The Leader of the Pack

Maybe because of the way I am (I was born with Spina Bifida which effects my mobility), I have a great admiration for people that are dealt a blow in life through no fault of their own, or who face challenges that most if not all of their peers face, but do not let these blows or challenges hold them back in what they want to achieve.

I know many people might not agree with me on this, but while I have great admiration for those that take part in the Special Olympics be it at a local, national or international level, I have more admiration for those that take part in the Paralympics.

And the reason for this is simple (in my eyes anyway). Many if not all of those that are in the Special Olympics (are a bit like myself) were born with their disabilities and as they have got older they have found ways of getting around the disabilities they have the obstacles that those disabilities pose to them, that is of course the disabled person is allowed to find ways around their disabilities.

It might surprise some but there is a considerable amount of disabled people right around the world who are not allowed to think things out for themselves, and those that are thinking things out for themselves they are not listened to as many able-bodied people who are in contact with disabled people tend to think that their way of doing things is the correct way. More fool them I say.

For those that take part in the Paralympics life can (I feel anyway) be much tougher than those taking part in the Special Olympics. Many are taking part in these games as a result of having an accident which has often left them paralysed or may have had one or more of their limbs amputated as a result of an accident or maybe as a result of an incurable infection setting in and in a bid to keep a person alive surgeons decide to amputate a limb or limbs cutting off an infected area from the rest of the body.

After a person has some or all of their limbs amputated or after they have been left paralysed, their life is changed forever, something people who are born with physical or mental disabilities do not face as we know no different being the way we are from a very early stage. I know this might seem hard for some to agree with or understand but if you take the time to think about it, you might see that it makes sense.

I am someone that loves Gaelic Games. You might have guessed this if you are reading what appears on here anytime over the past seven plus years. I am however not like many Gaelic Games Supporters. I am note a hurling supporter, nor am I a football supporter; I am a supporter of both games in equal measure, even if the way football is played with the last number of years has at times turned me off watching some games and I can see the same happening with hurling going forward. I am not one of those people that buy into the notion of ‘the game is evolving’ thing. To me, to win a game you still have to outscore your opponent and to me that is often done by doing the simple or basic things right. And it is not just the men’s games that interest me like with many supporters. The ladies games to me are also important to me.

In fact I would say that in recent years I would rather attend a Ladies Football or Camogie game that a game played out by 30 plus men. The reason for this is (sadly) attendances tend to be smaller than what would attend a men’s game and therefore it is easier for me to get in and out of venues where the ladies teams are playing.

Hopefully in the coming years we will see a massive increase in the numbers attending the women’s games increase now that the games are receiving more coverage in the media, especially on social media where games are often to be found streamed live.

There are players in both of the women’s codes that I have huge admiration for despite not personally knowing some of the players that admire. In some cases I have never even spoken to some of those players.

Take the example of one player that I have admired for a number of years, the captain of the Waterford Senior Camogie Team this year – Niamh Rockett.

I don’t know what way Donal O’Rourke and his management team went about picking their captain this year. Did the management team sit down and discuss the strongest leaders in their panel and agree on someone (in this case Niamh Rockett) that would be certain to start games when fully fit, or if they consulted with the players in the panel, maybe giving them free reign to pick a leader of the pack for the year ahead.

Regardless of how they went about it, the choice of captain this year cannot be faulted. The Saint Anne’s Club player was the sides vice captain last year, and was the captain for a while in the National League when last year’s captain Shauna Kiernan was preparing for an All-Ireland Club semi final with Lismore early in the league.

Anyone that is following the game of Camogie in recent years will know that Niamh has not has it easy in recent years. In more than one occasion she has been told to give up playing the game she loves or faces risking spending the rest of her life in a wheelchair by the time she reaches the age of 30.

Most people that would be given this news by a specialist would obey the specialist straight away and call time on their career. But the talented Saint Anne’s Club player is no ordinary player.

In 2011 she was part of the Waterford Junior panel that won that year’s All-Ireland Final against Down in Croke Park and four years later she was part of the Waterford Intermediate Team to capture the All-Ireland Title beating Kildare again at G.A.A. Head quarters.

Last year the Saint Anne’s club player was one of four Waterford players nominated for an All-Star (Beth Carton, Lorraine Bray and Áine Lyng were the other three) and while Beth Carton won Waterford’s first All-Star when they were announced some weeks before Christmas, many would argue that the Saint Anne’s Club Player was extremely unlucky not to also have won an award as she was magnificent for both Club and County all throughout 2018.

Niamh has brought the form she showed last year into this year’s competitions, and it could well be argued that she has even upped her performances this year, revelling in the roll of team captain, the leader of the pack.

It’s probably fairly safe to say that it is from this weekend that Camogie will get most coverage as all games in the senior grade are to be televised. It’s also possibly be safe to say that it is from here that those picking the best 15 players of the year will be taking notice of who is who.

I for one don’t know who pick the Camogie team of the year or what criteria is used, but would if given the chance urge those tasked with the unenviable task of picking just 15 players as the best players of the year to try and get their hands on the recordings of as many of Waterford games as is possible and if they were to do this then they would not be disappointed with the performance of the Saint Anne’s Club player as they would with a number of other Waterford players.

Those that read reports of what is happening in the world of Camogie in the newspapers and online will be aware that the Saint Anne’s player suffers a great deal after games. How long more will she continue to play the game that she loves is only known to her and maybe those that she confides in. Maybe even as this stage she doesn’t know how long more she will play at the very top level.

She will know only too well these are exciting times for Camogie in Waterford and I for one think that there are some big days coming up. Will Niamh Rockett want to be part of these days? I don’t know the answer to that question, but I think many that play the game in Waterford and who are good enough to be part of a panel of up to 30 players would want to be involved.

For some, they give up all too easy. The slightest bit of pain for some is the end of their world. For other like Waterford’s Captain Niamh Rockett who keeps going thought the pain barrier she knows she faces every time she plays.

She even finds time to know that while she faces plenty of pain, there are those that are a lot worse off than she is.

 The Saint Anne’s Club Player is a P.E. and Maths teacher at the Blackwater Community School in Lismore, and knows the challenges that one of her past pupils faced in recent times.

Caoimhe O’Brien like Niamh Rockett was a sports fanatic and a member of the Ballyduff Ladies Football Club. In a match one day the teenager felt pain in her knee while running and on getting it checked out found that it was a cancerous growth.

The Ballyduff Club player a former pupil of the school which Niamh Rockett teaches at had her lower left leg amputated, but complications set in and the Ballyduff youngster lost her battle for life last May.  

The Saint Anne’s club player has in recent media reports spoken of her former pupil and how she regarded her as an inspiration to all, refusing to take the simple options in life, sitting in a wheelchair, instead proving to be headstrong and going to school using a pair of crutches.

With a long number of years I have had an interest in the life of Albino Luciani who in 1978 became better known as Pope John Paul 1 (the first). 94 days before he was elected Pope while Patriarch (Archbishop) of Venice, Albino Luciani while speaking at the Cini Foundation (a group of doctors studying pain) spoke of a Chinese man who said “I had only one pair of old ragged shoes and I moaned about it. One day I met someone who had no feet. I never dared complain again”.

Some people are stuck down with something in life and it is like life ends for them with whatever news they receive. But this is not always true. Just look at that way young Caoimhe O’Brien inspired Niamh Rockett when she was dealt a blow in life. Look at the way the Chinese man that the then Cardinal Albino Luciani spoke about three months before he was elected pope, and you see no matter how bad things seem for you in life, for others compared to what you feel at any given time, you don’t have any real worries.

No doubt there is many young girls (and older men as well as women) out there who see Niamh Rockett play Camogie and who have come to know the challenges that she face each time she pulls on that green and red jersey of Saint Anne’s or the white and blue of Waterford will be inspired by her and regardless of what challenges they face in life.

While wishing pain on nobody I for one feel that whatever pain the Saint Anne’s and Waterford player will feel after Saturday evening’s All-Ireland Quarter Final against Galway, it would be worth it all if Donal O’Rourke’s side were to face into an All-Ireland Semi Final in a few weeks.