Athletes amongst Kilkenny hurlers?

ChickenTikka

Anyone from Kilkenny on this board who might be able to comment on the following?

The Kilkenny hurlers demonstrated such power and speed today and kept it up for the full match so they clearly had a high degree of both fitness and strength while they wiped Waterford away.

Their manager's son is a juvenile athlete in U15 grade in Kilkenny. Just wondering whether that would be common in Kilkenny, i.e. would many hurlers be encouraged to do athletics as some stage in their youth even though hurling is their primary sport.

Interested to know if many of the Kilkenny minor or senior panel ever did athletics while younger. Someone involved in juvenile athletics in Kilkenny may be able to answer this question easily.

RRSC

Always thought kilkenny folk were actively discouraged from anything except hurling ? Witness concern about DJ Carey and that golf stuff, and the state of gaelic football in Kilkenny.....;)

Emily Maher who won the Youth Olympics a few years back is the only Kilkenny athlete that rings a bell with me....and Eileen OKeeffe in the hammer.

Great to see Kilkenny hurlers displaying good fitness levels. Have to say I was never convinced that GAA players had fitness levels anything near your average club runner. Joe Doonan (Formerly coach to Catherina McKiernan and a major figure in Cavan GAA circles) said as much in Irish Runner a few years back.

Also, coming now from running where people train 5/6/7 times a week for nothing but improved performance and the love of their sport, it makes me laugh to hear GAA players going on about "player welfare" and having to train 4 times a week - and then eat their dinner afterwards courtesy of the county board. And before anyone says it, I played GAA for 20 years myself.

Any views ???

ss43

RRSC wrote: »

Always thought kilkenny folk were actively discouraged from anything except hurling ? Witness concern about DJ Carey and that golf stuff, and the state of gaelic football in Kilkenny.....;)

Emily Maher who won the Youth Olympics a few years back is the only Kilkenny athlete that rings a bell with me....and Eileen OKeeffe in the hammer.

Great to see Kilkenny hurlers displaying good fitness levels. Have to say I was never convinced that GAA players had fitness levels anything near your average club runner. Joe Doonan (Formerly coach to Catherina McKiernan and a major figure in Cavan GAA circles) said as much in Irish Runner a few years back.

Also, coming now from running where people train 5/6/7 times a week for nothing but improved performance and the love of their sport, it makes me laugh to hear GAA players going on about "player welfare" and having to train 4 times a week - and then eat their dinner afterwards courtesy of the county board. And before anyone says it, I played GAA for 20 years myself.

Any views ???

GAA players have a different type of fitness. A specific fitness which enables them to play their sport well much the same as runners have a specific fitness which enables them to run well.

The same GAA players that get dinner courtesy of the county board probably train more than four times a week. They're on club teams as well as county. They may also do work in their own time. I'd imagine lots of hurlers would spend plenty of time pucking around and the free-takers on my county hurling and football teams are reported to spend lots of time practising their frees away from team trainings.

GAA training can mean a bigger effort if there's a lot of travel involved. If I move away from home for work I can train there but a GAA player still has to come home to train.

GAA players at the top level train quite hard as do runners. Runners are better equipped to run; GAA players are better equipped to play football or hurling.

Regarding athletes in Kilkenny hurling circles, St Kieran's is one of the leading schools at Leinster level in cross country as well as hurling. I heard that all first yers who want to do another sport have to do running but don't know that this is actually the case.

2Scoops

ChickenTikka wrote:

Just wondering whether that would be common in Kilkenny, i.e. would many hurlers be encouraged to do athletics as some stage in their youth even though hurling is their primary sport.

Interested to know if many of the Kilkenny minor or senior panel ever did athletics while younger. Someone involved in juvenile athletics in Kilkenny may be able to answer this question easily.

Athletics is neither encouraged or discouraged in Kilkenny IMO, but at some point each individual will choose one over the other based on their preferences. The training for each cause different adaptations and improvements specific to the sport and they're not compatible enough to do both to a high level.

To my knowledge, none of the current panel have a racing pedigree. Their fitness is top notch for hurling and they have very high aerobic and anaerobic capacities, but it wouldn't necessarily translate into racing performance.

RRSC wrote: »

Have to say I was never convinced that GAA players had fitness levels anything near your average club runner. Joe Doonan (Formerly coach to Catherina McKiernan and a major figure in Cavan GAA circles) said as much in Irish Runner a few years back.

In terms of racing fitness, you're probably right but neither would an average club runner be up to the physical demands of top level hurling. As mentioned by ss43, it's comparing apples and oranges.

RRSC wrote: »

Also, coming now from running where people train 5/6/7 times a week for nothing but improved performance and the love of their sport, it makes me laugh to hear GAA players going on about "player welfare" and having to train 4 times a week

Junior hurlers maybe...