OCCASIONALLY in this role you get invited to attend school events. On Wednesday, St Mary’s CBS, Glen Road invited members of the local sports media to attend a Q&A with some of Antrim’s hurlers who were also ex-pupils.
Michael Bradley, Conor Johnston, Aaron Bradley, Stephen Rooney, Daniel McKernan and Gerard Walsh gave up their time to be there alongside the Joe McDonagh Cup, while St Paul’s man and Limerick senior hurling’s strength and conditioning coach Cairbre Ó Cairealláin arrived with the Liam MacCarthy Cup.
A little earlier, the Year 8, 9 and 10 classes were being put through their paces on the school’s back pitches by PE teacher Mr Tony Austin – a man who is a bundle of energy and enthusiasm from school’s first bell in the morning to the last.
With the pupils, ex-pupils, teachers and media getting a soaking from the slate grey skies above, everyone migrated to the lecture theatre.
“Boots off, lads,” Mr Austin said to the pupils as they entered the theatre, all of whom were impeccably well behaved.
Ó Cairealláin and the Antrim hurlers took their seats at the front of the room and Paddy Cunningham, a teacher at St Mary’s, opened proceedings in Irish.
The day reminded me of my own school days. The older I’ve got, the more I've come to understand what an absolute privilege it must be to be a school teacher; to have the fantastic responsibility to nurture and guide the next generation.
All the Year 8, 9 and 10s listened intently to Mr Cunningham and Mr Austin. You can only imagine the positive impact they're having on these young hurlers on a daily basis both on the field and in the classroom.
During my school days, one teacher made a particular impact on me. Mr Paul Devlin taught us English, one of the few subjects I excelled at.
Everyone liked Mr Devlin because he had a sense of fun, he never talked down to us and just had a nice, light way of teaching his subject.
The other was Phil McVicker, a politics teacher at Belfast’s ‘Blackman’ Tech. Phil was as left-wing as they come.
His was a wonderfully, authentic, passionate indoctrination. He was so good at teaching the subject and holding your attention that his students felt well and truly energised – inspired even - after his classes.
The truly great teachers are the ones that hand their students a permanent compass, metaphorically speaking, for the road ahead. You sensed on Wednesday afternoon the St Mary’s lads were in good hands.
Team sport wasn’t as structured or prioritised during my school days, and yet the place was full of gifted street footballers that could easily have made something of themselves. But they were different times. So much talent was never harnessed.
Who knows how many of my school mates could have made it across the water or in Gaelic football or hurling had they been growing up now.
You’d like to think post-pandemic, schools are now bestowing more importance on the value of sport, particularly team sport and what it can offer young people.
It's impossible to have too many events like the one up in St Mary's on Wednesday afternoon.
On the stage, Paddy Cunningham reminded Stephen Rooney, a double Joe McDonagh winner with Antrim, that his hurling prowess left a lot to be desired in his first couple of years at the school.
It drew a wry smile from the St Paul's man and a few giggles from the pupils in the lecture theatre.
But the moral of the story was, with the right attitude and dedication, the kid who mightn't be the best hurler in his year group right now can still reach the top. Just like Stephen Rooney has managed to do.
Afterwards, Rooney told me: “I remember I was in this school and a couple of people came in to speak with us. I remember they spoke about enjoying school and I got a lot out of it. It wasn’t too long ago I was sitting here getting some advice, so it’s good to maybe give some back.”
Sitting in front of these wide-eyed St Mary’s pupils while the rain pelted down outside were success stories. Tangible, real and reachable.
“It just goes to show nothing’s impossible,” said Cunningham, “and if you work hard in school and work hard on the training field they can achieve and hopefully push on and develop themselves as individuals, for their clubs, school and Antrim in the future.”
And if a kid is struggling academically but thriving on a sports field, the benefits to their confidence and self-esteem are limitless.
It’s fair to say growing up today has never been more challenging for young people. As part of my own coaching education, I attended a safeguarding course earlier in the week where we were asked to identify the challenges a young person or child face.
An easy consensus was reached among the group that the whole area of social media and its ugly appendages were so difficult for kids to navigate. The peer pressure it engenders and often the bad role models associated with it.
If social media never existed would we be any worse off? Children would perhaps feel less pressure and stress.
There were many takeaways from the safeguarding course, and while it signposted areas of concern for coaches to be always mindful of, that are generally unrelated to the sport itself, it also celebrated the infinite possibilities of playing team sport and how it can nurture discipline, the right values and the absolute joy that can be derived from being part of a collective.
Every kid should get the chance to try it.