Love of the game

It's been a bit since my last blog post.  It is mostly because we have been so busy.  Games have been coming fast and furious and attendance is way up.  Until tonight.  I was worried about tonight as we only had 14 players committed prior to game time.  As Sunday wore on, the news got worse.  One, two and finally three players contacted me to say they weren't going to be able to attend.  I began to wonder if hurling would succumb to the draw of NFL Sundays.  Fourteen is kind of the minimum number we need to play, so when we hit 11, I was a bit despondent.  At 6:00, there were only 4 people at the pitch, but that number quickly swelled to 10.  Then several people came who I hadn't counted on, Patricia Carmichael and Paige Medlin.  It was Paige's first game tonight and after going through a crash course, she bravely and confidently took the field.  When the dust settled, including some walk on players who asked to play after watching the first half, we had 17 on the pitch tonight.  If the four we lost (no fault guys) had come out, we would have had 21 out tonight!  And that was without two of our most reliable players, Dan Lund (working) and Sean Murphy (personal commitment).  So that is the numbers story.

The real story though was in the play.  Everywhere I looked I saw people smiling and having fun.  Every word I heard was encouraging.  I saw people pushing each other while supporting each other.  The other thing I continue to see is progress. People are scoring points regularly where they were not scoring at all in June.  I see skills and confidence building each and every week. If we keep having fun, people will keep coming out.  If people keep coming out, they will keep getting better.  As they get better, they will have more fun and the positive cycle reenforces the strength of the club.  Enough said!

Over the weekend, I had the good fortune of being invited to the Will County Celtic Festival, resulting from the encouragement and introductions from our member Curt Weikert (pronounced Wikert).  My good friends Patrick Paison and his wife Úna McNulty joined us at the festival, where we introduced a bunch of youngsters and about an equal number of adults to the sport.  Everyone was mesmerized by the sport and a think a few will eventually join the club.  Curt Weikert and Paige Medlin also hung out with us at the festival.  It was a great time, a great festival and a great success!