THE UNSUNG HERO OF GAA WHO’S CHASING HIS SIXTH WORLD TITLE
Not content with five world titles, veteran handballer is driven to claim his sixth
PAUL BRADY has spent his career chasing Naty Alvarado through the record books. Before Brady, there was Alvarado, a Mexican who crossed the border into Texas as a 20-year-old in 1976, seeking fame and fortune through his sporting talent.
This was a point in time when the American dream was still possible. Over two decades, El Gato (the Cat) dominated the sport of handball like nobody before him. By the time he retired, he was widely considered the greatest to ever lace up a pair of gloves.
That was until Brady came along. For the past 15 years, the Cavan native has exerted such a dominance over the sport that his achievements have occasionally taken this minority pursuit into the mainstream. Records have tumbled. He has been world champion five times. Considering the championships are only held every three years, that’s a remarkable statistic.
He is flying out to America this week, at 38 years of age, searching for his sixth world title. But that is not the main goal on his mind. There is one place in the record books where Brady is still chasing Alvarado (right). The Mexican won 11 US National titles. Brady is stuck on 10 — he has lost the finals in the previous two years.
That is what brings him to Minnesota this week. Ostensibly, Brady is there to defend his world title. To become world champion for an astonishing sixth time. But the US Handball Association have amalgamated the US Nationals and the Worlds into one big extravaganza for the sport in Minneapolis.
‘When I won the fifth world title in Calgary, I thought that was definitely it. I wasn’t going to play the worlds again. But I wanted to play once more in the US Nationals, just to get that title record. Back in January, they announced that they were going to combine the two competitions, the worlds and the US. ‘So, this is the world championships. And I will be defending my title there and it would be nice to get a sixth world title but my mind is mostly on getting the 11th US title. That is my main focus.’ It is hard to believe that Brady has one more summit left to scale given everything he has achieved. But it has been his drive and his competitive nature that has allowed him to remain at the top for so long. This is a man who managed to win the 2009 World championship final, despite tearing a quad muscle during the match. He drank some pickle juice to relax the muscle and continued with the game. This is a man who has managed to force handball occasionally into the national conversation. Not bad for someone who for years had to fight the perception that he was the Cavan footballer who was good at handball.
‘It took a while to shake that tag off,’ Brady admits. ‘But I think the sport has a bit of a better profile now, whether it is through what I have done or not, I don’t know. And it is not something that I reflect too much on. I am just trying to set goals and achieve them. Everything from that is just a by-product.’
Brady’s influence can certainly be felt in his native Cavan. There are four young handball players from that county who are travelling over to America to compete in the Under 14 ranks. And he set such a high standard in the sport that it forced others to improve to just get to his level.
The consequence of that is this year’s world championship may have the most talented field that Brady ever played in — certainly the strongest field since 2009.
Killian Carroll, the Cork man who now plays out of Boston, has beaten Brady in the past two US National finals and will be one of his main rivals. So too Galway’s Martin Mulkerrin and Amando Ortiz, a Californian who is known as a gunslinger in the parlance of the sport for his all-out attacking style and who beat Brady at the 2016 Players Championship.
Before Brady can along, Irish handball centred on the legend of Kilkenny’s Duxie Walsh, but the influence of the Cavan man has produced a gifted generation. As in Ireland, the sport is strong in certain pockets of the US and Canada and while America is traditionally its main power-base, there will still be 10 different nationalities represented at the worlds, including players from Ecuador, Japan and Trinidad & Tobago.
And the competition is younger, faster and more driven. Brady concedes that all his main rivals at this world championships will be, at least, a decade younger than him.
‘Most of my main rivals are 24, 25, 26. But I am still training to the level that I was at that age. I don’t think it is necessarily a young person’s sport. I certainly choose not to believe that at this point of time. The motto of handball is that it is a sport for life. You can play it at any time, at any age, maybe not to the top level, but you see lads playing into their late sixties. That won’t be me. When I am done, I will be done.
‘What I am trying to do is break through barriers and that is what I have always tried to do throughout my career. My numbers are still where they were 10 years ago in terms of being in the gym and things like that. Physically, I am trying to get as close as to where I was in my prime. I think I have done that, but the proof of the pudding
MOST OF MY MAIN RIVALS ARE 24, 25, 26. BUT I AM STILL TRAINING TO THE LEVEL I WAS AT THAT AGE. I DON’T THINK IT’S A YOUNG MAN’S SPORT
will be in the eating.’ When he was at the peak of his powers, Brady concentrated entirely on his game. He was a full-time handball player, living for six months at a time in the US, staying with friends in Chicago or San Francisco as he dominated the pro tour. However, life has changed for him in the past few years. He got married and himself and Shauna bought a house in Virginia. He has gone back to his old job of primary school teaching, having secured a post at a national school in Cavan town. Other things have got in the way. He can’t spend as much time on the court as he once did. And he’s gone back, playing football. When he was playing handball professionally, Gaelic football had to take a back-seat. But he returned to Mullahoran this year, helping the club to get promotion back to Division one after they were relegated for the first time in 40 years last year.
‘It was always a worry that you would pick up an injury, playing football. But I did miss the football for the few years that I didn’t play. It was great for fitness and great for taking my mind off handball. You can get side-tracked by it and it helped me because if I was just immersed in handball, I might have burnt out. My thinking was all-or-nothing, so football was a good outlet for me in that way.’
Maybe, there are some out there who are wondering why Brady is coming back, at all. He could have walked away at the very top with his fifth world title three years ago.
But he knows that this week offers an opportunity to cement his legacy. To prove that he is the greatest by catching Alvarado one final time.
‘I try not to reflect on that too much,’ Brady says when asked about his place in history. ‘Maybe when I finish up, I will reflect a little more but I haven’t stopped to draw a breath during my time in the sport. I have always focused on my next goal and my next challenge.
‘But for me, to go and win this would cement a lot of things in my own mind and that is what is most important to me.’