Kids find it harder to master skills if they hold the hurley 'incorrectly'

Give the kids a chance, start them off correctly and with small hurleys.

valley84 (Westmeath) - Posts: 1890 - 22/11/2013 10:48:19    1516446

Brendan Cummins is right handed but has his left hand on top. Wayne Sherlock spoke about how he hurled for a lot of his teenage years gripping the hurl wrongly but switched. That takes doing.

tiobraid (Tipperary) - Posts: 4119 - 22/11/2013 10:51:48    1516450

A poor weak side is often the result of lack of practice &/OR the "wrong grip". Another big disadvantage I see to the wrong grip is when you have to do something onehanded. In particular, when the ball in your stronger hand your hurl is in your weaker hand which you may have to use to fend off a tackler.

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 22/11/2013 10:55:08    1516453

There are good reasons why your dominant hand should be the one nearest the butt of the hurl (the proper grip), mainly relating to the difficulty with replacing your hand on the hurl after throwing up the ball for striking. Generally a player will leave their stronger hand on the hurl when picking a ball, and catch it with their weaker hand. When they then throw up the ball, it is much easier to get a correct grip of the hurl faster if your placing your hand down the handle than try to fit it back in between your dominant hand and the butt. I would suggest that is why most intercounty players who play this way tend to be defenders, as their swing is slightly slower and bigger. Not sure if it makes any difference to accuracy and distance though, alot of goalies use this style. Id rather have a good cackhanded hurler than a bad orthodox style hurler, but having the right grip should be taught from early on.

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 22/11/2013 11:06:49    1516461

If you strike off both sides, then you won't have a weaker side Keeper! Look at Mikey Carton this year. He is right side dominant but scored two monster points this year from 100 yards off his left. Indeed when Hiney came back he switched effortlessly from right half to left half.

Whichever hand is on top makes no difference to what hand you catch with. It will almost invariably be your naturally stronger side.

hurlingdub (Dublin) - Posts: 6978 - 22/11/2013 11:07:26    1516463

If you control the ball with your hurl first of are picking it then you would almost always want to have your stronger hand on the hurl to complete that skill, therefore your weaker hand will be catching the ball?

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 22/11/2013 11:21:57    1516474

Eoin Larkin also left hand on top. I know plenty whose left is their stronger side even though they are right hand on top, nothing wrong once he's holding it right.

What galls me most is seeing a kid at U-12/14 holding the ball with the hand they intend putting as the top hand on their hurl. WRONG WRONG WRONG. Awkward, slow, definite hooked every time. And how coaches let kids get to that age doing something so fundamentally wrong is beyond me.

Pinkie (Wexford) - Posts: 4100 - 22/11/2013 11:57:39    1516497

Soma
County: UK
Posts: 11

1516461
There are good reasons why your dominant hand should be the one nearest the butt of the hurl (the proper grip), mainly relating to the difficulty with replacing your hand on the hurl after throwing up the ball for striking. Generally a player will leave their stronger hand on the hurl when picking a ball, and catch it with their weaker hand. When they then throw up the ball, it is much easier to get a correct grip of the hurl faster if your placing your hand down the handle than try to fit it back in between your dominant hand and the butt. I would suggest that is why most intercounty players who play this way tend to be defenders, as their swing is slightly slower and bigger. Not sure if it makes any difference to accuracy and distance though, alot of goalies use this style. Id rather have a good cackhanded hurler than a bad orthodox style hurler, but having the right grip should be taught from early on.
22/11/2013 11:07:26
hurlingdub
County: Dublin
Posts: 5505

1516463
If you strike off both sides, then you won't have a weaker side Keeper! Look at Mikey Carton this year. He is right side dominant but scored two monster points this year from 100 yards off his left. Indeed when Hiney came back he switched effortlessly from right half to left half.

Whichever hand is on top makes no difference to what hand you catch with. It will almost invariably be your naturally stronger side.
22/11/2013 11:21:57
Soma
County: UK
Posts: 11

1516474
If you control the ball with your hurl first of are picking it then you would almost always want to have your stronger hand on the hurl to complete that skill, therefore your weaker hand will be catching the ball?



In the above discussion between Soma and Hurling Dub, in my opinion the weaker hand will usually be the catching hand. A player can never have a fast strike if he has to adjust his hands or worse still switch hands. The comfortable grip should be strongly discouraged at a young age and players should have their strong hand ( writing hand ) at the top of the hurley. There will always be exceptions but the vast majority of young players should be doing it with strong hand on top.

Clubgaa (Limerick) - Posts: 879 - 22/11/2013 12:03:35    1516498

Get a GRIP lads, there are players at top level using both grips, the most natural one being dominant hand at the top and weaker hand underneath that, but as you can see, both work just fine if you're any good!

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8592 - 22/11/2013 12:42:26    1516513

If you are right handed, you put your right hand near the butt of your hurley, the toe of the hurley points out (away from your body) and you hit on your right side. This is your natural strong side for a right handed player. The hurley is an extension of your hand, you would not throw a punch moving your right hand across your body (that would be a back-hand slap), ergo, your stonger side for hurling should see your left hand come across your body and you strike the ball on your 'open door' side. This is in a standing still position to coach really young fellas to hit the ball (not obviously an All-Ireland final where you have 1.9 seconds to control and get rid of the ball).

All of the above is for right hand players. Just replace left with right above for left hand players. This is not my idea by the way. I had not really thought about until about 10 years ago when I went on a coaching course run by Pat Moore (Waterford) who at the time was one of the Musnter Council's top coaches.

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 22/11/2013 12:51:47    1516521

Next time you see a successful team eg Clare or a well-coached underage team try to spot how many 'wrong' hand hurlers you can spot.

Very few.

valley84 (Westmeath) - Posts: 1890 - 22/11/2013 13:07:38    1516532

The main point to remember, for anyone coaching kids out there, is that whatever hand you hold the hurl with goes at the top of the hurl. It stays there. You do not, EVER, put the other hand at the top, for any reason.

icehonesty (Wexford) - Posts: 2550 - 22/11/2013 13:16:51    1516538

I play golf with a fella who holds the club wrong way around kackhanded , he plays off six I play off triple that , ive never beaten him , I play the conventional grip .
He gets as much out of the game enjoyment wise as I do .
Now if I had a son who had real talent which way would I tell him to hold the club , the conventional way of course , simply because look at the pro, the club pros , coaches , none of them hold club incorrectly , same for hurling if you had a kid with real talent just as easy to teach to teach him correct way ,
We got kids aged 7 at least half held hurl wrong way , perseverance and 7 years later all bar one have adapted correctly .
Its called the wrong way for a reason .

Damothedub (Dublin) - Posts: 5193 - 22/11/2013 17:30:30    1516689

Well believe it or not, when I was a kid I used to play just like a normal right hander would, with one exception - hitting the ball! The odd thing here was that when it came to hitting the ball my left hand would go on top. (Not a single person ever noticed, nor did I even notice it was different from everyone else to be honest)!
That was the way for years until about 15 years old and then one day it just didnt feel right (reason totally unknown), then I changed to the correct right handers right hand on top routine and instantly was fine. Effect of my changeover = unnoticable, no effect whatsoever!

Regards,

Snufalufagus....Laochra Gael

Snufalufagus (Dublin) - Posts: 8100 - 22/11/2013 17:39:55    1516695

The main thing is that you use which ever hand is lower/second on the hurl to catch it. I call people who dont cackhanders. It does mean a lot of these hurlers have poor weaker side or non existant in a lot of them as juveniles. A lot of them actually curl the ball when the strike it as a result of their hand position. Also some have less of a hurl to protect their catching hand when going up for s ball in the air as the hurl is held short. Try it out and you ll see what i mean.. its not the way to coach lads anyhow. Its like you ll never see a top golfer with the opposite grip.. not going to happen.

old yellar (None) - Posts: 2625 - 22/11/2013 19:50:53    1516730

Theres allways exceptions to any rule , like the old granny that smoked 40 a day had a drop of whiskey in the morning and lived to 95 , but you wouldnt advise it as a rule , same with the grip .

Damothedub (Dublin) - Posts: 5193 - 23/11/2013 10:21:27    1516780

Ronan Curran use to hold his hurley depending on the way the ball came to him. If the ball came to his right side he would catch it in his right hand and if it came to his left he would catch it with his left. It was a skill I always admired.

twohandondehurl (Clare) - Posts: 23 - 23/11/2013 17:46:02    1516882

Lads a serious question for ye, do hurlers buy there own hurls or do the clubs supply them?

KingdomBoy1 (Kerry) - Posts: 14092 - 23/11/2013 18:43:30    1516906

A lot of hurlers can do that alright.

old yellar (None) - Posts: 2625 - 23/11/2013 18:43:59    1516908

Snuff
Are you sure your not talking about your love life? :-)

KingdomBoy1 (Kerry) - Posts: 14092 - 23/11/2013 18:47:46    1516911