Hussey says success comes with positive attitude and single focus

THE packed GAA Games Development Conference in Croke Park on Saturday last had a host of diverse and impressive speakers but no-one made a bigger impression than Gerry Hussey, sports psychologist to the Irish Olympic boxing team, whose theme was ‘Tools to support player development – psychological focus’.

Afterwards Hussey spoke of the parallels between the top amateur boxers and those at the top in other sports, including the GAA, and the pressures they are now under.

“Probably the most fanatical of all the sports people that I deal with are the boxers. Munster Rugby is a massive project and the lads there certainly don’t lack any commitment, but they’re salaried — the boxers are not. Some people think they’re paid, and a few of them are grant-aided, to various degrees, but a lot of them get nothing, they pay their own way. Everything else gets put on hold — vocational pursuits, personal pursuits, relationships, marriage.