Exciting times in CLCG Caisleán Uí Liathán.

The season has not really started yet but there are exciting times in Castlelyons GAA. Training has started as in other years around this time but with a difference as players are taking real ownership. In late 2015 they mentioned about a Gym but time moved on and it was not set up. However, having raised some money themselves and “granted aided” by the Club they have sorted out their own Gym. A visit to on Saturday morning suggests it is busy and well worth the effort as bookings shows a new wave of strength and conditioning has hit the players and are taking this very seriously.

The players deserve great credit for this initiative especially Anto Spillane, Colm Barry, Tom Carroll and Eoin Maye. We have a recently qualified man and player in Darragh Lawlor who has given so unselfishly of his time. So hopefully strength and conditioning will serve all the players well.

Furthermore, our players are showing the way again in producing a design for some leisure and training gear and Aidan O Sullivan has shown the way here so if you want gear contact him immediatly.

I read a book some time ago called “Legacy” by John Kerr and it is on what the All Blacks can teach about the Business of life. There are many great Chapters in it including one SWEEP THE SHEDS and the following piece is most interesting: -

This is when something happens you might not expect. Two of the senior players – one an internationals player of the year twice – each pick up a long handled-broom and begin to sweep the sheds. They brush the mud and the gauze into small piles in the corner. While the country is still watching replays and schoolkids lie in bed dreaming of All Blacks’ glory, the All Blacks themselves are tidying up after themselves.

Sweeping the sheds.

Doing it properly.

So, no one else has to.

Because no one else looks after the All Blacks.

The All Blacks look after themselves.

‘It’s an example of personal discipline’ says Andrew Mehertens, former all Blacks fly-half and the second highest All Blacks points scorer of all time. ‘It’s not expecting somebody else to do the Job for you. It teaches not to expect things to be handed to you’. ‘If you have personal discipline in your life’ he says, ‘then you are going to be more disciplined on the field. If you are wanting guys to pull together on the field, you have got to have that. You don’t want a group of individuals.’ ‘It’s not going to make you win all the time,’ he says, ‘but it’s certainly going to make you better as a team over the long run’. His big saying is ‘A collection of talented individuals without personal discipline will ultimately and inevitably fail. Character triumphs over talent’.

There is a little lesson here for all as the greatest team in the world balance pride with humility and so many can learn from it before putting the finger in the other person’s eye. Well done Castlelyons – never too big to do the small jobs that need to be done – a legacy for the future.