To play or not to play.......

Just making a seperate thread here from the discussion going on in another thread about players having to choose between their sports.

I am sad to hear that Katie Taylor was suspended from boxing for taking part in the international against the Swiss. It takes me back to the day when my irish dancing teacher told me " if you want to keep on dancing you will have to stop playing football.....you can never be a champion with a broken leg!!!" 15 years on.......no broken leg........and an ok ball player!! :D

I have seen it very widely involving players who also play for GAA clubs. It starts with them missing a few soccer training sessions because they are trying to please the two sports....a week on week off kinda job. Then they start to miss a couple of games. Then they disappear altogether citing that they were told they cant play soccer if they want to play GAA.

I for one think that it is a sad state of affairs that a country that is facing an obecity epidemic can have sporting authorities that condem their stars for taking part in any other sports. I have seen this happen at all grades of sports and at all ages. Take for example the 8 year old child who has no interest in Playstaion and prefares to spend every evening and weekend playing sports for his local teams. Be that soccer, hurling, karate, irish dancing, boxing......whatever......you get the point.

Who has any right to punish a person for choosing to be the best they can be at the many things they love?

Well there is also an issue with Women's Gaelic Football. The following County panels get their players to sign an agreement NOT to play soccer. Dublin and Kildare :(

I think it's a disgrace to force a child to choose one sport over another, i've experience it in the past when playing myself and other players had to drop out due to "pressures" from other sport...namely GAA sports.
In saying this there are some clubs who are very accomodating, the teams I'm involved with has a good relationship with the local GAA club so there are very few hassles. However its sad to say that this is a minority

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Squeez

I think it's a disgrace to force a child to choose one sport over another.

---

Don't think Katie would appreciate being called a child to be honest, and with her european boxing title, i wouldn't like to be the one to call her a child either. But the sentiment is whats important, I think the boxing missed a great promotional opportunity, nearly 1,500 screaming girls at the Switzerland match, at least the same at the scotland game, with the Germany game away the following week, they should be promoting the fact that Katie is a boxer, and that her second sport is Soccer, that's the ironic thing, she openly puts the boxing first, and only plays soccer when it suits boxing. she wasn't supposed to be playing against the scots or germans, but probably will now. ironic isn't it, the boxing make a decision, and force her to play soccer instead of boxing. serves them right.

wasn't callin Kate a child, was just talkin about how kids are forced to choose one over the other...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Squeez

wasn't callin Kate a child, was just talkin about how kids are forced to choose one over the other...

---

I know, was kinda funny though.

Fully agree with u here Countryripple... I think it is disgraceful to make anybody, let along a child chooses between playing different sports. I myself have been faced with this problem and while it was clearly football for me, I know many people who have not had such a easy time deciding which sport to continue and which to lose...
The choice I had to make was the most common - soccer or GAA (well, camogie in my case) however I play other sports also and if I had to choose between one of those and football, the decision would have been much much different! (as camogie was my least fav, but loved all the same!)
From my experience, it is usually at the loss of sport in general, rather than gain of any sport/club, no matter what the decision is.... For example, if a player decides to play GAA and therefore has to give up football, it is not just the football that is at loss, would a player not be fitter and more "on the ball" if paying football aswell a GAA, therefore benefitting the GAA? :confused:
I don't really understand this to be honest, has this divide developed due to one sport fearing a player will be injured whilst playing the other or purely because of time-restraints? While playing camogie, my times/days did not clase as training and matches for camogie and football were on different days but yet the dissatisfaction, of my playing of the two,was clear from day one. :mad:
This kind of ties in with another tread that has been started about the age at which people should begin playing sport and whether or not a player should be able/allowed to play up in age groups if skill should allow... For example a 14 yr old playing at senior level... While I know there is an age limit of 16 for football, I don't think any such limit applies to GAA? I think no matter how good/strong a player is within his/her age group (as this applies to lads too!) no player should be allowed to play higher than one age group above their own... Not only does this put stress on the player in terms of feeling like they have to perform all the time against people possible half their age again but it also means that very young players may be run into the ground at a young age which, speaking from experience, I fear may lead to that player eventually totally disliking, and thereofre giving up the sport which they obviously loved, at one stage... :(
Anyway....
That's my rant over, sorry!