By Grace Clifford – Senior HR Recruitment Consultant
From a young age I always enjoyed sports and being active. From playing football at any chance I got, being constantly outside running around or having PE as my favourite (and only favourite) subject, I always knew sport would be a huge part of my life. Gaelic Football always stood out for me though, the enjoyment and buzz I got from playing was like no other. Being from a small parish with only a school, church, hall and GAA club helped feed into my love for the game as our local club was at the heart of the community. As the primary school years went by my dream of representing Kildare grew more and more so when I got the opportunity at U12 I grabbed it with both hands, and I haven’t looked back since.
As the years went by playing intercounty and club football, the demands became more and more. I had to quickly learn to be organised, disciplined, committed, and focused in order to be able to balance playing sport at a high level with school, college and now work. For me, the commitment and giving so much of my time to playing has always been worth it. The skills which I have learned while playing football, I have found to be transferable in my working life and day to day life. Playing sport has thought me to be hard working and my competitive side has always benefited me in work as it pushes me to do better. I love being a part of a team and working together in order to achieve a common goal. Like the teams I play with my office team works as a unit which motivates us to strive for success and to achieve various targets. As we all know sometimes things don’t always go to plan and dealing with difficult situations can be tricky. In sport you learn very quickly that sometimes no matter how much work you have put in you may not always have the silverware to show for it. This has always helped me deal with any difficult situations that have come my way in life or in work.
Sport and exercise has so many benefits on physical and mental health, but the skills and tools which I have learned and been able to implement in my working life has proven to be invaluable.
