PEOPLE OF GALWAY; THIS IS SAM

We’re having the chats with #PeopleofGalway for the craic — messers and chancers, artists and tourists, buskers and shopkeepers, and any other unwitting victims we meet on the street.

#ThisIsGalway “That’s always going through my head – how to do it properly, how to get a balance, how to get a higher throw. I’ve been doing cheerleading for four years – I started when I was in college. I wasn’t actually going to do it, it was just that me and my mate were playing basketball and the coach came in and asked if we were interested in cheerleading. My mate wanted to try it out, so I went along with him, and it’s gotten so far that now I’m a coach in it. It’s a very hard sport to do.

I used to get slagged for it, lads saying that it was a women’s sport. I used to challenge them to come along and try it – it’s honestly harder than you’d think. I’ve seen lads going in there like “awh yeah I can do this”, relying fully on their upper body strength, where the strength of it is actually in your leg muscles. People tend to take an interest in it now, though, asking me is it hard – they think it’s interesting. Last year in Tribes (an international cheerleading competition in Florida), our team actually came second, so that was a huge achievement! Definitely a proud moment. We’re going back this January coming to try and replicate it or do even better.”

– Sam

Photo by Ciarán MacChoncarraige