined. Just contact me at john@johnsimcoe.com.

IN BRONZE: Hurling legend Christy Ring is remembered in a statue at the County Cork airport in Ireland. (Photo from Donal O Caoimh of http://www.donal.ie)

When you look at old documentaries, it’s usually with a little bit of a smirk on your face. They are quaint, often silly and terribly outdated.

But today I ran across an old hurling video starring Christy Ring, one of the game’s best players ever. In it, Ring and his narrator provide some absolutely wonderful advice on some of the basic skills of the game.

Ring, by the way, is so well respected in Ireland that hurling’s mid-level county championship cup is named after thim.

For modern Irish players, this video might be full of what I call “no duh” information. But for Americans? It can help us understand some of the basics that we haven’t ever been educated on.

Indeed, this is some timeless advice on playing this great sport.

As for the parade music, well, that is definitely not so timeless.

Christy Ring statue image from http://www.donal.ie in this post. Please take a moment to check out the site!

Assuming they’re shooting the sliotar at a close enough range, most frees result in a single point for your team. Sometimes, a plucky free-taker will go for a 3-point goal, but it’s fairly difficult since the goalkeeper will often have extra players to help him defend the shot.

To “take a free” the ball starts on the ground. Its placement can be partially adjusted by the player. It can’t be moved more than a foot or so and it’s usually only done to find a better tuft of grass. Players also like to adjust the ball so its seams are positioned in a particular way.

Once the sliotar’s placement is settled, the chosen shooter (many teams have a designated free taker) must scoop the sliotar up with the hurley and immediately strike it. The player can’t touch it with his hands.

The most difficult subskill in free-taking is the requirement for an immediate strike. The player needs to:

• Scoop the ball from the grass.
• Momentarily balance it on the end of the hurley.
• Flick it upward so that it falls “in the strike zone.”
• Wind up your swing.
• Swing and strike the ball.

Notice that there’s no, “grab the ball and toss it in the sky” step. The player literally never touches the ball after he adjusts it on the grass.

In this video, Eoin Kelly, a Gaelic Athletic Association star for County Tipperary, explains his method. http://youtu.be/HmYKyVUwrJ4

Here in the United States, it’s hard to go down to the local pitch and practice frees. Typically there’s no such thing!

THE GAA PITCH: The field for hurling is huge. It’s almost as wide as a football field is long.

Some suggestions on how to practice these shots:

• Get a bunch of balls: I would suggest getting about 10 balls. Further,  grab a magic marker and number them 1 through 10. Hit them in order and see if you get better toward the end of the cycle. Numbering the balls will also help you figure out where they all landed, since they’re expensive to replace.
• Find a goal: A hurling goal is about 20 feet wide. At least for practice, you can adopt a local football field’s goal posts, which are anywhere from 18 to 23 feet wide.That’s good enough to practice. If you can’t find that, go to your local park and look for a few trees near an open field. If they’re about that close, that’s good enough. You’ll even benefit from having a “goalie” in the form of all those leaves and branches.
• Go the sideline: Since many of a teams’ frees will be awarded when the ball goes out of bounds, it’s important to be able to shoot from just inside the sideline — and it’s a long hit to make. A hurling pitch is 90 meters wide. That’s about 300 feet. You need to be standing at the sideline when you hit the ball, so go about 150 feet to the side  of your makeshift goal zone — that’s almost twice the width (yes, width!) of a high school football field. Once you’ve found that spot, move away in a line perpendicular from the goal with each shot or each set of shots.
• Fire from the middle too: Since not all frees are awarded from the sideline, you need to work on shots from the playing area the pitch as well. Try different places on the field, and those selections shouldn’t be always in the center of the field either. When a free is awarded during play, it can be on any spot of the field so you need to be accurate from a variety of zones.
  

  DIRECTIONS: Assuming you are right-handed, you can bet your ball will follow one of these paths when you hit it.

• Take your time: It takes a lot of work to learn the pick-up-and-hit skill, so be prepared to just spend time learning that motion. Once it decently delivers the ball to you, remember to swing smoothly and evenly in your strike. Swinging the hurley faster doesn’t make the ball go further. You want a clean strike on the ball in the hurley’s “sweet spot.” That will make the ball fly far and accurate.
• Take Aim: Once you have a clean hit pattern established, work on your aim. For me, where the ball goes is all based on the placement of my shoulders in relation to the target area.
• Switch sides: Don’t forget to hit from both sides of the field. Hitting from you non-typical side of the field is a little tougher.
• Run up or Stand: There are two ways people take frees. Sometimes players will run up to the ball for the scoop, lift and hit motion. They do this because it’s said to improve distance. Others simply stand over the ball for the scoop, lift and hit. That is said to improve accuracy. Try both. Learn both. They both have merits.

Of course these are just some basic ideas. If you ask a dozen players, they’ll each have a dozen tips for taking a free, so be sure to do so! Eventually, you’ll develop your own style and have a dozen different tips for the next player.

In it, Irishman Jack Murray talks at the Walter Cronkite School for Journalism and Mass Communication about what makes the sport of hurling so enthralling.

For those already familiar with the sport, it comes across as quite charming. For those who aren’t they might be a little confused by a few of the elements he talks about. (What makes it so fast? You say it’s anyone can learn it and then have one of the world’s top athletes say it’s difficult later on. Which is it? And how do you play? Is it just about bouncing a ball on a stick? … and so on.)

Still, Murray brings up an important point: The Irish economy is in terrible shape, and that’s pushing many young people to leave the country in search of jobs. Ireland’s (unfortunate) loss does have a positive spin. Those Irish leaving the Emerald Isle are bringing their culture with them. They are arriving in cities around the world where the sport of hurling has never been seen.

To all the new Irish diaspora out there, I’d like to say a few things: Just because you moved away from home, don’t think you should leave your culture behind. Forget soccer, basketball, hockey, rugby or whatever else is popular at this new place. Hurling (and all the other unique aspects of Irish culture) is worth sharing. You may have been terrible at the sport compared to those on your county team back home, but you’re not now. You’re likely one your new home’s best players. You can be a wellspring of ideas, insights and instructions to those of us who’ve just discovered the game.

Get out there and share your knowledge. Share your enthusiasm. Start a new club. Introduce hurling to your new community.

Heck, I even draw a comic about hockey. (Shameless plug!)

So it was with great sadness that I found out that the 2012-13 season was in jeopardy as the National Hockey League’s player’s union and its team owners battled it out over how much the players were played. The talks degenerated quickly and the players have been “locked out” of their paid playing opportunities since early in the fall.  Since then more than half the season has been canceled. The truly exciting “Winter Classic” was canceled.

And fans? They’re angry and frustrated.

Even the NHL Network has pretty much given up. Now it’s broadcasting games from the Canadian Hockey League.

And despite occasional bursts of activity, things look quite dismal for the remainder of the season, the playoffs and the Stanley Cup finals.

But then yesterday a Canadian politician officially offered up a great alternative: Award the Stanley Cup to the top amateur hockey team.

Sounds a lot like the way the Gaelic Athletic Association operates.  Unlike so many other premiere sports leagues around the world, the GAA doesn’t pay its athletes. In fact, it strictly forbids it. Yet every year, it fills massive stadiums in Ireland for its games of hurling and gaelic football. And across the world, more and more teams are springing up for these games every year.

But instead of letting the best players go to the highest bidder — as they do in virtually every other team sport in the world — the players of hurling and gaelic football fight it out on the pitch for community pride. It’s true. Players aren’t allowed to join any club they want, instead they can only play for the team that’s affiliated with their birthplace.

So, if such a policy were enacted for America’s National Football League, then players born in Pennsylvania would only be allowed to play for the Steelers or the Eagles. Even then, there would probably be some sort of imaginary line splitting Pennsylvania in half to designate boundaries on who goes where.

But I digress.

The point here is the Canadian politician offers an excellent option for the Stanley Cup, and there’s even a few good reasons why it should happen:

• The Stanley Cup was originally meant to awarded to the top amateur team in hockey. Not the professionals, but the guys who had to hold down a day job.
• The Stanley Cup is not controlled by the NHL. It is governed by independent trustees who can award it at their discretion.
• Quite frankly, the NHL and the player’s union need to get the message that the sport of hockey can go on without them.

Further, the fans of the sport could be well served by a wake-up call of their own.  Just like the GAA does, the Stanley Cup organization could foster a wave of hometown pride as amateur hockey clubs from across the U.S. and Canada battle it out in a March Madness-style tournament to get their name on the cup.

And the day after these amateur players hoist up the cup? They go back to their jobs and a chorus of “atta boys!”

That’s exactly what happens in the GAA, and it is a spectacular celebration of sportsmanship.