The league Of Ireland (LOI) is very much unpopular amongst the general population. This is well known, and is reflected by poor viewership of games amongst the league as a whole. But why is a league that is based in the country that sells out stadiums worldwide for our national heroes no matter the sport. So why are we unable to fill out small stadiums for our local soccer teams? We are the “best fans in the world” after all, aren’t we? I think it’s very debateable considering we don’t support our local teams. But on the other hand are we given enough reason to support our team. I think it’s hard to support a substandard team in an inadequate league. And with the only platform of watching your team play being showing up to the stadium, is it really worth the admission fee and the effort considering the quality on display. The league itself has the potential to be more popular than it is but common faults cause the league to be shunned by the Irish population.
Unless you’ve being living under a rock for the last few months you will have noticed Dundalk’s meteoric rise through European football. They’ve come from a relegation playoff with Waterford United 4 years ago to being crowned champions of Ireland for the 3rd successive time on Sunday, as well as almost becoming the 1st Irish team in history to qualify for the lucrative Champions League group stages (ask Man U fans how hard this is). Their reward for missing out was a place in Europe’s 2nd tier competition the Europa League. By doing so they became only the 2nd L.O.I (League of Ireland) team to do so after Shamrock Rovers.
There have been many a match where I have screamed bloody murder at the T.V, in exasperation at a period of play in which I was convinced a player had dived. I just never understood it. Why dive? Why does an adult throw themselves to the ground, screaming and writhing from only the slightest contact or none at all? Diving has no doubt become etched in football in the last number of years. Every weekend radio show I listen to has callers ringing in complaining of this dive, that dive, and these dives! Why has this happened? Can anything be done to prevent the beautiful game being tarnished for good? Diving is often viewed as a sneaky, devious and unsportsmanlike attempt to gain an advantage over your opponent. No doubt, this blog will divide opinions – some people will argue for the players making the most of any contact, while others will argue that you should stay honest and on your feet.
I wonder if I were to ask you what Therapeutic Recreation is, would you look at me like I had two heads? Would you know what it is, or have even heard of it? For most people the term ‘Therapeutic Recreation’ may never have come across their radar. Surprisingly, even those working in a social care setting may never have heard of it, or know what it entails. This is because as of yet it is not even fully recognised in Ireland. The Health Service Executive has not yet figured out its importance and value for people of all ages and backgrounds. I hope that after reading my blog you will understand it and recognise its benefit. To start with we need to break Therapeutic Recreation into its separate parts, recreation and therapy.
Let’s say you are thinking of treating yourself and buying yourself a gym membership. Yeah?? Good stuff! So, Christmas is quickly approaching! Your goal is to get fit and in shape beforehand maybe? You have taken a break all summer, or maybe some of you haven’t tried to start. The kids had been out of school. You’ve been away on holidays and have treated yourself to a few bottles of wine, beer, and a nice few desserts. So now the summer holidays are over, the kids are back in school, and oh wait it has clicked, it is perfect timing to get fit and active! Now you’re thinking to yourself, what would I do if I had a gym membership now? What will people think of me when I go in to the gym? Will I know what machines to use and how to use them? God I wonder what the quietest time is to use the gym? If all these questions are going through your head, well then you are suffering from gymtimidation. Yes that’s right it does exist and it does affect a lot of us without us knowing.
What is gymtimidation? Well it is the fear of working out at the gym because you’re intimidated by the types of equipment and the toned bodies that surrounds you. If you feel like this don’t worry you’re not the only person feeling like this. Gymtimidation affects a lot of people. It also affects a lot people without them realising it. Right you are now planning your first gym visit in your head. You’ve walked into the gym, you’re asking yourself do I just hop up on the treadmill, or go straight to the weights? You’re thinking you are going to be surrounded by people doing various exercises, lifting the lightest weights to the heaviest weights. You’re thinking to yourself I will not be able to that. You have decided already that you are going to walk straight to the treadmill. Once you finished on the treadmill you are going to do your few stretches and leave the gym. You just can’t psych yourself up to go near the weights as much as you would love to do it. There are a few things holding you back. Well the good news for you is there are five steps for you to follow that will help you to overcome your gymtimidation fear and make you feel less intimidated on joining the gym. Here they are! Depending on how well the inter-county team does, the life of a GAA club footballer can be very frustrating and have little reward. Throughout the whole country players don’t know when there next game will be and therefore can’t plan holidays with their girlfriend / wife or their friends. Managers are expected then to have their players peaking at the right time in terms of physicality and mentality but this is impossible to do due to the not knowing of fixtures.
The club player puts his whole life on hold for the summer and doesn’t know exactly when his next match will be. Is this fair? A lot of people will have their opinions but personally I feel it’s not fair on the club player. In most areas around the country the GAA clubs will have a team meeting in January/ February outlining the plan for the coming season and how things will be different from the year just gone. In my experience, the expectations are usually high within the group and everyone is looking forward to a good year ahead. The meeting begins with a reflection on the season just gone and what needs to be improved on if we are to have any hope in winning titles this year. A few senior players who are no strangers to these meetings stand up and say a few inspirational words to get everyone in the mood for the training sessions to come. The meeting comes to an end with sheets been handed out on when our training and gym sessions will be on for the next 2 months. This will be our year…. I don’t want to become bulky, says almost every woman: 6 reasons why women SHOULD strength train18/10/2016 “I’m just going to do a solid hour of cardio and reduce my body fat.”
“I’ll lift weights, but I’m not going heavy maybe just the small dumbbells.” “Lift weights? No way that will make me bulky.” OH MY GOD. sounds really familiar, doesn’t it? The above attitude hurts me a little inside every time I hear either of those sentences. First and foremost, what is strength training? It is a physical type of exercise which consists of the use of resistance to encourage muscular contraction which builds strength, the size of muscle worked and also improve anaerobic endurance. In this blog, I will be dishing out six compelling reasons why ALL women should strength train. What is diabetes? Diabetes is a lifelong condition - if one is suffering from Type 1 (T1) - that comes about by the lack of the hormone insulin processed by your pancreas in your body (Grant et al., 2009). Diabetes is the constant worrying about what you need to bring when going anywhere, it’s the fear that you’re going to have a hypo when you’re out and about with family and friends or when taking part in any sports or exercise. T1 is a nightmare. When you are diagnosed first, there is so much to learn and so many big words that you have never heard before entering your head. Everything you do, everything you eat and drink must be monitored.
Diabetes is about injections, prodding your fingers for blood 4, 5 or even 10 times a day to check your glucose levels and then the constant carbs counting for every meal. It’s all about how well you look after it to ensure you are as healthy as you can be, it’s about your family buying into the concept of eating foods with less sugar or using sweetener in tea and coffee instead of sugar. It's these little things that make all the difference. CrossFit “I would never be able for that”, “I am not fit enough”. This is the response I get the whole time from people that have asked me what my sport is. The majority of these people don’t know anything about the sport. They have just seen videos on Facebook or YouTube. These people have seen videos of people at the CrossFit games preforming highly technical movements that took years of practice to prefect. They have not seen the ordinary person that goes to their local gym and learns from the ground up these movements. What CrossFit has done for people is huge. It has provided a form of fitness training for the complete beginner to people who have had to stop playing sports such as soccer and GAA due to injury or age. That is the beauty of what CrossFit is, it is scalable on so many levels.
Over the last few years the debate has risen about whether the GAA should turn professional or remain amateur; many people believe that if the GAA were to turn professional we are then abandoning our original roots and the reasons why the organisation was created. Many of the debates all circle back to a county vs club argument. In my opinion if the GAA was to go professional the current system would have to change.
The current system sees a handful of county teams play just two championship games in any one season. I also feel that if the GAA goes professional the inter county player would no longer be able to play for his club due to the sheer demand being put on the players. The GAA would effectively split into two, the professional inter county players and the amateur club players. The majority of County players are virtually professional in every aspect bar actually being a professional athlete. To date, no County player has received money from the organisation based on performance. However, a lot of the top County players may receive money on sponsorship deals and various other things such as media obligations before big matches. Recently in the Under 21s All Ireland Hurling Final, some players received a couple of hundred euro to wear a specific brands helmet. Likewise, players such as Diarmuid Connolly, Philly McMahon, Cillian O’Connor and Aidan O’Shea will all have received money before the All-Ireland final for all the media work they done. |
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