Wounded Lion uses down time to learn from other sports
LAST Wednesday social media was suddenly swamped with pictures of the Lions squad touching down in Auckland, the chosen few greeted by large groups of supporters and the customary hakas as they dragged their bags through the airport.
However, the most interesting picture doing the rounds that day was one posted by the world-famous Harvard Business School.
The snap welcomed the latest participants completing its Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports program – including actress Katie Holmes, Barcelona footballer Gerard Piqué, Portland Trailblazers shooting guard CJ McCollum, recently-retired NFL cornerback Rashean Mathis and... Jamie Heaslip.
The opportunity to take part in the four-day seminar arose after Heaslip was struck down with a ‘pretty serious’ injury − which he is keen to keep private − that has seen him sidelined since late March.
Once he can put the books away, the Leinster star is planning to squeeze in trips to visit the training facilities at both the Boston Celtics and NFL heavyweights the New York Giants in order to gain some insight into what makes two of the world’s top sports teams tick.
For Heaslip, taking tips from other sports is the key to making the most of yourself as a rugby player.
‘I think you’re naïve if you don’t,’ he says, speaking in one of the two Dublin bars he co-owns a few hours before boarding his flight to Boston.
‘If you keep looking in on your own sport and not looking at other sports, business or organisations, even defence forces or anything like that... you look at how other people do things for outside ideas and how they might apply, because otherwise you don’t see the wood from the trees.
‘I’m hoping to see the Celtics, and I’m hoping to get into the Giants if I can. They’re in pre-season camp so it would be great if I could get to see one of their sessions, as I missed out on going to the Chicago Bulls in November (with the Ireland squad).
‘I’m a big NFL fan, a Patriots fan, and I watch it every Sunday when I’m in recovery mode after a game. Six o’clock, I watch it for a few hours and chill out.’
Unfortunately, Heaslip has recently found himself doing a lot more chilling out than he would like, that rare injury setback meaning played no part in Leinster’s season run-in while also ruling him out of both the Lions and Ireland’s summer tours, although he plans to meet up with some of Joe Schmidt’s squad on their down day in New York before he flies home on Thursday.
Two-time tourist Heaslip wasn’t in the packed Leinster canteen as his team-mates learned their fate the morning Warren Gatland announced his Lions squad, but he did offer a few words of wisdom to those selected for the famous red jersey for the first time.
‘It’s not that I was a deer in headlights (in 2009) but I relied heavily on the experienced players from Ireland, the likes of Paulie [O’Connell] and David Wallace to guide you through it.
‘The best piece of advice I got before going was from Shane Horgan, who said just to embrace it all and try enjoy all the unique things that the Lions does and the opportunities that present themselves.’
Heaslip’s love for the Lions is clear, as is his frustration at having to sit out this trip, but he admits that on his first tour in 2009 he found himself doubting whether he would be able to cut it at that level.
‘I’ll never forget it, we (Leinster) had just won the Heineken Cup, so I was a little tired, let’s say, when I arrived in Lions camp the next day.
‘Our first training session was on the Monday in Johannesburg, which is at a slight altitude and I remember Gats (Gatland) doing a kind-of three minute rucking drill, and I was just like “I’m not cut out for this, I’m not cut out for this level.”
‘But then you get comfortable and start getting to know people, and you realise that everyone is there to help everyone else out because it’s bigger than any one person. It’s all about adding to that Lions legacy.’
The Kildare native also admits the sheer scale of being a Lion didn’t fully hit home until he stepped off the bus for those 2009 Test matches.
‘There was one particular moment at the Loftus Versfeld, where there’s a bit of a long walk where you walk through the crowd to get to the changing room.
‘Usually I’d put headphones on, but I remember getting off the bus and all the South Africans outside having
braais (Afrikaans for barbecue), caravans pulled up with all these Lions supporters and they were so loud that I thought, “there’s no point in me having headphones on”.
‘I remember doing the walk and hearing the Scottish accents, Welsh, English and Irish, then all the South Africans, it was a real cauldron.
‘That was the moment where I realised how big it all was. It made me go “OK, I’m excited, let’s do this”.’ And despite being thousands of miles away, Heaslip is still excited about
seeing how the current crop fare. Jamie Heaslip was speaking at Lemon & Duke during the launch of the new healthy drinks range CocoFuzion100