Opening Day for Hurling
May 13th, 2004This weekend is the first week of matches. A notable match this week is the very first match of the Milwaukee Hurling Youth League. The County Clare Stingers and Jimbo's Badgers will match up at 10am to start off the day at Brown Deer Park and will be followed by the 4 adult matches for the Milwaukee Hurling Club. Every year the club holds a player draft and everyone is essentially shuffled and placed randomly on a team each year. Last year I played for the Milwaukee Ale House and this year I play for McBob's...
Even though most of the players change, the 2 captains on each team are usually permanent. Steve and Craig have been running the team the last several years and have won the last 2 championships. I believe it has a lot of do with how they approach the game with a focus on passing and team coordination. Tonight we have a team practice and Craig will take us through his game theories and work on each of our skills to make sure we are ready to play his type of game. I should learn a lot.
The previous 2 years that I have played the teams did not really hold team practices. In my rookie year Hanley's just simply did not hold any team practices and last year the attendance for practice was less than a handful of our own players. That does not help with developing team synergy. I have heard that the McBob's team practices have a very high attendance and it is obvious in how well they pass and move as if it were scripted for gameday.
My match is at 2pm on Sunday so I will have time to enjoy a little food around noon and watch the other matches. I have invited nearly everyone I know, so if you would like to come, eat and watch some hurling feel free to come. There will be grills all lined up. Bring a cooler with some drinks, food for the grill and a chair. It will be a great day to kick off Summer.
