Fifteen-year-old Miriam Fitzsimons, from Letterkenny, Donegal, who was announced as the Cadbury GWA/GAA Young Reporter of the Year award. Miriam’s article on the importance of self-belief in Gaelic Games can be read in full on www.gaa.ie. GAA Museum, Croke Park, Dublin. Picture credit: Brian Lawless / SPORTSFILE
Fifteen-year-old Donegal girl Miriam Fitzsimons was been unveiled as the first winner of the Cadbury GWA/GAA Young Reporter of the Year competition.
Letterkenny girl Miriam wrote an excellent article on the importance of self-belief in Gaelic Games.
In her piece, the Donegal teenager uses the example of how Jim McGuinness turned her native county’s footballers from also-rans into All-Ireland champions in the space of two years.
McGuinness transformed Donegal in a short space of time and self-belief was key to this.
In her article Miriam backs up her point with an insightful original interview with former Clare All Star hurler Tony Griffin, who runs the Soar Foundation whose mission it is to ‘empower young people to thrive and believe in themselves’.
As well as having her article published, Miriam scooped a €500 bursary cheque to go towards her education, which was generously sponsored by Cadbury.
This is the first year of the Young Reporter of the Year competition. The Gaelic Writers Association is the official representative body for the national Gaelic Games media in Ireland.
Here’s the piece which won her the prize:
BY MIRIAM FITZSIMONS
We should never underestimate the power of self-confidence, positivity and self-belief in life, but especially in sport. These are key factors to success in the world of GAA in the current era. When footballers and hurlers feel confident, they are more likely to turn sporting potential into superior performance. On the other hand, when they feel unsure of themselves, the slightest setback can have a severe effect on their performance. Self-confidence may be defined as ‘belief in yourself and your abilities’.
Do you think if Michael Murphy didn’t believe in himself and in his abilities would he have scored an outstanding
goal in the opening minutes of the All- Ireland Final this year? Perhaps not. An All-Ireland final is the biggest sporting event in the lives of all footballers and hurlers and it is very clear on such occasions those that believe in themselves and in the team. They are the people who will go that extra mile, make that extra tackle or score that incredible point. These are the people who believe. They rise to the challenge.
Jim McGuinness is a prime example of self- belief and positivity. In November 2010 when McGuinness gathered the Donegal squad for the first time under his management, he told the players gathered to represent the Green and Gold that they were going to win an Ulster title. He didn’t say let’s try to win an Ulster title, he told them they were going to win one. He also told them that they were capable of winning an All-Ireland. Eight months later,
they took the Anglo Celt Cup back to Donegal for the first time in nineteen years. A year later they were the first team to win back to back Ulster titles from the Preliminary round.
Two months after that, following thrilling encounters with Kerry and Cork, Donegal beat Mayo by four points in the All Ireland Final, the same margin by which they beat Dublin 20 years earlier. They made history, bringing Sam Maguire back to Donegal for the second time in 128 years of the GAA. People may think it was ‘the system’ that got them there but Jim McGuinness’ positivity and belief are just as important as the system under
which the Donegal players excelled. He gave the team confidence, belief and determination to accomplish what many thought was impossible.
These same players thought him mad the first time he met them as a group and told them that there was an All-Ireland in this team. They didn’t believe it then but in a very short period of time, McGuinness had them believing and they were playing better than ever. He has an array of motivational sayings, the main one being ‘Commit, Focus, Believe, Achieve’. I believe you can actually live by this saying. Others include ‘Every day’s a school day’ and ‘Our Future’s our Past’, both food for thought.
Tony Griffin, former Clare hurler and an All Star in 2006, was impressed with Jim McGuinness’ use of motivational sayings. He really believes in ‘Everyday’s a school day’. ‘If you think about it, we never stop learning, if you look at life as learning, you won’t be as upset if you fail because you will have learned from it’. When I spoke to Griffin, co-founder of The Soar Foundation whose mission is to ’empower all young people to thrive, to believe in themselves and fulfil their true potential’ he told me just how important self-belief is in players.
‘You have to expect your outcome to be a positive one, sport is a way of expressing yourself, self-belief is key whether it’s taking on your man or timing your run, you need to believe in yourself. If you expect the outcome to be positive you will take that risk, take the free and when you run your breathing will be more solid. If we have belief in ourselves, what we imagine will come true. Confidence is massively important’.
The importance of seeing a positive outcome will push you so much further, you can achieve what is ‘impossible’ in other people’s beliefs, but not in yours. His sterling inter-county career shows just how important self-belief really is. Both Griffin and McGuinness have shown the necessity for working on self-belief and confidence in the GAA. If you believe, you will achieve.
This article was written by 15-year-old Miriam Fitzsimons from Co. Donegal. She is the winner of the first Cadbury GWA/GAA Young Reporter of the Year award.
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