Behind The Player: Patricia Jackman Commutes From The UK All For The Love Of Camogie

If you’ve ever given out about your commute to work or training, take a second to think about Waterford camogie star Patricia Jackman. The talented player is now based in the UK as she completes a PhD in the University of Lincoln, but that hasn’t stopped her from heading back to Waterford for games.

Gala All Ireland Junior Camogie Championship 12/9/2010 Waterford Patricia Jackman Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Cathal Noonan *** Local Caption ***

We caught up with Patricia this week as part of the new ‘Behind the Player’ intiative from the WGPA and found out all about the 10-hour commute that’s done in the name of camogie. “Typically my trip is 10 hours in length as I have a 3.5 hour journey either side of my flight, although I'm lucky now that you can fly from Waterford to Birmingham and London Luton now so my trip is cut to five hours one-way for the summer thankfully! “If you look at it, for example in July I have six flights just for championship games alone – but it’s worth every second."

Gala All Ireland Junior Camogie Championship 12/9/2010 Antrim vs Waterford Waterford's Patricia Jackman and Katie McAleese of Antrim Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Cathal Noonan *** Local Caption ***

“At the moment juggling camogie and work is difficult with the amount of travelling I do but it just requires me to have extremely good planning and organisation skills really. “I’ve completed a Masters recently, and now I’m doing my PhD, and I really think that the skills I’ve learned in sport have definitely been of huge benefit to me in other areas of my life. “As I am a research student I have to be highly motivated and dedicated to what I do, pushing myself at all times to reach my targets. “In addition, as my area of research is in sport psychology. My passion for sport has undoubtedly influenced me in developing an interest within the area."

Gala All Ireland Junior Camogie Championship Final 13/9/2009 Waterford vs Offaly Offaly's Karen Brady and Patricia Jackman of Waterford Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Lorraine O'Sullivan *** Local Caption ***

“Sport has definitely given me the opportunity to meet so many people and to realise a lot of things in my life that I probably wouldn't have been able to achieve without it and my career is certainly one of them,” she continued. "It's been brilliant, my biggest achievement with the county would be the Junior All-Ireland in Croke Park in 2011 but I suppose in the overall context of camogie it would be winning five Ashbourne Cup with my college team WIT, and winning the last six Poc Fada All-Ireland Titles," she mused.

"I see it as a choice, not a sacrifice. I choose to come home and play so I certainly have no grounds to complain. It just means that I put in the majority of my training on my own and I have to keep in shape because I only get a small shop window in training at home to fight for my place on the team. "It's great to come home and play with a really exciting young team and girls that I have watched develop through the underage ranks over the last few years. Camogie at the moment is at an all time high in Waterford so it's great to be part of it," she concluded. __________________________________________________________________ As part of this new series, we also caught up with Annette Clarke of Galway, Sara-Louise Carr of Down, and Collette Dormer of Kilkenny. #BehindThePlayer is a new initiative by the WGPA (Women’s Gaelic Player Association) and PwC to highlight the dedication and commitment by female football and camogie stars behind the scenes. It highlights the players as individuals who are successful and ambitious in life and sport and positions them as role models for young people across Ireland.