KILKENNY, Ireland — Centuries before soccer pitches or football fields, the Irish were playing a contact sport that became their national game: hurling.
"It is the oldest and fastest field sport in the world,” said Andrew Bolger, an instructor with The Kilkenny Way Hurling Experience.
Like many Irish athletes, he first learned the 3,000 year old sport at age four.
It can be punishing.
"I have two teeth gone, dislocated my shoulder a number of times, and this hand doesn't bend back any further than that,” he said, smiling.
But our lesson would be gentle - an introduction to the basics.
The stick is a hurley. The ball is a sliotar. And in Ireland, hurling stars are all amateurs who must play for the team in their birth town.
“There are no transfers, no drafting, none of that,” Bolger said. “You're loyal to your county."
A lesson with The Kilkenny Way teaches the essential skills of scooping, carrying and hitting the sliotar with the hurley.
The ancient sport is celebrated in Seattle, too - the Seattle Gaels play once a week at Magnuson Park.
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