Burnout of Young Players Offaly Show Liitle Concern

[Sharp Eye]

We should all be concerned about the dangers of burnout on our young players. Offaly Fixtures Committee this week have hit a new low. Dual Under 21 Players from Lusmagh play Under 21 Hurling with Lusmagh and Under 21 Football with Shannon Gaels.
On Sunday March 20th at noon Lusmagh play Kinnitty in Under 21 Hurling at Kinnitty.
On Sunday March 20th at noon Shannon Gaels (includes Lusmagh) play St Michaels in Under 21 Football Co semi-final at Geashill.

Offaly Fixtures Committee expect the same players to play TWO KNOCK OUT CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES at the same time.

BURNED OUT

[kelleigh man]

i tink some of them might b playin the oconnor cup final on thurs too.. serious goin

[hectors horse]

down to play division 1 league sunday evening aswell and they probably have a few u21s involved with banagher schools team saturday... busy times out there poth!

[Long John]

Yes this is a bit ridiculous alrite.

The fixtures committee for starters should put their hands up that a major error has been made regarding scheduling the two u21 games for the same day. Im not sure if there would be many Lusmagh lads kicking ball with the gaels but thats irrelevant, if they are listed as part of that amalgamation then theres no way the two games should be scheduled on same day.

Ive always said it, this is a very serious issue, I know theres talk of O' Connor cup and league games here aswell, but I wouldnt worry so much about that, the clubs will surely be able to rest lads for those competitions anyway. Im not saying that's the perfect scenario but its what happens with alot of clubs.

The bigger issue for me is come championship and the dual player is expected to play football championship one week and hurling the next, followed by football then hurling again over the next two weeks. Never mind the burn out issue, in the height of summer a championship game per week is what you want but how do you prepare properly for each. The week before the football, no hurling will be done and the non dual club has a huge advantage, vice versa then for the purely football clubs. Thats the bigger issue on this. These championships fixtures have to be split in a way to facilitate an even playing field as regards preparation.

In the case addressed here, I think its just a mess up by fixtures committee which should easily be resolved by Lusmagh and the gaels contacting them.

[bracknaghboy]

Never mind the burn out issue, in the height of summer a championship game per week is what you want but how do you prepare properly for each.

We don't play championship games in Offaly in the height of summer!

[Sharp Eye]

Rumour has it that the Fixtures Committee will not change the Fixtures and are expecting an U-21 Hurling & U-21 Football game to go ahead at the same time at 12noon (not just the same day). Lusmagh Senior Hurlers and Rynaghs Senior Hurlers are both fixed to play Senior Hurling League at 5pm on the same day.

Are the FIXTURES COMMITTEE BURNED OUT?

[joe bloggs]

Rumour has it that the Fixtures Committee will not change the Fixtures and are expecting an U-21 Hurling & U-21 Football game to go ahead at the same time at 12noon (not just the same day). Lusmagh Senior Hurlers and Rynaghs Senior Hurlers are both fixed to play Senior Hurling League at 5pm on the same day.

Are the FIXTURES COMMITTEE BURNED OUT?

I don't like commenting on rumours but if the two under 21 fixtures are played at the same time and some young lad from Lusmagh is part of the football panel then it is dissapointing that he would be forced by the fixtures committe to let down his teammates.
With regard to the Senior hurling league fixtures being played later that is a non issue for Rynaghs.
Rynaghs have more than enough hurlers between their senior and intermediate squads to play regardless of how many lads play U21 football earlier in the day.
As for Lusmagh, who would have a smaller pick, if they have to play U21 championship and Senior league on the sme day then there would be an issue with regard to burn out with potentially a number of young players having to line out twice on the same day.
I know that there are a lot of variables to consider when making fixtures, but one would hope that a bit of common sense could prevail

[bracknaghboy]

I agree that common sense should prevail. I'm not trying to be smart but could somebody define for me exactly what "burnout" is in GAA terms? How many young players have walked away from GAA because there were too many games to play? How many players have had to retire because they played too many games when younger? As I said it is disgraceful that clubs are expected to line out both codes the same day (the same time in this instance!) but I feel the word "burnout" is thrown about sometimes without much evidence to back it up.

[townman]

well i don't think most young lads that play the games in offaly are doing to be burned out we have had no
underage titles in year's plus the hurler's and footballer's are out of the championship early most year's.
and the way the offaly club scene is run theres no fear of burnout, we also have no senior duel players
with the county seniors anymore.