JOE - St. Gallen Bears Breaking Through

http://www.joe.ie/gaa/gaa-features/st-gallen-bears-breaking-through-0010908-1

This weeks feature is about one of the continent's newest G.A.A. clubs, St. Gallen Bears. I learned about it from club member Brian Clerkin when I met him at the European G.A.A. convention in Stockholm last December.

It turned out he was a good friend of Lorcan, one of the Irish lads here. Brian came to Brussels in February for a visit and I chatted with himself and fellow 'Bear' Mick Daly the following week on skype.

Despite re-reading the text numerous times before sending to the lads at JOE, it is clear my grammar requires a bit more work! Anyway, as I said last week, if you are from another club and are reading this then get in touch with a story (especially if you have a hurling one).

Galician Revolution

The locals go by the motto that says A Coruna is a place where 'nobody is a stranger'. Having experienced first hand the warmth of the welcome Denis and I received this weekend, I can confirm they are good to their word. I was met at the airport by the club President (G.A.A. clubs should seriously consider changing the traditional Chairman title to President) Wenceslao Garcia Zapata and his team-mate Sebas.

On the short spin into town, I quickly got a feeling for their love of Gaelic Football as Wenceslao told me how he went to Croke Park last summer to see a Leinster Championship game and returned determined to start Galicia's first football club. We talked about Nemo Rangers, where two of his friends play on the Junior 3 team. With the bags dropped in the hotel, we headed out the coast road to Hercules tower, a lighthouse which welcomes visiting boats into the harbour. Having grown up by the sea, but now living in a concrete jungle, I very much appreciated the sea breeze and fresh air. We were joined along the way by Rob, a native of Miami, who would manage the roles of host, translator and footballer for the weekend.

Next stop was Matthew's Irish Bar where I met Finbarr, a Drogheda man who opened the pub 15 years ago having spent time teaching English in the city. Alongside him was Seanie from Wexford. Seanie met and married a Galician girl called Rose, when he was living in London. He first visited in 1968 and now spends more time there than his wife, who has grown attached to Wexford ways. He was a right character, softly spoken but very knowledgeable on all things G.A.A.

Of course, there was also Peter Vard, a Dub who has found a liking for Spain's North-West coast. He openly admits he would have been more into Soccer, Rugby and Boxing before this revolution kicked off last October. Now he spends his spare time researching drills on the internet and harassing his buddies at home for more. He leads his fair share of the training with Seanie fulfilling that all important role in the background, advising and supporting. As is the way in this part of the world, we didn't sit down to eat until nearly midnight but it was worth the wait. The hunger and beer lowered by culinary inhibitions to such an extent that I pretty much had a go at everything. And it was worth it.

Nothing like a walk on the beach to shake off a hangover so myself and Denis set out Saturday morning to do just so. You don't have to go far as just like in Barcelona, the city has one of its own. Fortunately, Denis and I are both out of the Eamonn Ryan school of coaching so planning the session was not too difficult.

The lad’s home pitch (pictured at the top) is scenically located, right on the coast. On the last day of every month, Wenceslao rises early to queue up to book the following months training. They tog twice midweek, training at 11pm!! He apologised for only having 18 players as they normally work off 30. I told him not to worry; most clubs in Europe (and at home!) would be delighted with that number.

We had two hours for the session and we rattled through a fair bit. The language barrier wasn't all it was made out to be and with the lads' English and Rob's translation we got on like a house on fire. I even delved into it a bit myself and mastered a few words of my own. 'Bueno' (good) was the one most utilised, reflecting the good concentration of application of the lads. It wasn't all perfect of course, so I had to roll out the 'no bueno' (with disapproving wagging of the finger) from time to time. People in this part of the world are friendly and they like to chat so between drills we had to encourage more 'rapido' movement. And of course the time to talk, 'ablas' (spelling may be wrong), is during the drills.

I wouldn't say I was surprised by the guys because I've coached teams in this part of the world before and am aware of how well they take to the game. A lot of them look very natural on the ball which is impressive considering they have been playing for such a short period of time. I was most impressed with their application. When we showed them something they really concentrated on getting the technique down and were very keen to learn.

The only disappointment was that we only had two hours as there was a lot more myself and Denis would have liked to have got through. Still, the rain had started to come down and the cold had gotten into us so we hopped in the back of Peter's jeep and headed for the shower. Having learned the lessons of the night before, we headed for 'lunch' at five o'clock soon after.

Then it was down to Matthew's again where the team assembled and we played a twenty minute dvd on Gaelic Games. It was too short though as the lads craved more. Still, it gave us more time to chat over a beer and befriend the bar's not unattractive staff. I commented to Finbarr that I work in HR and would be happy to sit on any recruitment panel in the future. The lads were bang on in fairness and everyone made an effort to chat and talk about the session. The feedback was good and I hope what we showed them will have some lasting effect.

I was fairly bait going home on Sunday and the trip back via Madrid took eight hours, door to door. It was worth it though. When you go to places like this and see what is going on, you marvel at what the G.A.A. can bring to a place. Even after only a few months, they have cultivated a strong club and sense of spirit. They've improved their skills and told me that the performance on a recent trip to Madrid was a massive improvement on their first outing in Seville. I'd expect further improvement in the coming months and I hope at some stage I will get to see it first hand.

JOE Live

Entries have been scarce of late for a variety of reasons. One was due to time spent putting some articles together for Irish website www.joe.ie. I've less material to write about this year as I'm not involved with the County Board or training the lads so I needed some new challenges in terms of writing stuff.

The website provides me with just that and I'll be doing a series of features on Euro G.A.A. in the coming weeks. Already complete are ones on St. Gallen G.A.A., interviews with Sean Kelly and Eamonn Ryan on Euro G.A.A., as well as a piece with Monica Duran, Ladies Football Officer on the County Board.

If you are from another European G.A.A. club, are reading this and feel you have a good story to tell then get in touch with me at davebarrett81@gmail.com.

For now, here is the feature on former Lion player Jeremy Davidson's recent visit to Belgium G.A.A.

http://www.joe.ie/gaa/gaa-features/belgium-gaa-take-lessons-from-a-lion-0010684-1

A Coruna / La Coruna

I received a call at the beginning of the month from Denis Reidy, Coaching Officer on the County Board. It was a bit like one of those Mission Impossible ones. He said the mission would involve upwards of thirty Spaniards with a token Irish man. Their English would be limited or non-existent but they needed some Gaelic Football training.

It sounded doable. Where is it I asked? Galacia, Denis replied. I asked for more specifics and Denis said somewhere in the north of Spain. He thought the place was called A Coruna. How ignorant we are. I got onto google and it all became clear; La Coruna to us foreigners. Home of the Riazor stadium, scene of a famous David Beckham goal in the Champions League back in the day. The town is situated on the north-west coast of Spain which means the sea and I rarely turn down a visit to the sea.

I’ve taken Friday off as the journey isn’t so straight forward, requiring a change in Madrid. Still, I leave Brussels at 12h and all going well, I will land in La Coruna at 17h and be met by aforementioned token Irish man, Peter Vard. I know little of Peter or the La Coruna football team, just what is on their website. That was in Spanish however, so I rely on the photo gallery to piece the story together.

Gaelic football is a growing phenomenon in the region and the Galcians (?) have strong Gaelic heritage and football is the perfect expression of this. There is talk of a league forming up there with Vigo and other neighbouring cities. Madness!

The team played their first tournament in Seville recently and whilst results against Irish backboned teams like Madrid and Barcelona didn’t set the world alight, they have numbers and enthusiasm and thus great potential to improve. The Spanish know their sport and so adapt quickly. Denis is in Spain on business this week and will also travel up on Friday so hopefully we can help the team progress on their journey.

I’m jotting down the key football phrases now and will send to Anay, a Spanish girl who plays with our Ladies team for translation. Even a few words would help and make us more accepted and understood! I’m contemplating the necessity to include Paidi O’Se’s famous phrase about the game which went something like, “Football’s a simple game lads. Get out to the ball first and f**k into them”. The Cork accent might not to it justice though.

Green Tea v Vedett

One by one, I started knocking bad dietary habits on the head in the last few months. Some have been more successful than others. I haven't touched a fizzy drink and could count on one hand the number of glasses of anything else sugary I have had. The once a week pizza regime is still firmly in place and sometimes I don't even register that in a week.

However, as I wake from the winter hibernation, the challenges increase. I was supposed to stop visiting the sweet machine at work and in fairness, with a few exceptions, I haven't done too bad. However, to coincided with this, the coffee shop at work starting stocking 'Kate's Cakes'. Their slogan 'delicious hand made cakes' is truly true, especially in the case of the chocolate chip brownie. Worse still, they give you a free mug once you accumulate four purchases. It's a kind of loyalty programme. I'm very loyal so now have ample supply. It reminds me of the potato head men that I religiously collected out of McDonalds Happy Meals when I lived in the States.

Anyway, Vedett is providing me many problems. I suppose it's not the Vedett itself, but drinking in general. The hangover forces you to drop your defences. It makes you want to let the good habits dip as your body seeks comfort, usually in the form of a sugar rush. It's tough and can even last a couple of days. That puts in jeopardy the rule about not buying biscuits in the evening on week nights. Again, this has been exasperated by my discovery of a new corner shop around the corner that stocks New Yorkers. Most of you won't be familiar with them but mention them in front of Johnny Phelan and watch his face light up. At €1.20, they are the best value chocolate chip cookie in town.

Accepting I am indeed flawed and incapable of a total overhaul, I needed a counter balance. It has come in the form of Green Tea. I'd been discussing it's benefits as a kind of detox drink for sometime with Bolster. I even bought a box in Delhaize but left it sitting in the cupboard for months. Then I read something about how if you drink a cup in the morning that it kick-starts your metabolism and can boost it by up to 15%. So now I drink it, every morning, without interruption. I hate tea and had only drank two clubs prior to the intervention of the green variety. No milk, no sugar - bland. However, it is to me what egg yokes were to Rocky.

I even actively encourage my colleague Nick to drink it. He's a coffee man but maybe I'll make him my project. Another colleague, Christelle is a French lady who I discovered is quite an expert on the subject. We had a detailed conversation about the different varieties of green tea last week and I was forced to ample a particularly aromatic version. She even game me a packet; Genmaicha. I'm not sure what it's all about as the text on the packet is in Japanese and French. Furthermore, it's not in tea bags. Instead it's just a packet of tea leaves. So I need one of those metal contraptions that isolate the leaves in the water. Tricky.

Stevie G also swears by it. He returned from Japan recently and is now a regular drinker. He says they drink it before every meal. In fact, it's credited with keeping Japanese people looking so young and lean and keeping their skin well. Surely it's a no brainer in that case!

On we go. I'm determined to knock the biscuits on their head and fortunately Kate's Cakes are currently sold out. The next ten days will be a minefield; Paddys Day Thursday, Autoworld Saturday and Spain the following weekend. The battle continues.

Paddys 'Week' Under Way

Paddys Day was never a big deal to me when I was at home. It meant a day off school or college or whatever and usually the first hurling match of the year would take place. I don't ever remember particularly looking forward to the 'session' or any other associated events. It takes on a totally different dynamic abroad as the Irish puff out their chests and go to great lengths to celebrate.

I say day but in Brussels it is actually a week long event now. For the last three years we have been running a sports day with FC Irlande and it grows in success with each passing year. It takes place on the Sunday preceding St. Patricks Day and is held in Parc50. Yesterday was the best I've been to yet. The action started at 12h with an 'in-house' Gaelic Football match between the men's panel. This was followed by a kids Gaelic match. The work being done in this section of the club is phenomenal with the likes of Sean Hade and Fergal Mythen heavily involved.

Next up was a mixed hurling match and a few tense moments as the growing crowd sampling the Guinness and burgers behind the goal came under fire from sliotars. The Ladies Footballers then paraded their talents before the sporting activities concluded with a mixed soccer match. The combination of sports, food and beer attract a bigger crowd each year. It took five barmen to keeping the thirsty revellers at bay for most of the day.

Once the field activities had concluded the party moved down the road to 1898 where there was Irish music and more beer and burgers. Sinead M, Kitch, Ciaran and special guest Ross kept everyone entertained with their musical talents.

A phenomenal amount of work goes into the organisation of the whole thing. Clare B, Jane, Conor, Sylvia, Denis, Kev and Alec are the names who are most prominent in my mind but there are loads more involved.

Another nice aspect of the day which seems more prominent this year was the attendance of family members and former players who came to Brussels for the event. Clare's parents and sister were in town and got actively involved in selling tombola tickets and generally helping out. Kev Keary's dad was also on hand as were others. I'm sure they were all proud to welcome them to Brussels for such a well run event.

As per tradition, once the taps ran dry in 1898, it was time to hit the Old Oak. They've learned their lessons the hard way in the last couple of years and staffed the place suitably for the onslaught. More music, more beer and more devilment in there before the crowd began to disperse. There are rumours, which remain unconfirmed, that a small group travelled into town to have a nightcap in Celtica afterwards. Further to that, the rumour mill spread a story this morning that The Bomber, also back just for the weekend, was dethroned as dance off champion. More to follow...

There will be some work done between now and Thursday but the debate already rages about where everyone will set up camp on Paddys Day itself. Six Nations seems to be a leading contender. Of course, we have Ireland and England to look forward to on Saturday and that will signal the end of a hectic week of activity.

Wheels Beginning To Turn

Appropriate content is difficult to conjure up these days. Not being the trainer and missing most of training leaves fairly slim pickings to rant about. The club has been active though and there is plenty to report about.

The change of football trainer has had no adverse effect on numbers and if anything we have a bigger group than last year. Considering regulars like myself, Collins, James O'Shea., Griff, Hough etc have missed virtually all the trainings, it's good to the see the group supplemented with newcomers. Conan and Eoin have been sharing the training burden and the lack of defections to date would seem a stamp of approval of sort. There's a few knew lads who have a bit of football under their belt also and that bit of quality will be required if we are to improve on last year's performance.

Already a selection has travelled to Dublin to play Cuala and Kilmacud and another group were in Coventry for the now annual tournament between ourselves, Roger Casements and Clare Island. The latter was in serious jeopardy of not happening but it's great it did because the longer it keeps going the more chance Clare Island 2013 has of going ahead. This Sunday, as part of the Paddys Day festivities which we co-organise with FC Irlande, their will be an inhouse game at 12h in the Parc. Over 30 players have signed up so that's further indication of the solid base from which we will launch our attack in 2011!

Of more concern is the hurling situation. All is well at the top with Martin remaining in place and the smooth transition between outgoing hurling officer Adrian and Shane. However, we've lost a good few with the likes of Pearce and Jim moving on. In addition to this, the gap between ourselves and the rest was wide in the last two years and that has led to some complacency amongst the group. That could be the biggest factor in blocking our ambitions to match Zurich's heroic three in a row. At their home tournament last year, we saw that they are again a coming force and we also know Den Haag are going to put much more focus on Hurling in the early part of this season.

I don't think lads have tuned into this yet. We're undefeated since July 2008 (when we lost to Lux in extra-time of our home tournament) but unless we give more committment this year, we can be sure that will come to a halt. We had our scrapes last year and we need to make sure we don't get caught napping.

The first puck around of the year took place last Saturday and it was good to see the like of Daire Cott there and seemingly willing to commit for another year. In a confusing occurence, Darragh Cotter, also from Cork, has returned and we expect to see more of him hurling this year. He's a big lad and should be a good addition. Keary is also back. His contribution was virtually null on the hurling front last year due to injury but he is back training injury free and will be in the reckoning. Conor Aylward is another man who is out training again and if both stay fit, our backs will be strengthened.

So whilst I saw the hurling situation is a concern, actually, if the players heads are right and everyone who is in Brussels is onboard, then we can be confident of challenging again in 2011. The hurlers will also be in action on Sunday at 14h in the Parc.

The last of the recent activities was the visit of former Irish, Ulster and British & Irish Lion rugby player Jeremy Davidson to Brussels last weekend. He was in town to open Conor's new pub, 'Six Nations'. Before the ceremony though, he took a mix of the hurlers and footballers for a short session. Whilst using a rugby ball, the principles of each drill are easily transferable to either of our codes and we can certainly take one or two things from the session. In the evening, we had a Q&A with him in The Dominican hotel. More to follow on that next week.

So, it's been a busy few weeks as the season starts to gear up. April 7 is the date the first ball will be kicked in anger down in Luxembourg and I'm sure everyone will be looking forward to getting going.

Another Milestone Passes

March 1, 2008. 10 of us down in Parc50 for our first training. A small few remain; Keary, myself, Crusher, Conan. Another one was Stevie G but he took off for Japan sometime around September 2008 in his job with Toyota. He landed back in Europe at the weekend and returned to training last night. It's a totally different dressing room but he's mad for road so will settle back in quickly and be a good addition.

Another returning face is Corkman Darragh Cotter who was also here in 2008. He is here on a six month contract but if things work out he may stay longer. There is the added bonus with Darragh that he is a hurler.

Last night was my second session of the year and I'm struggling to recognise a lot of faces. This is obviously a good thing as it means we are gathering new players but the size of the group continues to alter the dynamic a little. The clubs first social of the year was last weekend and by all accounts it was poorly attended. As a group grows it becomes more difficult to mobilise it en masse and you tend to have smaller groups developing. This is natural but could potentially erode the togetherness that comes with a smaller group and that is worth something on the pitch. We must make sure, as a club, that we can maintain a clannish mentality and bring that to tournaments.

I was in premadonna mode last night and trained on my own. It's not my favoured way but it's what is best for me now. The training I attended a couple of weeks ago left the back in bits. I finally caved in and visited a doc last Thursday. Expecting the usual negativity, I got my retaliation in first, repeating to him what I expected him to say but then contradicting it with other stuff I've read. He changed his tune then and was a bit more positive. Bottom line is he doesn't think I have anything chronic wrong but with such an injury, I'm just going to have to live with the fact that it will flare up from time to time. Again, it all comes down to how much work I will do to manage it.

Eoin tried to entice me into the drills saying it would be a light session with plenty of ball but actually, it's the ball that creates the problem. Bending to pick up, soloing, even kicking tweaks it so its best avoided for now. Instead, I just did a series of sprints and a bit of core. I felt a lot better than two weeks ago and this morning, whilst I can feel the impact of the session, I'm a lot better than the last time. There is eleven sessions left before our first outing in Luxembourg so still plenty of time. A couple of more weeks of running and then there will still be time to start twisting and turning.