PAURIC GRIMES: Community and connection is key

THIS Saturday morning, October 29, the second Reignite Challenge Day kicks off at 10.30am in Level Up Home of Coaching Augher.

We’re currently sat at 12 brave souls who are ready to step into the fire.

If you follow my on my socials – pg_levelupcoaching – you might have caught the videos of the team challenges we’re doing on the day.

One of the pillars of the Reignite programme is Community and Connection. We’re all retired footballers and hurlers who appreciated the craic, camaraderie and accountability that going shoulder to shoulder with your team mates brought to the table when we played.

My job as the head coach of the Reignite programme is to try and offer those same things now that the playing chapter of your story has closed.

That is why our bi-monthly Challenge Days are such a big part of what we do. It gives the lads a chance to all come together, push each other on and enjoy that team mentality again without any external pressures or worries of championships or knock-out football.

The reason we’ve been posting what we’re going to be running through on the day itself is because we have a group of lads from Galway and a group in Dublin who aren’t making the trip north for the in-person element of the programme. And that’s ok.

Even though I spent the previous paragraph selling you on the importance of the Challenge Day, I know the story.

I’m a 35-year-old father of three, a business owner and just like everyone else in and around my age, I’m pretty busy. So if you’re telling me the only way to be a part of this group – which sounds like it’s exactly what I need – is to travel half the length of the country every couple of months, I’m out.

Which is exactly why we lay out what the day entails in advance. The training programme the lads have been following has been in line with the Challenge Day session.

There are enough barriers to self-improvement in the world that my aim is to make it as easy as possible for retired GAA players to get the fire back in their belly, get themselves in great shape and enjoy being a part of a “team” again.

Keep an eye on my social media pages over the next week to see clips of how the lads navigated Saturday, and if you like the look of it drop me a message.

There’ll be another one in January and between now and then there’ll be a programme in place that’ll help you get stronger, fitter and might even call for a new shirt or two to get you through the festive season.