'You don’t have the mental focus to see out the season' - Kerry's Paul Geaney warns on burnout dangers

Paul Geaney of Dingle. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Kerry star Paul Geaney warns player burnout will bite during the inter-county pre-season.

Geaney still has a Kerry SFC final to look forward to with Dingle, but hasn't decided yet if he'll also play in the West Kerry championship with his club.

At last week's county board meeting, delegates discussed a request from the Kerry senior players to be allowed skip divisional championships in order to get a rest before returning to training with the county setup.

Not everyone was happy with the prospect of playing without county stars, but Geaney hopes pressure won't be applied to players.

“I think fellas should be allowed to step back if they need to step back, and not be put under pressure to be togging out in November or December, or whenever it is, to play another game.

“The thing is that everybody agrees with it (the need for a break), until it’s their thing. Ultimately, it's up to the player, but stop putting pressure on the player.

“If the player is pressured, of course he’s going to give in eventually, because they don’t want to be letting anyone down, and especially when you’re talking about club.

“There is no way that a fella is going to leave his club down, if he feels he’s leaving his club down, or if he’s been asked not to leave his club down, when it’s phrased like that."

Geaney hasn't yet made a decision on his own participation in the West Kerry competition. 

"It means a lot to me. We’ll see. I don’t feel like I need a break, but we’ll give it another couple of weeks and we’ll see where we’re at. I will be taking a break at some stage."

Unless players get some kind of break, the effects will be felt in pre-season with the county, Geaney suggests.

"Burnout is not about playing the games. It’s about the mental side of it. You can chug away all along, and you can play all the games, but unless you have the motivation and what’s required to go to the well when you need to go to the well, which is usually in pre-season.

“If you don’t have that, your burnout will come in pre-season when you’re doing the slogging. People think slogging is running laps and stuff, but what I mean is when you’re turning up and going through the same routine, day in and day out, and it might get monotonous.

“It’s dark when you wake up in the morning, it’s dark when you get home from work, never mind from training. You’re going through that slog in the winter, and then it comes to the other side of the year, and you should be hitting the top of the ground when the ground starts to harden up but, for one reason or another, you’re not where you should be.

“Mentally, you’re probably slipping a few bits, in your diet, or this or that, because you’re finding it hard to stay disciplined. If you don’t take some time off, you can’t concentrate on the stuff that needs to be done, when it needs to be done. Then, later on, you don’t have the mental focus to see out the season.

“That’s the important side of the time off. It will differ for every player. Some fellas only need a week or two, some fellas need a month. I know everybody likes to chirp in with what they think a fella needs, but that’s down to every individual."