Welcome to the new version of Hurley to Rise. The new home will provide the blog smoother uploads and editing.

NEW LOOK: Hurley to Rise's new look

All my old posts are here too, though they might look a little weird for a while until I work backwards and adjust them to the new look.

So please be sure to bookmark this site, unbookmark the old site and check back for new posts every week or so.

My “Fall season” is supposed to begin in October, so I’ll have plenty of things to talk about, not to mention the fact that I still have lots of things to say about the summer season.

GOING FOR FIVE: This graphic was created by the Irish Independent, a national newspaper in Ireland. See the full story on Kilkenny here: http://www.independent.ie/sport/hurling/evolution-of-drive-for-five-2319500.html

You may not have noticed this, but there’s something out across the Atlantic, and it’s not Hurricane Earl. Over in Ireland, hurling, the sport this blog is dedicated to, is making big news as that country’s two best squads are prepping for the 2010 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship.

To you and me, that’s like the Super Bowl of hurling.  As with the 2009 Championship, the two teams are Kilkenny and Tipperary. If Kilkenny, the favorite, wins it will be the fifth straight title for the county.

Not to be outdone though, we Americans are playing for our own title this weekend.  Hurling teams from around our country are gathering this weekend in Chicago for the North American Championship.

A hurling practice in St. Louis.

At a recent hurling practice with the Baltimore Bohemians, we were running a simple drill: Three players chase down a ball in an effort to gain control and launch it toward the goal. Two of the players were considered teammates. The other was the opposition.

Me, being the big guy that I am, was having trouble keeping up in the mad dash after the sliotar. While a member of the two-person team, I changed up my tactics. Instead of focusing on the ball, I focused on the player opposing me.

Once the ball was loosed by the coach, I’d move in on the player and begin bumping him and slowing him down. I just wanted him off balance and away from my teammate. Even better, when I was able to get in front of him, I would widen myself, slow down and steer him away from the sliotar. This, of course, let my teammate scoop up the ball and fire away.