Diarmuid ‘Gizzy’ Lyng
Sportspeople around the world….ASSEMBLE. Sports Charitable Trust is aiming to achieve something
not only worthwhile for those part of any sporting organisation, but it also breaking barriers. Professional sport serves as the ultimate ambition for all of us with dreams as young boys and girls. Amateur sport by definition carries with it an undeniable beauty and innocence that is lost to the professional game. And then there’s the ‘in-betweeners’. Semi-professional athletes fit the category of total commitment, limited funding. What separates each category, or more importantly can they be brought together.
That is the aim of Sports Charitable Trust. Unite the sportstars and the dreamers, the committed with the downright genius. It’s bigger then money. It’s sport as it should be.
Picture this. Kilkenny hurler growing up Tullaroan. Evening after evening in the local G.A.A. club. Countless afternoons spent re-living the heroics of the county team the Sunday before in Croke Park. Oh, to get to play there! Progression is steady and commitment never wanes. Friends come and go, travel the world. Discover drink and the trappings of nightlife in Langtons. Women. Men. The ‘good life’. But Croke Park awaits, the search for the Celtic Cross and the First Sunday in September. Minor title under the belt. Captain of the Under 21′s. Few runs in the league in the Spring. Not far off. The dream is becoming reality. Training ground accident. Mobile goalpost falls over landing on the back of the head and running out in Croke Park is no longer a priority. Walking out of Beaumont Hospital is the new goal. Or at least will be on awakening from a coma.
Three people spring to mind as I write. Something similar happened to them, and nothing existed to break the fall. Three different sports people from different disciplines, and each had hugely promising careers. Each had spent their life to date perfecting their art. And it was taken from them. Remuneration in the real world is based on loss of earnings. But to not be able to take part in the game, no longer able to create, to have to sit on the sidelines as people stare with genuine pity, that has to be the real killer for all and any sportsperson in any field. From frisbee to football, polo to professional soccer, performing is sport.
This organisation aims to unite us all under one banner. One that sends out a clear message. You will not be forgotten. Your efforts are not only worthwhile, but appreciated. If you should fall behind, the sporting community will pick you up. Not only is a noble endeavour, but a crucial crutch. To play on the edge, to train and live on the edge of possible genius, to create something, achieve something never done before, that is the short career of a sportsperson from any walk of life. Knowing there’s a backup frees you to train harder, play harder and create more. This is the cornerstone of modern sport. Support Sports Charitable Trust. I do.
Yours in Sport
Diarmuid Lyng
