Inspirational thinking

MOST people would find speaking to a crowd of about 500 young people a daunting endeavor but for former Munster rugby star Alan Quinlan, the mass of eager secondary school students was a stroll in the park compared to the packed stadia of demanding, hungry sports fans he’s used to.
He was among a group of four inspirational speakers at the Be the best you can be seminar in Glór last week, held to commemorate the visit of Muhammad Ali to Ennis in 2009. Ennis Town Council joined with Clare Youth Services in organising the event, which was built around the Ali philosophy of ‘being the best you can be’.
Alan’s entrance was met by a chorus of applause from the theatre but silence was swiftly afforded as he positioned the mic. The former Munster player had been preceded by Tim Quinlan, the youngest ever Irishman to climb Everest and Derval Dunford, founder of Suí. Both had given talks on the ups and downs of their lives and what has driven them to become the successes they are today.
Alan’s household reputation, however, preceded him and needed no delineation. Thus, his warm reception was followed by a delve into the lesser-known details of his time in school and preoccupations before his rise to stardom.
“I was always interested in cars and engines,” he announced, “so I went to a local garage to look for an apprenticeship or weekend job. I wasn’t going to get anything out of my Leaving Cert, so I knew I had to do something. I look back now and I just wish I had worked harder in school; it is my biggest regret.”
The last line may have been repeated to the point of futility by the students’ respective parents, as the majority in attendance were in the Junior Cert year. Perhaps though, the words carried more significance coming from a man who has won two Heineken Cups and enjoyed a life in the limelight.
He regaled the tale of how he earned his apprenticeship in the garage – offering to work for no pay, applying himself and being diligent, until the kid already on an apprenticeship there was shown the door and Quinlan replaced him. After five and a half years working as a mechanic, he decided to place all his eggs in one basket and set aside six months to train himself for rugby and take a shot at getting a professional contract. The rest, as they say, is history.
In keeping with the theme of the seminar though and trying not to promote audacity, he ensured that if things had gone wrong, he could always have fallen back on the garage. With things the way they are now, having something to fall back on is a luxury that must be earned and never taken for granted.
“What was the hardest part about being a rugby player?” asked a young Flannan’s student, when the time came to pass around the microphone.
“I suppose the hardest part was the constant fear of failure. You were always pushing yourself to make the team and not let the team down, which was difficult,” was the response.
The answer was as justified as it was expected; the crushing nature of a big defeat, broadcast all around the world, is well-known to the public. When it comes to dream jobs, the superlative is rarely associated with anything else.
“How scary is Paul O’Connell?” Alan conceded that he is intimidating but because of his unrelenting motivation and focus, not just his size. He added that he is a true professional, a great friend and a model player, as if anyone needed telling.
To cap off an intriguing and pleasingly intimate talk, Mr Quinlan asked for silence, jokingly threatening to chastise anyone who disobeyed, as he prepared to read out a poem. Rhyming replaced prose and the audience sat in an attentive silence.
He spoke of a boy who continuously falls down in a race, but keeps getting up. The boy finishes but does not place yet the father refutes his claims that he’s a loser by emphasising the importance of getting back up time and time again. He claims that in his eyes, he’s a winner. The anecdote wasn’t original by any means but, with any luck, someone took something from it.
Orla Tinsley, a 24-year-old journalist for The Irish Times and author of Salty Baby, an autobiography on her life and living with cystic fibrosis, followed. She spoke about her suffering from the disease and her campaign for the rights of other patients living with cyctic fibrosis.
She capped off the seminar with an excellent speech on standing up for yourself and overcoming obstacles in life to chase your goals.