Keep Calm and Hurl On

Just a brief post about my new favorite sport, Hurling. This is a distinctly Irish sport and is a bit difficult to understand and play. The international office set up a practice for visiting students to try their hand at it and we got to practice the basics for a few hours. At first a bit intimidated, I ended up having a ton of fun! 

My sports history is relatively short and free from awards or notable success. I played softball through freshman year of high school and played lacrosse for a year after that (I was also on the bowling team but this hardly seems relevant). In neither sport was I the best (but certainly not the worst) and while I had great fun playing these games, music ultimately won as my dominant hobby. However, there is something about sports that really gets me. I loved smacking the softball as hard as I could, running around the diamond, and sliding into home. I loved cradling the lacrosse ball, defending the goal, and trying to shoot the ball (even though I usually missed). And I loved hurling. Because it was all of these things and a freedom that I have not experienced in quite a time. Not only did I give up athletics because of music and school but also from ongoing ankle pain I have struggled with for four years. I wore a walking-boot junior year for this pain and had a particularly awful round of it this summer, in the four months before I left for Ireland. I visited my doctor and was constantly stretching, icing, and staying off my ankle to avoid the pain that kept me from jogging and all other fitness activities.

When I was hurling, I felt nothing in my ankle. And have felt nothing since. This is one of the longest pain-free periods I have had and am glad because of the copious amounts of walking that a study abroad student must do. 

So hurl on comrades! The school is going to have an international students team and I am overjoyed at the prospect of playing on a weekly basis. Who would have thought that my sporty side would make a resurgence in Ireland of all places and with hurling of all sports? But I have to say, I'm glad it has!

Raise your hand if you like hurling!

Follow-ups:

Irish Pandora (6/14/14)- though this blog post was written in Kansas, the idea of Irish Pandora is hilarious because apparently we only get Pandora in the US. While I am sadly disconnected from my favorite music source, everyone here has no idea what I am talking about. The phrase "Irish Pandora" is inherently wrong...

Chicken Wrap (8/24/14)- the lengthy chicken wrap blog I posted about a few days ago is not from a place called Delia's but from the small and poorly labeled restaurant next door. I am still trying to get the official name of the restaurant but Delia's is a kitchen supply store so all you can buy there is a fork to eat the delicious wrap with.