Hurling

One of the most memorable experiences I had from the trip was to see a Hurling match between Galway and Clare. Hurling is an Irish amateur sport where teams take a baseball-like ball and a hurley stick and try to make goals. It's a mixture of soccer, cricket, football, basketball, golf and baseball all rolled into one!  There are two types of goals: one is worth 1 point and looks like a field goal in football. The other is like a soccer goal that sits below the field goal and is worth 3 points. Each set of goals sits on the ends of the field. Players take the hurley, a stick mixed between a golf club and a bat, and hit the ball to other players or try to make a goal. They have to run with the ball on their hurley or hit the ball. They can catch the ball with their hand but can only run with the ball in their hand for 3 steps. The game consists of 2 35-minute halves with a half-time break in between. During half-time, children in the audience are invited to the field to practice their Hurling skills! It is such an amazing sport and I would love to learn more about it! Here are some videos of the game. Please excuse the videography....it's not very good! But, you can get a pretty good feeling about the game and how it works.