Johnny Holland Enlightens Talent Camp On Injury-Time

With the Bank of Ireland Talent Camps ongoing at the University of Limerick, some of the best young players in Munster have been continuing their development both on and off the field.

While exact dates for fixtures haven’t been finalised yet, there’s still plenty of work to be done before togging out on matchday can be considered for the U19s, U18 Clubs and U18 Schools sides.

Last week we brought you a recent talk held by Paul O’Connell on the importance of organisation, and this time again it’s the Munster family involved, as former player Johnny Holland came in to speak about the pitfalls of injury, and how best to manage injuries when they arrive.

It’s a topic all-too important in the world of professional sport, and this talk particularly useful for our up-and-coming young players, as Strength & Conditioning coach Feargal O’Callaghan explains.

“Johnny was speaking about how, at the beginning of his career, he wasn’t looking after himself like a professional. But with the injury that ultimately caused him to retire, he has no regrets, because he knows he did every single thing that he could have done to get that right.

“Fair play to him for speaking; I was a bit weary of asking him because I was asking essentially for him to speak about a topic which ended his career; but that’s the exact reason I am asking him.

“When you’re injured there’s more of an opportunity to work on things you’re weak at because you don’t have the regular toil of matchdays; but on the flip side you have to be even more regimented and driven, because you’re not in those collective sessions, and as a player you have to drive it yourself.

“He also talked about you driving your career generally, and how you’re in control of it; and funnily as a coach it’s the guys who can sometimes drive you demented with demanding more are usually the most successful.”

“Johnny also talked about how you can form a group of players if there’s a few injured to drive things along, for that final injury he formed and drove that group on, with the hope that someone else would take over when he left.

“For him to speak so openly about a topic that ended his career was absolutely brilliant, and I can’t say enough about what a talk like this will do for those young lads.”