I’m calm most of the time but will fight if I need to – that’s something I’ll never change
Davy Fitzgerald has adapted his coaching style post-lockdown but the passion still remains... ‘All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.’ - Blaise Pascal, Pensées
SITTING quietly in a room does not come easily to Davy Fitzgerald. Before he gets to talking about a trip to Everest, about mingling with monks in a monastery and trying to find that sense of stillness around a campfire in the Himalayas, not to mention trying to change young people’s lives via the medium of television and his new show; he talks about hurling and life in and out of lockdown.
He’s always been a man of action. That was evident as the firecracker Clare goalkeeper and double All-Ireland winner, or as the manager who then guided his native county to the summit in 2013. He also has the distinction of guiding Waterford and Wexford to county titles in 2010 and ’19.
Undergoing heart surgery and having stents fitted means he fits into that category of someone with an ‘underlying condition’, yet he has refused to be cowed by Covid.
He has thrown himself into his coaching role with his native Sixmilebridge with the holders back in the county final next Sunday.
Last Monday night, he was in the Wexford centre of excellence at Ferns, like a lead conductor with baton in hand as the senior hurling squad officially blew out their cheeks collectively for the first time since spring.
He has embraced the new abnormal along the way. Such as a live temperature check for the players to go with the online health questionnaire that every player and mentor must fill out. There are separate pods for different drills just to be ultra-cautious starting back. Separate dressing rooms are assigned for those separate pods.
He’s also signed off on filming another show, to go with another series of Ireland’s Fittest
Family. After the toughest summer
comes Davy Fitzgerald’s Toughest
Climb.
It was meant to culminate in an expedition to Everest Base Camp – until Covid-19 travel restrictions forced a different ending to be filmed.
It’s a bit like the Hollywood movie where a scene-stealing alternative ending lies on the cutting-room floor, such has been the myriad of ways the pandemic has impacted.
In the upcoming four-part observational series for RTÉ One, he links up with seven young men, all aged between 18 and 21, who have found themselves at a crossroads of an uncertain future. The show is framed with Fitzgerald pushing them to their physical and mental limits to see where a journey of self-discovery takes them.
‘We’re finished the programme. It’s where I take seven people from different backgrounds – unemployment, depression, drug addiction… different things – and I’ve worked with them just to see can we make their lives a small bit better.
‘It was the most challenging experience I ever had. It taught me a lot. I don’t think I can change their lives completely but do I think I could help them be a bit better? I’d like to think I can help them be a small bit better.
‘We worked with them for a number of months, in different environments, in different challenges. Tried to talk to them and see if we can get them on a different road. ‘So my real challenge will be in six months or a year’s time – did it make a difference? But I know already that it has made a difference to a few of them.
‘My biggest thing in life is, it’s not even about winning All-Irelands but it is seeing how people are when they achieve stuff. That’s my biggest thing. That’s why I wanted to do this project. To see if they could achieve these things.’
With the planned climax of Everest Base Camp off-limits, they had to improvise. ‘It couldn’t happen because of the travel restrictions. So the boys got a lot of knockdowns. The whole journey was meant to finish with going to Everest. They loved the idea of going to Everest and finishing their journey up there.
‘I went there before and it was one of the most unbelievable experiences of my life. It showed me another way of life. I didn’t have to think about anything else, only the hours of the day I was there. There was just me and the outside space – and that was it. Because I couldn’t do anything else. And it was so f**king good for me it was unreal.
‘There’s four programmes in it. We actually worked with the guys over a number of months. You’ll see X amount of television but the amount of support they would have got off-screen was huge. I’ve stayed in contact with them.
‘We had professional people talking with them. I think it was an opportunity for them to break the rut they were in and try to get on to another plane if they could.
‘I love Ireland’s Fittest Family because you get to work with a family but this is way different. Davy’s
Toughest Climb has taught me an awful lot about behaviour, about life, about understanding people. Okay, it’s a TV show but that’s not what it’s about for me. In a year, I want to see if I made a difference to any of those lads. If I made a difference to even two or three of those lads, it would be one of the biggest achievements I have done.
‘I promised the boys that they wouldn’t forget the experience – and I don’t think they will.’
His own expedition to Everest Base Camp in 2012 as part of a fundraiser for the LauraLynn children’s hospice set things in motion and was mind-altering in its own way.
‘I’m in as good a shape now as I’ve ever been but the second day on that trip was the hardest ever. It just got me to a different place mentally.’
Even after all the hard training with Clare during his playing days – the grassy torture of Crusheen and the accompanying Hill, Mike Mac’s commando mentality – this tested him in new ways. ‘You’re out walking for eight to ten to 12 hours a day – that’s a lot of walking for 12 or 13 days. I really want to go back to Everest. I remember one of my favourite days was the fourth or five day and we went into a monastery, where all the monks were. Man, it was incredible. The peacefulness, how simple life was, how they spent their day…
‘I raised €50,000 for charity that time I went out. Some of the people I brought with me, it’s made some difference to them.’
So, in reference to the statement by French philosopher Pascal, does this man of action, a whirlwind presence, find it hard to sit still in a room?
‘A massive challenge. But that was the good thing. I’m telling you, just even for yourself as a person, it’s such a different experience.
‘You get to see how another culture lives. You get to live in that culture where there is no TV, you sit around a room, there’s a fire on, you talk with everyone – it’s just that different. Rather than rushing around the place.’
THAT last statement sums up his other life as an intercounty manager. At Monday’s return to training, it felt so good to be back at the heart of the action and the adrenaline-filled rush of a county session. ‘I’m lucky to be involved with club and county so I get the benefit of both. I have done that for a number of years.
‘Getting the club was great. Getting the county back is absolutely brilliant. For these guys, it’s a year of their inter-county career. I heard people saying we should leave it, forget about it. I do not agree with that whatsoever.’
Micheál Martin’s recent comment as Taoiseach about the staging of the All-Ireland Championship being a symbol of a country fighting the virus struck a chord with him and he got a sense of that in the mood of the players.
‘I think his comments, and in fairness to Leo Varadkar as well – he did say in the middle of this thing
that he could see an
All-Ireland happening – that’s a big thing.
‘I have one big word in life: hope. And they both did give that hope.
When maybe the top brass in the GAA didn’t always give that. That hope is very important from a mental side with the players, from people at home getting to watch their county, that’s important.
‘Do I recognise that we have to be conscious of more stuff? I totally respect that. I have an underlying condition so I’m very conscious of it. But I’m one of those people who wants to get out and get stuff done. I want to get on and live life as best I can.
‘We trained in Ferns.
I’m lucky in
Ferns, we have three or four fields. I trained them in different groups. Elite teams can train away but I did it in groups.
‘We take the Covid guidelines very serious. We have a guy in charge of that. So we’ve all these conditions when they come in – you’ve to fill out a form online, which we do. But just to double check it, we check everyone’s temperature coming in.
‘I think we have four different dressing rooms. It’s very segregated. I’ve told anyone who wants to just come in their car and go home again, no problem either. It’s very much about personal responsibility as much as collective.’
The response?
‘Every single player is back. A lad that is 28, 29 or 30 years of age, he doesn’t know if he has one or two years left. He wants to enjoy every year that’s there.
‘I said to them, “We’re going to take it as if there is an All-Ireland. Every day we’re out here we’re going to enjoy it, train hard, and prepare as if the first match is
‘I’M VERY MUCH A CONTACT MANAGER BUT I FIND MYSELF PULLING BACK NOW, NOT DOING IT’
coming up on the 31st of October. No ifs, ands, or buts.
‘If we’ve issues along the way – if there’s a case – we’ll deal with it. But we’re not going to get tied up in what-ifs.’
Being crowned Leinster champions for the first time in 15 years last summer has put Wexford in the bracket of genuine All-Ireland contenders.
‘Is there an opportunity to win an All-Ireland? I think we’ll find it very hard to repeat what we did last year.
We had an opportunity last year of winning an All-Ireland. It’s very hard to do that consistently. Over the next two years, if we can give ourselves an opportunity, that would be massive. And we’d like to think we can do that.’
So has he done anything different since the county scene was mothballed? Found himself on a more local hiking expedition or returned to being a scratch golfer?
‘I got my exercise right. Lost a good bit of weight. I used that time
to get myself in better shape.’ Not for him putting on the Covid stone. ‘I went the other way!’
He’s learning to adapt his behaviour slightly, in keeping with the times.
‘The travelling side of things, I have a place in Wexford – I’ll stay there when I need to for training, maybe a Tuesday or a Thursday. I like to stay in my own environment as much as possible.
‘I would be very much a contact manager, who would love to tap a fella on the back and do x, y and z. I find myself pulling back, not doing that now. Even though I want to.’
Is this then the new, mellow, more meditative Davy?
‘Nah. I’d like to think that if you watch me for 70 minutes, for 60 something of them I’ll be fine. If I have something to fight about, I’m going to fight for it – that’s the way I am. I’m not going to change. Anyone who trains with me knows that I’m pretty calm a lot of the time. But you do what you’ve got to do.
‘The only difference for me is that I am a bit more aware of washing my hands more, not going over and hugging lads. The rest? No.
‘We just have to adapt and be as safe as we can. But the enthusiasm, the fire, the communication with my players? That’s not going to change.’