Small Ball Fever

It's time to hurl again. Actually it was time around six weeks ago but I only hit my first ball with purpose last Monday. Not role model behaviour I know.

It was intentional. Last year was the worst year I had playing hurling on a personal level. With each passing season my back screams louder. Hockey has already been cast aside to preserve its use a little longer and now my hurling training regime is narrowed and tailored accordingly.

I did go for a puck around in the Parc a week before the first football tournament. It was light, no more than striking the ball twenty yards apart from Crusher. Even after that, I struggled through football training the following week and lasted twenty minutes outfield at the football tournament. The joys of the ageing process.

I've been on my best behaviour for the last three weeks though, not having participated in any sessions with the big ball. Two days from our first tournament, I'm mad for road.

Hurling has gone full cycle since I first arrived. The story from 2005 to mid-2008 was one of trauma. We travelled Europe with the bare bones. Occasionally we would rally and scare the opposition but those days were few and far between. It began to turn in the summer of '08. We lost an epic final to Luxembourg after extra-time in our home tournament before claiming our maiden (with the exception of one tournament in '06 where we were loaded with ringers) victory in Zurich at the end of the season. That started a ten tournament unbeaten run and march to two European Championships.

The clouds were gathering last year and we plodded through the first three tournaments with little success. Intent on at least leaving some mark on the season, we saved our best performance of '11 for our home tournament last summer. We knocked the Hague out of contention for the overall Championship and then topped it by beating Zurich in the final, despite them claiming the 2011 Championship on the same day. That win surpassed nearly all of the ten-in-a-row.

Why so? Simply because we were at the pin of our collars to win it. Many of those ten wins were blow outs but winning isn't the same unless you've had to empty it to achieve it. The other teams were struggling while we were thriving and the enjoyment wasn't there.

Hurling isn't a game where you can just turn up and go through the motions. Your standards drop, your touch and striking can become more error prone as the complacency sets in. You have to be going full pelt and be engaged in both a battle of skill and physicality.

We're struggling big time at the moment with numbers and have lost the cream of our hurling crop. Still, it’s hard not to look forward to the weekends action. They say there will be five teams participating which shows hurling is going well in the other clubs in Europe. It also means we will get lots of hurling under our belts. The pitch in The Hague is always excellent and will hopefully remain so after the rain this week.

I haven't tracked our numbers but we should have eleven. The most important thing guys have to focus on is making a contribution. Lads mightn't realise it sometimes but at training or matches they are just bodies on the pitch making no contribution. We need to get the most out of everyone this weekend which means we must all find a way to contribute. That can come in many forms; scoring, hooking, blocking, fielding, running etc. Put simply though, it means bursting your balls and fighting for every single ball.