GPS systems, screenings, fitness testing.
Inter-county GAA is scaling higher peaks of professionalism than it has ever done before, and it is showing no sign of slowing down either.
Everything a player does is monitored closely, from their diet to their gym work to their distance covered during a game.
Technology now plays a huge part in the game, and there really is nothing left to chance by our managers.
Stephen Rochford’s Mayo team have embraced the professionalised game with their use of GPS monitors and stats, but it doesn’t end there.
Tom Parsons joined Colm Parkinson for an interview on Wednesday’s GAA Hour football show, and the Mayo midfield maestro surprisingly revealed that when the squad met up for pre-season training last winter, the screening system that they had in place revealed that he was carrying a few pounds too many.
“You know yourself, Colm, I’m 29 now. This winter, before we started, I was going for my screening my dexa scan which gives your body fat percentage, and I always had a good result at that. I got a bit of a fright in December when they said ‘Tom, you’re going into the orange/red zone.'”
If Tom Parsons, one of the fittest midfielders in the game is being told he’s overweight, where does that leave the rest of us, you might ask, but Parsons wasn’t overly taken aback, and in an inter-county world that waits for no man, he soon came to terms with the revelation, and worked his arse off to turn it around.
“It’s just age too. Your metabolism slows down, you need to work harder, eat cleaner. I don’t care who you are, how naturally talented, you do need to work on it in this game,” said the Charlestown club man.
That’s been a theme of Parsons’ career in the Mayo jersey, that he receives a knock, but bounces back with strength and with courage.
When he was dropped from the squad in 2011, and work forced him to Wales, a lesser man might have thrown in the towel, but he did everything, absolutely everything he possibly could to improve his situation.
“I did a bit of athletics, played a bit of soccer, did a bit of boxing, one-on-one sparring and that type of thing. I was in good gym, and when I did come back, I came back a lot stronger.
“I’ll never forget, outside of my apartment in Cardiff, there was this green patch of grass. People would have been walking their dogs, doing what normal people do. But I used to be up and down, running, soloing footballs, kicking it against the wall, catching it, like a lunatic, you know,” he added.
“I remember one guy, he used to walk his dog, at the same time every day when I’d be out training. He never said anything, but after about a month two months of watching me do this, through the winter, he couldn’t help himself. He asked me ‘Are you crazy? You’re running around here kicking balls around the place, what are you doing?”
He might be crazy, but so is this Mayo team, and so are their fans, and they’ll be hoping that this crazy dedication can fire them to All-Ireland glory Sunday week.
You can listen to the Parsons’ interview, and much much more from Wednesday’s GAA Hour Football Show right here.
