Astounding all the nations that entered Opening Ceremony
, Jai Alai of Biarritz
Ireland could be seen passing by. A single athlete Caitriona CaseyCommitted like many These new countries in Friendball
. “There were supposed to be two of us, I had a male representative with me, The player is believed to be from the province of Cork in the south of the island. But the week before worlds he was injured and unable to move.“Caitriona will miss the group stage especially the semi-final where they beat Mexico. However, it did more than just make up the numbers by beating the United States and Costa Rica, especially… thanks to Gaelic Sports.

Like most athletes, Caitriona Friendball found
On the spot. “Usually in Ireland I play a variant, “Handball“Either facing one wall or facing four walls, a hard ball, that’s why I play with gloves, it’s because I’m used to wearing them.“But that’s the only commonality, because Caitriona is inspired by Gaelic sports like hurling, yet lacrosse is a sport played outdoors.”In fact, the Gaelic Athletic Association (Gaelic Athletic Association
) covers a range of sports including Gaelic football, handball and hurling. In hurling, there is a lot of correspondence with other sports, which is quite horizontal. They play with a small ball, so it works on coordination and agility. Hurling players are good at handball and vice versa.“

For her, Caitriona was a jack of all trades, playing Gaelic football and hurling before concentrating on handball. At 29, she even started handball at the age of 8. “Hurling or Gaelic football helps keep in shape. It allows you to work on races, accelerations and management of effort, which is a lot of intervals, so you arrive with good endurance. This allows us to be more specific so that we don’t suffer in the game. Just playing handball is not enough because the rallies are longer in friendball.“

Caitriona therefore finished second in her pool, a respectable score for a first participation. She planned to spend a few days relaxing in France, to blow off her shoulders. Before heading back to Ireland, prepare for the new friendball tournaments… by playing some hurling.