Gym rat culture is making our sports less skilled but more dangerous

WATCHING RTÉ’s excellent Prime Time programme on concussion in sport and its consequences should serve as a wake-up call right across the sporting spectrum. As popular as rugby is, particularly in Limerick, it is easy to understand why a lot of parents are apprehensive about their children taking up a sport where playing the ball appears secondary to physical contact. And ever since the prospect of a wellpaid professional career became the prize at the elite end of that game, the players have all gotten a lot bigger, stronger and faster. That in turn means that the collisions and the physical exchanges have gotten a lot bigger, stronger and faster at the same time. The documentary evidence has long been in place of the brain trauma suffered by some professional soccer players as a result of constantly heading the ball. And even though a soccer ball in the modern era is closer in weight to a balloon than the bag of sodden cement which players in the not-too-distant past had to deal with, at underage level in some countries rules are now in place to limit children heading the ball. While the GAA has introduced concussion protocols in recent times, I sometimes think that we still don’t fully appreciate that our players are also being exposed in a very real way to the threat of brain injury. Particularly so, given that coaches at underage level are more focused on developing the power and strength of young people rather than actually developing their skill set. Anyone who watched that programme would realise that taking one step back from the GAA gym culture would represent two steps forward in protecting the health of our players.