Last week, my dear friend Hannah came to visit me again! So many parts of her trip were as amazing as expected. She joined in a basketball practice with the IT, which was so fun, and then was our best fan when she came to cheer us on at our games. We cooked breakfast for dinner for some of my closest friends here in Carlow, where the main event was some American bacon that Hannah had brought from home. I enjoy the good rasher here and there, but nothing can beat some real bacon.

But it was one aspect of her visit that I found surprisingly satisfying. Showing her around made me realize that I feel comfortable and familiar enough here to show someone else around and be their guide. I have gone from being the tourist to the tour guide. It was awesome to be able to show her around Kilkenny with the confidence of a regular (I can thank my Irish friend Alan for that confidence, for he had shown me around the city just the week previous), and to translate the odd idiosyncratic Irish saying. Hannah’s visit was primarily incredible because of all the time we got to spend together. But I’m also grateful that her visit showed me just how comfortable and familiar with my second home I have become! 

Victory Scholar: Lillian McCabe

Present University: IT Carlow

US League: Atlantic 10

Club/Community Partner: ITC Basketball

Alma Mater: Davidson College

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland

Evening everyone,

As I write this, there are only 11 days until I return (temporarily) to the U S of A. While I am undoubtedly excited to see my friends and family back home, I can hardly believe how quickly Christmas break is approaching. When I think about the time warp that is my first semester here at the University of Limerick, I can say that the days are long, but the weeks are short.

My daily routine fills every hour of daylight (and as the sun sets around 4 pm these days, many hours of darkness as well) with soccer and schoolwork. Finals week is upon us, and with exams, thesis work, and grad school application deadlines looming, I have arranged for my mail to be forwarded to the library. Chipotle burrito deliveries welcome. 

In the rare moment I emerge from studying, you can find me on the field. This past week, I was grateful to play my first game in three months with my club team, Aisling Annacotty. After going down 0-2, we scored twice in the second half and tied the game. Yours truly had an assist on our second goal in the 80th minute, and I am happy to report another week without an injury. 

Aside from avoiding injury this week, I also managed to lead another successful coaching session with the 6-year-olds. After some discipline issues with one player in particular, I’ve come to realize how effective individualized attention can be. In weeks past, “Patrick” has played too rough with the other boys, and given up on drills and games when he doesn’t feel like participating. After training on Saturday, I spent some time working with Patrick one-on-one and I was really impressed with the improvement in his behavior. I’m definitely learning more about how to address the needs of the individual and of the group, and I look forward to using these approaches in future sessions. 

Many thanks to those who were kind enough to suggest fun drills like foxes and hounds and battleship; without your ideas, I would have undoubtedly ended up like Gulliver on Lilliput. A parent even joined in!

All my love to those back home….

After the Academy, I headed to the Jes to  witness some very talented U14 girls attempt to earn a chance to compete in the Southern Regional games. The trial was ran by fellow American, the illustrious Tim Rice, while Mike and I observed from the sideline. The situation eerily transported me back to AAU days but with a role reversal. Suddenly, I was one of the coaches with a roster to fill and a critical eye. My, how times have changed. The final Trial Day is this upcoming Sunday and look forward these girls put their best foot forward once again.

I appreciated the various skill sets on display but I was more impressed with the intangibles–the listening, the hustle, the reads–particlularly once they began scrimmaging. Obviously, no determinations have been made to date but I was so proud of all these girls just for being there. I used to be a nervous wreck  just going to AAU practice at their age nevermind playing to represent an entire region of my country. With 14 being such a pivotal age for girls in sport, I couldn’t help but feel encouraged by the good turn out on a sunny Saturday morning. The future of Galway’s Women’s Basketball is bright.

Victory Scholar: Marritta Gillcrease
Present University: NUI Galway
US League: MAAC
Club/Community Partner: Galway Titans
Alma Mater: Rider University
Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland

Last Week of Classes!!!

This is the last week of classes for Caroline, Jim, and I which is unbelievable!! These past 12 weeks have flown by and it’s hard to believe that the semester is almost over!! Unfortunately, we do have exams after our Christmas break, but to complete a semester of a Masters Level course is a blessing in itself. 
To fill everyone in on our fun-filled weekend I talked about in my last entry, I will start with the bad news first: we lost in our National Cup game on Sunday afternoon. It was a tough game for us, but I believe that we will learn from it and regroup quickly for our last two games of 2012. As for the good news of the weekend, the U13 Junior Girls Elks won their game against Monaghan, which is Mrs. D’s old club and hometown. It was great to see the girls compete, persevere and get a win in what was a great and hard fought game between the two teams. I am proud of my team and I can’t wait to coach them in the games to come.
Lastly, since we were in Mrs. D’s hometown, I got a tour of Monaghan with Mrs. D, my Irish sisters, and the lovely mother of Mrs. D: Mrs. Brennan. Along with the tour of Monaghan, I also got to see the Castle Leslie in Glaslough where the like of Sir Paul McCartney was married. Toward the end of our Saturday, we went back to Mrs. D’s old house called the Brennan Farm. At the Brennan Farm, I got to see where Mrs. D’s basketball career all started, the basketball hoop her father built her (Picture). After our long fun-filled Saturday, we were able to relax for a couple of hours where we enjoyed cake (Mrs. Brennan is a great cook), biscuits (cookies), hot tea, and, to top our lovely Saturday off, the Justin Bieber documentary Never Say Never! 
Although the weekend didn’t end up as well as I would have hoped, I still had a blast and I am truly thankful and blessed to have this opportunity!! Thanks for reading!!

This weekend was a big weekend for the Irish basketball community, both the National teams and Superleague teams had their Cup playoff games and the winners got one step closer to the championship game. Yesterday, we played our quarterfinal match against Brunell from Cork. When we played them a couple of weeks ago we had only beaten them by 7, so we wanted to come out strong on Saturday and show them who we really are. I am happy to say that we came out with the win, 95-51!!! 

Being from America, my Irish teammates wanted to make sure I understood just how important the Cup is to the Irish basketball community. They compared it to the NCAA tournament/championship, saying that people from all over Ireland will come together for the Cup championship game in January. Even people who haven’t watched a game of basketball all season will come to the Cup Final to see the best teams in Ireland battling it out for the title. Anyone who plays basketball here in Ireland dreams of playing in the Cup final and makes that one of their goals. 

The team that I play for here in Limerick are the defending champions and have won 44 games in a row, so all season we have had a bullet on our backs and every team wants to be the team to beat us. Fortunately, everyone has risen to the challenge and we have advanced to the semifinals of the Cup, which will be played in January. The group of girls on this team is awesome! Every single player is so talented and contributes to the team’s success in some way. I am extremely lucky to be playing with such a great team who wants to achieve perfection every time they step on the court!

In addition to the many special experiences I’ve had in Ireland, I am able to celebrate my mom twice this year for Mother’s Day.  Today, March 6th, is the first Mother’s Day and the United States will celebrate all Mothers on May 8th.  Although I am forever grateful for everything my mom has done for me, it is still cool to have 2 Mother’s Days because she deserves it.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for being a blessing to your family and friends, especially me, Brian, and Monte Jr. We strive to be as special as you are every day and you help us every step of the way.  You are the strength behind every one of our achievements and would accomplish nothing without you.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you do for us. We love you very very much!!

Victory Scholar: Harrison Deyo

Present University: IT Carlow

US League: MAC

Club/Community Partner: IT Carlow Basketball

Alma Mater: Alvernia University

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland

Hey everyone!!

This past week has been very busy, but also very productive and fun also. As Jim, Caroline, and I are ending our 11th week of classes for the semester, we have been working diligently on many projects and papers to complete our modules. The Masters of Business Studies’ coursework we are doing has been very challenging, but very rewarding to us in a way that we are able to apply some of our work to Sport Changes Life and the organization’s day-to-day operations. This rewarding feeling makes doing the coursework more personal to us and more engaged in what we are doing in Sport Changes Life. 

After a long week of schoolwork, we had a weekend off from our schedules so we decided to take a trip to Dublin to meet one of Jim’s friends, Rob who was also there to visit. We took a tour of Croke Park where the Gaelic football, hurling, and camogie championships are played. I didn’t realize how much history was in just that one stadium an

It’s exam week and with all of the studying I have come across a couple quotes in my articles on strategy that are worth mentioning. The first reads: “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there”. Now I find that to be true in all aspects of life, not just crafting a strategy. You need to define what it is you want, be as specific as possible, and focus all of your energy on it. Reflecting back to a little over a year ago, I knew it was clear in my heart that all I wanted to do was to continue playing basketball, further my studies, and begin coaching. Amazingly enough, I was soon inline with the Sport Changes Life foundation. 

The second says “life is lived forward but understood backward”… This is powerful as well because too many times I found myself getting caught up in the Why? and How? of situations. It may not make sense right now, but looking back it’ll be so easy to connect the dots and understand why I was in that specific place, developed those certain relationships with coaches only to receive a random email from them later on saying “Hey G, thought you might be interested in this” with the SCL website attached… It will all fall into place if we just have faith that no matter where we are right now, we can always get to where we want as long as we make it clear to ourselves of what that actually is. The “how we get there” will make sense later once we get there and look back to make the connection. One thing I’ve learned and tell my teammates and players is to always focus on the end result, don’t worry about the “how”, that’s not our job.

This week was a stressful class week for me here at Trinity to say the very least. BUT, it has probably been the best learning experience from a class I have had in my entire life. This week’s class at Trinity – Applied Marketing Strategy – consisted of a simulation of 9 years of running a business in 5 days. It was an online game in which different “teams” in the class developed and marketed their products to the market and competed against each other. Each “round” consisted of a year of the business. We had to complete market research, allocate our budget in the right way, and deliver the right products to the right customers while still making a profit. My group had our fair share of 12-hour workdays, but we saw some success. Instead of merely sitting in the classroom, we actually got real-life experience that we can bring with us to our future jobs, while having some fun as a team as well. Granted, it was all so that we could get a decent grade, but in the future we’ll be making some real money!

Victory Scholar: Meghan McGuinness

Present University: Trinity College Dublin

US League Partner: MAAC

Club/Community Partner: Meteors Ladies Basketball

Alma Mater: Niagara University

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland

This weekend Matt Jim and I had a chance to go and explore Dublin. We decided we wanted to go to Croke Park with our friend Susie and learn about the Irish games of Gaelic Football and Hurling. While touring the stadium the guide shared so much history with us, we discovered how import the stadium is to the Country and the city of Dublin. Realizing the amount of pride that comes with Gaelic Football and Hurling I couldn’t help but think about how important and influential pride is. The players take so much pride in representing the county’s they play for, with the amount of emotions that I saw from these players in a film we were shown, you could tell they are playing for something bigger than themselves. Now, you should know that theses athletes do not get paid! And they sell out Croke Park which holds 82,300 people. Any money that the team gets goes right back into their county teams. I think these players are a great example of doing what you love, and that it is not all about the money, its about what makes you happy. I think the NHL, NBA, MLB, and NFL players should take a step back and look at these Irish athletes when they complain that they aren’t getting enough money. 

Joining SCL is a great example of my choice to be happy and live the life that I want. Unlike most of my fellow college gradates I chose to not go and get a job that I didn’t really like but payed the bills. And I hope I can keep doing what I enjoy throughout my life, a very smart guy told me one day that people should “work to live, not live to work.” I am not saying that money isn’t important but its not everything, just asked a gaelic football or hurling player.

Over the last couple of months of being in Ireland, I have realized that this entire Sport Changes Life experience will further prepare each of us for the real world. Whether we are in the classroom learning or on the court/field playing or coaching, the challenges we face in each environment will be similar to challenges that we will encounter once we start working. 

Being in a classroom with individuals from different backgrounds has allowed me to learn about some of the different cultures around the world. We have a mix of individuals from Ireland, France, Greece, Canada, Latvia, and India, so each individual has his/her own cultural perspective of how companies should market a particular product to consumers. These different backgrounds also bring individuals with varying personalities and varying levels of work ethic, which could cause some difficulties for group assignments. After working on numerous group assignments, I have learned 

the importance of accountability; holding each group member accountable for his/her specific responsibilities is necessary for the entire group’s success. 

In addition to working with individuals of different backgrounds in the classroom, I am also working with an individual from Poland, who is helping me coach my U16/U18 teams. We have been given the challenge of motivating teenage girls to work on their basketball skills instead of going to the disco on a Friday night. This has definitely been a difficult task for us over the last couple of weeks, because sometimes it seems like these girls are not listening to a word we tell them. However, this past weekend I saw a glimpse of what the girls are capable of on the court when they had a training session with my Superleague coach, James Weldon. I am hoping to use this as motivation and encouragement for them in the future! 

All of these situations have been challenging, but they have also been great learning experiences for me. These experiences are also preparing me for whatever lies ahead of me after my time here in Ireland and I am so fortunate for this opportunity!

This morning I woke up to a rare sight: snow in Ireland. This may not sound like a big deal to anyone living in the states at the moment; it wouldn’t have been a big deal if I were home right now either. Seeing as my team last year got stuck on a bus on the highway in Buffalo, NY for 30 hours because of a blizzard, you could say I’m pretty used to snow. But although many people may not be a huge fan of the white stuff that covers the roads and gets in everyone’s way, I think it’s beautiful. There is something so peaceful about the world being covered in white. It seems like time just stands still and nothing is wrong in the world. So this morning when I looked outside my window, my excitement was through the roof. I saw big snowflakes falling from the sky and onto the front square of Trinity College. It might not have been equal to the New Jersey or upstate New York snow (or it might have turned to pouring rain in a matter of 5 minutes), but it still made my day.

Victory Scholar: Meghan McGuinness

Present University: Trinity College Dublin

US League Partner: MAAC

Club/Community Partner: Meteors Ladies Basketball

Alma Mater: Niagara University

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland

Eating pig’s blood, coaching camps, and learning how to play Hurling and Gaelic football pretty much sums up my Dublin experience. Spending every second with the Sport Changes Life family in Dublin was fun, but it was imperative for Katie and I to depart to Waterford to attend Induction Day at WIT.  I feel both intimidated and excited to begin my postgraduate course for the upcoming year. Intimidation derives from the overwhelming amount of information the professors gave us on the first day and intimidating in a sense that I am an international student. However, I am excited because I like the feeling of being challenged so this year will truly test if I can obtain academic success in another country. In Ireland, graduate timetables, known, as schedules in America, are different than my academic scheduling at William and Mary. At William and Mary, you could create your own schedule where classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday typically lasted 50 minutes and classes on Tuesday and Thursday lasted an hour and a half. At WIT, they create your academic schedule for you depending on your course choice. Also, class is three times a week and can last from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

I am confident that I will be able to quickly adjust to Ireland’s academic culture, I am even more confident that Katie Fox and I will be a tremendous pair during our time in Waterford. Ever since middle school, I have been called by my last name Boone or Boonie and very few people refer to me as Jazmen. Katie has referred to me as Boone or Boonie ever since I arrived in Ireland, so I knew we were going to become great friends. Not only does my name reference give me a sense of home with Katie, but also there are other factors to why we are a perfect pair of scholars:

1.    1. We are both extremely competitive
2.    2. We are already on the same page about pretty much sharing all of our belongings like true friends
3.    3. She is easy to talk to and communicate with each other very well
4.    4. I can laugh constantly with her
5.    5. She’s a little ball of energy that will keep me going when I feel exhausted
6.    6. We understand that we are in this together to make our Ireland experience unforgettable

With that, Foxy and I are ready for what Waterford will throw at us and begin classes Tuesday 

Victory Scholar: Jazmen Boone

Present University: Waterford IT

US League: CAA

Club/Community Partner: Waterford Wildcats

Alma Mater: The College of William and Mary

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland

Evening everyone, 
Two quick stories to start out this week’s post and (hopefully) bring a smile to your face. In the middle of yesterday’s training session with my 5- and 6- year olds, one of them takes a shot that misses horribly (by about 20 yards) to the left…in response, he immediately throws up his hands in defeat and shouts out, “Oh man! My foot’s gone all wibbly – wobbly, and I can

“Can never get complacent”. This phrase can be used when relating to sports or in life in general. This is what I told my u20 players after our long journey to Jordanstown to face a very talented and well coached Belfast Stars. To start the game, my players played great! Knowing that in order to beat the Belfast Stars, they were going to need to play their best ball. They were moving the ball great, making open shots, playing great defense and just playing as a team overall. It was really nice to see everyone in the game contributing to our lead over the Stars. Because of the way we played in the first half, we were up by 13 points over a team that everyone thought we had no business being on the court with. 

Going into the locker room at the half, I tried to stress to my players to not let up, and continue to play how we were which had gotten us the lead up to that point. But as the second half started, I could see immediately that something w

as different. I didn’t see that sense of urgency that we had been playing with in the first half. Players were no longer, diving on the floor for loose balls, and we had players trying to do things on their own, instead of playing as a team. I could see that my players were complacent with just being up at half time. Whenever you are complacent in a match, the other team is always going to have an advantage over you because they are continuously fighting. 

Because of our complacency as a team, its hindered us. The Belfast Stars took advantage and went on a couple runs to eventually get them the win (Belfast 84-Titans 74). In the last couple of minutes my players gained a little sense of urgency because they realized that the needed to do something now or they would have no chance. But by that point, it was too little too late. We needed that edge at the beginning of the half rather than the end. 

Despite the lost, we still played very well for the majority of the game, but it was the complacency as a team that beat us. I told my players, in life if you are complacent, you will only remain where you are while other pass by you, and that is what happened in the game. Hopefully, my players learned from this and will only take something helpful out it.

Thank you for reading my blog this week, now I have get mentally prepared for a draining week of finals ahead. Wish me luck!!

With the Premiere League basketball season finished, my teammates Kelsey, Avril, and I are constantly looking for a new workout to do. Together we already do TRX training, circuit training, and on other nights just regular sessions at the gym. We like to always change up the workouts to keep them interesting and new.

With that being said, we decided that we would try Bikram Yoga. For those of you who don’t know what Bikram Yoga is, you’re going to think we’re nuts for trying it.  Bikram Yoga is also known as “hot yoga.” We thought yoga would be good recovery after the season, and the heat would make it more interesting. It is a 90 minute yoga class that is completed in a 40°C, or 104°F room. The best part of it all is that once the class starts, you cannot leave until the class is over. The main advice we got from people was “whatever you do, do not panic when you’re in there.” How reassuring.. 

Needless to say I was a bit concerned about the whole thing. For starters I have never done yoga, which would make this even more interesting than it already was going to be. I also equated the hot room to be similar to a sauna, another thing that I don’t particularly love. The more I write about this, the more I wonder why I thought this was going to be a good idea. But my thought process was, I should try everything once, I’ll never know if I like it unless I give it a shot!  

Surprisingly, I really enjoyed the class! It was definitely the most I have ever sweat before in my life! It added extra difficulty to the already very challenging yoga poses. To say the least, the three of us stuck out like sore thumbs trying to do these poses in a room full of experts.  

Regardless of our skill level, the heat, poses, and the overall vibe in the class created a very relaxing environment that left me feeling very refreshed and calm. I also woke up this morning with soreness similar to the feeling after lifting weights. I wasn’t expecting yoga to yield results similar to lifting weights.

I will definitely be back for more sessions, and who knows maybe I have found a new hobby!  

Victory Scholar: Sarah Benedetti

Present University: University of Limerick

US League: NEC

Club/Community Partner: UL Huskies

Alma Mater: St. Francis College 

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland

When I hear the word Football, I either think of American football (NFL) or Soccer (Futbol)….but neither of those sports apply in this case.

I love sports. As a kid, I played on a baseball team, football team, soccer team, basketball team, swim team, tennis team, and played a little golf. I look forward to the Olympics every time they come on because I get to watch sports I normally don’t see like handball, water polo, curling, etc. Until last week, I thought I had either played every sport or seen every sport but boy was I wrong.

I quickly learned of two new sports while running camps in Belfast and Dublin. I would also ask the campers what their favorite sport was and a few would say basketball, some would say “soccer” and Rugby, but most woudl say Gaelic Football and Hurling. Gaelic Football? Hurling? I had never heard of these sports. Naturally, the other scholars and I asked a ton of questions about how the games were played and  tried to learn everything we could about them. The best way to learn is to do, so the Sport Changes Life leaders arranged for us to have a training session on the field. This time we were the campers, and they brought in a professional player in both sports to give us a demo and let us try the sport the out.

The training session was very helpful for two reasons. 1. I got to finally play the two sports I have been hearing so much about. 2. By being a student and learning something new, I feel like I became a better teacher. Most of the kids we run camps for have never heard  of or played basketball before. I have played basketball my whole so sometimes in the camps I forget to bring the teaching points down to the basics. While I was learning about Gaelic Football and Hurling, I didn’t know any of the rules and it was difficult to play at first and I felt confused, just like for the kids in the camps that haven’t played basketball.  This experience will help me in my next baskebtall coaching sessions by putting into perspective what it is like to play a sport you’ve never heard of.

I would try to describe Gaelic Football and Hurling to you all but I wouldnt be doing the sports justice. I highly recommend looking them up on Youtube as they are both very physical and competitive, and a lot of fun to play.

Victory Scholar: Staats Battle

Present University: University of Limerick

US League: ACC

Club/Community Partner: University of Limerick Lions

Alma Mater: North Carolina State University

Sponsored by: Team Ireland

What a busy past week for the Victory Scholars in Belfast. As I explained in my last blog, we are finishing up the semester with an array of assignments and papers. A great aspect about being a Victory Scholar and going to school at the same time is that we can explore the innovative business practices we are learning in class and benchmark them against Sport Changes Life. While we understand that in the grand scheme of things we are novices in the business field, our professors urge all of the students in our class to think of ways to improve the practices of the company we work for.

Therefore, my fellow scholars and Richard, who works for the university Sports Outreach and works with us in Ehoops, choose SCL as the subject of our class papers. This is in the hopes to compare SCL with the most successful companies out there and come up with some applicable recommendations. Furthermore, MBS students need to get an internship over the summer in order to graduate. I hope to fulfill my internship through the business sales side of SCL. It will be a great opportunity to help sell the brand as someone who has loved the program, believes in the people and the cause.

On Wednesday my U15s were back in action out in Killanin against Moycullen. It was your typical bitter cold night with a bit of misting rain but little did I know the scene was set for magic. We arrived as planned and made quick work of getting changed before getting on the floor to warm-up.  Julia, who was sidelined after dislocating her knee earlier in the season, asked me a question I just did not expect. ‘Do you think we’re going to win?’ I furrowed my brow and asked her, ‘Why wouldn’t we?’ From there, we went our normal strategic route of working hard and hanging our hat on our defense. We forced a few turnovers and were able to get out in transition and eventually won the game. I wasn’t privy to just how important this game was for the girls until talking to Mike after the game. He told me that for the past 4 years these girls always finished second best against Moycullen so to be able to finally get over the hump was huge! And to beat them well, a score of 61-35, sweetened the pot for them and boosted their confidence. I’m hope we can build on this win for the rest of the season and indeed whenever they face Moycullen again they’ll know they have nothing to fear.

Victory Scholar: Marritta Gillcrease
Present University: NUI Galway
US League: MAAC
Club/Community Partner: Galway Titans
Alma Mater: Rider University
Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland

I’d be lying if I said my first week in Belfast hasn’t left my head spinning! It has been barrage of new faces and places that one blog couldn’t begin to cover. But with one amazing week behind me, I’m excited for the weeks ahead and the rest of my time here in Belfast. I’ve gotten a small taste of each of my roles that I’ll be playing here as a Victory Scholar over the course of my first week. Looking back on my first week here, one moment in particular reminded me why I’m here in the first place.

The energy was palpable walking into a small gym in West Belfast for Tiger’s basketball practice. It has been a long time since I witnessed and felt the atmosphere that comes from a bunch of gym rats’ unadulterated happiness of simply playing basketball on a Saturday morning. 3 v 3, 4 v 4, even a 3 v 4 game with some of the young ones, it didn’t matter to anyone as long as they were competing. I even saw it in a 4 year old’s eyes from just the simple act of dribbling from one side of the court to the other and heaving the ball at the 8 foot hoop. That feeling and energy, which just so happens to manifest itself so clearly in the youngest of players, is the fuel that drives Sport Changes Life. Experiencing it in that gym in West Belfast in its purest form was a treat that left me captivated as I watched from the sideline. It’s something I wish I could bottle up to serve as a reminder to foster it in gyms that I’ll be coaching in, regardless of age or talent level.

Unfortunately, it’s also something that is sadly lost on athletes as they rise through the ranking in their sport. Somewhere along the line, our endeavors which began from a place of passion become mundane. But in my experience, an athlete in touch with why he or she plays sports in the first place is a much better athlete for it. I knew I’d be coaching and teaching kids my sport while I was here, but little did I know of how much I will learn from them!

Victory Scholar: Clare Sullivan

Present University: Ulster University

US League Partner: Patriot League

Club/Community Partner: Ulster Elks

Alma Mater: The College of the Holy Cross

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland 

This past weekend, my Victory Scholar friends from the UL Huskies, Sarah Benedetti and Kelsey Harris, stayed the night with Boonie and I after our game against each other on Saturday night. On Sunday, we dragged our tired bodies out of bed to explore the nearby Comeragh Mountains, where Mahon Falls is located.

I’m not really sure how these mountains aren’t better known in Ireland because they were absolutely breathtaking. My Irish teammate Helena, who drove us yanks to see the mountains, was probably getting sick of hearing us say, “This is so beautiful!” about every five seconds. After the harrowing task of finding a parking spot, the five of us jumped out of the car to explore. The mountains were still partially covered in snow, which made them very slippery. But of course, my friends and I wanted to go up them anyway. We climbed all the way to the top of the Mahon Falls waterfall. The view from there was incredible. We were surrounded by two snowy mountain peaks, and could look straight out to see the land sloping downward until it reached the sea.

After taking a ton of pictures, we made our way back down the mountain. I don’t know if it was from the snow melting or from all the rain Ireland gets in general, but going back down the mountain was nearly impossible because of how slippery it was. I watched my friends wipe out one after another, splashing down onto the wet, muddy grass again and again. I’m pretty sure every time I laughed at them for falling, karma came around and got me back for it.

Splash!

Squelch!

Splat! 

Down I went 2, 3, 4 times! Each time I fell it was harder to get up—not because it hurt, but because I was laughing so much. Near the bottom, I even stepped in mud so deep that it sucked my shoe right off my foot when I tried to step out. Some poor stranger had to help me yank the shoe out of the mud hole afterwards because it was suctioned in there so deep, while I balanced on one foot since I only had a sock on the other. Needless to say, my shoe was completely covered in mud when I got it back.

Just when we thought we were in the clear, Sarah and I hit a final muddy slope together. Sarah slid a little bit, and I may or may not have seen this and decided to give her a little nudge to test her balancing skills. Sarah was too quick though, and grabbed both of my arms so that if she went down, she was taking me with her. She was basically running in place, sliding on the mud but unable to regain her footing. I was trying to keep my balance too while she wildly hung on to me, and we eventually ended up awkwardly half-walking, half-sliding down the muddy patch together. We gave a few onlookers a good laugh, but no one was laughing harder than my friends and I.

When we finally made it to safety, we all had big wet spots on our clothes from where we wiped out. Nonetheless, the whole adventure was a blast, and I wouldn’t trade one clumsy, muddy, laughter-filled second of it for the world.

Victory Scholar: Katie Fox

Present University: Waterford IT

US League: NEC

Club/Community Partner: Waterford Wildcats

Alma Mater: St. Francis College

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland

I arrived at Dulles international airport about 7pm on August 23rd excited to board my 10:30pm flight. My two cousins and my mother dropped me off at the airport. I exchanged my goodbyes to each of them and they all left. My excitement of boarding the plane to start a new chapter in my life became increased as I saw my family drive away from the airport.  As I watched them drive away I could only think about how hard my mom and grandfather worked to help me reach this point in my life. I knew that I had to approach this journey giving my all and being open to change.  I approached the British Airways counter and provided my passport and checked my bags in quickly. It was now time to move towards my boarding gate and wait for my flight. As I boarded the plane and moved towards my seat I just started to think to myself “my life is really about to change forever”. As the plane started to take off I sat in my seat and relaxed with my headphones in my ear listening to one of my favorite playlists. I shortly fell asleep and did not wake up until the plane landed in London. I quickly made my way through UK customs as my connecting flight to Belfast was leaving in an hours time. Once on my connecting flight to Belfast I felt the beginning of the change to my new self will begin very shortly. I arrived at Belfast international airport and thought to myself I am truly blessed to have just made it here coming from Washington DC.  To GOD be the glory. 

Victory Scholar: Jonathan McNair

Present University: Ulster University

US League: East Coast Conference

Club/Community Partner: Ulster Elks

Alma Mater: St Thomas Aquinas College

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland