Wisconsin Hurling. Is it the way forward

[Denn Forever]

Coming from football land, I am in awe of the skill of hurling.

What did people think of the article in the Sunday Independent ab out the rise of Hurling in Wisconsin (not sure of the correct spelling of Milwalkee). 

Would it be a template for populatrising the playing of hurling in the weaker counties or does it require that potential players stumble upon the game?

[Gnevin]

    * Share
          o Digg
          o del.icio.us
          o Google
          o Stumble Upon
          o Facebook
          o Reddit
    * Print
    * Email
    * Text Size
          o Normal
          o Large
          o Extra Large

    * Articles
    * Topics

Articles

    * Young refs step out of shadows
    * Drain Game: Wexford star opts for soccer
    * Camogie fury over TG4 'discrimination'
    * UCD clear to play in Dublin
    * RULES OFF THE ROAD
    * Weekend GAA scores

Topics

    * Dave Olson
    * Milwaukee
    * Gaelic Athletic Association
    * Seamus Howlin
    * Gaelic Hurling
    * Sports
    * Ireland

Also in Other Sports

    * Boxing: Sometimes, courage is needed to say 'enough'
    * Greatest final of them all
    * Tennis: Smeets powers his way to Open glory
    * Tennis: Out-of-this-world Venus proves she's still got it
    * Cycling: Hushovd excels in fiendish ending

Other Sports Home

Sunday July 06 2008

D AVE OLSON is not your stereotypical hurling name, yet he has developed a passion for the game that would equal anything you would find in the hurling heartlands of Munster. A convert from baseball -- in which he was good enough to get professional trials -- he has all the ardour of the converted in his desire to spread the good news about the game he loves.

Born in Minnesota 45 years ago, he is of Swedish stock, and was raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a place where the winters are long and the summers short. That is a bit of a drawback when hurling is your game, with the season lasting from April to the end of August.

However, none of this bothers Dave Olson. His only regret is: "I wish I had this game when I was a kid."

In fact, it was only 12 years ago that Dave was introduced to hurling. "There was a pub in Milwaukee I would pop into and in '95-'96, the bartender Tom Mills went to Ireland and came back raging about hurling. 'You would die for this game', he told me.

"There was a Tipperary boy, Dan Quigley, who was a bartender there also and he had the gift of the gab, and between him and Tom they were a good team to talk the game up. I invited Dan and his girlfriend to go camping up north and when we arrived at camp he suddenly said 'Come on for a puck-around' and it just felt right. It was natural. Things moved from there. We had tapes sent over, and I started reading books about the game."

Olson became one of the founders of the Milwaukee Hurling Club -- one of 24 in the beginning -- but he was the one who stuck at it and brought the club forward to such an extent that he was presented with a President's Award by Sean Kelly two years ago for his contribution to hurling.

A builder/developer, Olson and his wife Cory have four children -- two boys, Conor (22) and Dylan ( and two girls, Brenna (18) and Devin (10) -- all of whom are keen hurlers. Conor, who is in the Air Force and based in Portland, is keen to start a club there.

So how did this Milwaukee miracle come about? How did a hurling club flourish in this very American town to the extent that it has 264 players and only three of them are Irish-born?

"It's all word of mouth as far as Milwaukee is concerned," Olson explains. "The season is short due to the weather patterns here and we have had practice when it was snowing. We practise when it's freezing and we still get 37 new adults a year signing up, and that's a 10-year average. Four years ago, we had 51 show up wanting to play.

"This is our 13th year and last year we won the North American County Board Junior B Championship. That was the men's first championship, but the women have won two junior championships. We put some priority on the women, they are incredibly important to this club.

"Women are about 15-17 per cent of the club. The young girls, when they get to 15, move up to adult, because we don't have a minor grade. And part of their homework going back to school is to get a hurling programme going in their school. I'm expecting a strong surge of young people into the club in the next few years.

"From 15 up, we have eight teams with squads of 20, men and women playing together, and that's why we've won two camogie championships."

To get some idea of the standard of play, I asked Seamus Howlin, chairman of the GAA's Overseas Committee. He was present at the Junior B final and was suitably impressed. "They had all the skills, hooking, blocking, striking, so they were obviously well-coached¸ and they put up a big score, which you need skill to do. There were a couple of brothers on the team that I felt if they got more hurling they'd make seniors."

Six months ago, the GAA recognised Olson's contribution to Milwaukee's development by appointing him Hurling Development Officer for the NACB (all of the USA apart from New York). He will be bringing some revolutionary ideas to his task.

"When we train, everyone trains together," he says, "the youths alongside the adults, and everyone is ranked on a scale of one to 25. The computer then decides what teams will do best, on paper, for competition all year long. The captains will have 10 different ideas of a team and they decide which selection is best for the club competition-wise.

"The club comes first and the team second. This means our top players are playing with our lowest-ranked players, who are then forced to keep up."

The games take place every weekend of the summer from May until August, starting at 9.0am every Sunday until 5.0. Thanks to a good partnership with the City of Milwaukee the club has several locations they can avail of, but they are also very proud of their independence and raise their own funds. Already, Olson has made progress in his role of development officer. "Last year there were five or six teams in the Junior C championships, this year there are 13 squads, all mainly American-born."

Dealing with the media is part of his job and he wasn't too pleased when the Wall Street Journal put a spin on an interview with him, which suggested that the GAA is dying in North America. When the New York Times called him last Friday, he had to rebut this, pointing out that the Continental Youth Championships in Chicago last year were contested by 114 teams, again mainly American-born.

"Just getting a picture of the game out there is the big thing," he says. "I want hurling to be as big as soccer, American football or baseball. It's one of the most amazing games anyone has ever seen and designed for the American psyche. It's just a matter of getting the word out and it can go anywhere.

"And the GAA offers a great ethic for kids as an amateur organisation. In Ireland, the sport's stars are your next-door neighbours. I just wish I had this as a kid."

When Nickey Brennan visited Olson last year, the GAA president was shown the garage and was taken aback by what he saw.

"I never saw so many hurls in one place in my life," he told Seamus Howlin. It's part of what Olson and the Milwaukee Hurling Club do. "If anyone needs equipment, their club can call Milwaukee," he explains.

"We bring in 70 dozen hurls a year, 400-plus sliotars, seven dozen helmets. We made helmets mandatory since 2000, following a club referendum," said Olson.

Dave Olson helped make possible what many thought was impossible, when he brought hurling to Milwaukee, but the game is thriving there, and now his sights are set on extending the game's influence right across the North American continent. If anyone can do it, Olson can.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/americas-hurling-messiah-1428554.html

[The Real Laoislad]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttSbj9tNwmE&feature=related

[didlyi]

Wow. Very Impressive. Any chance of getting them enrolled in the leinster championship?

[neilthemac]

they'd be too good for wexford, offaly or the Dubs

good idea about the shadow referees though.

[Bord na Mona man]

It's great to see.
I think in Ireland, many people from non-hurling areas are slow to take up the game because it is sold as a game that only the elite few can be proficient at.
People then either feel they will never become good at the game and don't bother, or else are simply turned off by all the snobbish back slapping from hurling traditionalists.
The upshot of this is that many non-hurling people are almost proud of their disconnection from the sport. Many's the time I've heard football fans quip about hurling being a "foreign sport". Which is a terrible pity that this is the way the battle lines have developed.

The priority of the Milwaukee people seems to be that people enjoy the game and enjoy learning the skills. This should how hurling is spread in Ireland. Forget about trying to hotwire the All Ireland championship to get some sort of quick fix.
Getting the young people playing, practicing and enjoying the game will be how the sport survives.
Having the majority of people proficient in the game should be a bigger priority than trying to get 15 men in a county capable of taking on the big counties.

[Lecale2]

They play men and women together on the same team. That will remove the physical element from the men's game.

[thejuice]

It's great to see.
I think in Ireland, many people from non-hurling areas are slow to take up the game because it is sold as a game that only the elite few can be proficient at.
People then either feel they will never become good at the game and don't bother, or else are simply turned off by all the snobbish back slapping from hurling traditionalists.
The upshot of this is that many non-hurling people are almost proud of their disconnection from the sport. Many's the time I've heard football fans quip about hurling being a "foreign sport". Which is a terrible pity that this is the way the battle lines have developed.

The priority of the Milwaukee people seems to be that people enjoy the game and enjoy learning the skills. This should how hurling is spread in Ireland. Forget about trying to hotwire the All Ireland championship to get some sort of quick fix.
Getting the young people playing, practicing and enjoying the game will be how the sport survives.
Having the majority of people proficient in the game should be a bigger priority than trying to get 15 men in a county capable of taking on the big counties.

You've hit the nail on the head there. There's not going to be a quick fix to it. Re-designing the All-Ireland wont make a difference. The cream will always rise to the top. Promote the game more at under-age and in school. Improve coaching in these counties.

When I was in primary school we only played hurling for one year and the school gave up on it. It didnt even exist at secondary level. Even our local club refused to start hurling on the basis of a lack finances. 

[Baile an tuaigh]

You can add another team onto the junior c. We started a new Hurling club in Chicago this year. The policy is no Irish need apply. It is strictly for Americans. We have 25 players now registered and we hope to soon have enough to make two teams. Badly needed for games. We played 4 matches last weekend and competed fairly well. The problem is traveling. Our nearest competitors are Milwaukee who are two hours away. Indanapolis which is 3 and half hours away and St Louis which is over 4 hours away. However we are still going through the teething problems but so far it looks good. www.michaelcusack's.com

[didlyi]

People then either feel they will never become good at the game and don't bother, or else are simply turned off by all the snobbish back slapping from hurling traditionalists.
The upshot of this is that many non-hurling people are almost proud of their disconnection from the sport. Many's the time I've heard football fans quip about hurling being a "foreign sport". Which is a terrible pity that this is the way the battle lines have developed.

I think this is a pathetic excuse for not playing hurling. If you come from any hurling county outside the big 3 you will be subject to the snobbery you correctly mention. It doesnt however prevent us from hurling in an effort to Join them. Speak to you county board delegates about this. They are more likely the culprits.