Miscellaneous

Gerard Hartmann - Born to Perform

November 22nd, 2011
by Weeshie Fogarty

 Since 1991 Gerard Hartmann has worked as a physical therapist with many of the world's greatest athletes, including over 60 Olympic medal winners, plus numerous world champions and world record holders. He has served on national teams with the United States, Ireland and Great Britain at the last five Olympic Games. And now he has been appointed physical therapist to the Irish Olympic team for the 2012 London Olympic Games. He is recognized as the very best person in the world in this particular field. And his assistant at the Hartmann international Sports Clinic at the University of Limerick is a Kerryman, Ger Keane from Castleisland is Hartmann's right hand man and he too has treated the top sports men and women from all over the world who come to their Limerick Clinic.

Ger Hartmann was an international athlete himself. He won seven national championships before a serious injury halted his career. Now thanks to his recently published book you are brought behind the scenes of Ger's life and learn just how he effected in the greatest possible way the sporting achievements of world renowned athletes from all over the world. "Born to Perform –How Sport Changed My Life" is a fascinating read and different from any other sports book I have read. Many Kerry footballers have attended the Hartmann Clinic in Limerick and one of those who feature prominently in the book is Seamus Moynihan.  In a very revealing chapter Hartmann bring us behind the injury problems that had plague Seamus before the 2005 All Ireland final defeat by Tyrone.

'Jack o Connor send Seamus to me before the semi final of 2005. My best efforts to rid Seamus of his back and hip injuries was good enough that Jack Connor and the selectors named him on the starting team for the final. But on the day the great player was not firing on all cylinders and he was later substitute (by Eamon Fitzmaurice). The pangs of disappointment and frustration brought him to tears. Not tears of self pity, but tears for failing to deliver. He had let himself and his people down. Seamus ploughed on into the winter season with Glenflesk but the injury nearly send him demented and he confided in his long time friend Fr. Kevin o Sullivan that he would hang up his boots and slip out of playing for his county.

Fr Kevin urged Seamus to come to me and on the first week of November 2005 my colleague Ger Keane and I met with Seamus in my clinic in Limerick and laid out together rehabilitation and performance strategy for a six months individualized programme. This was designed to get Seamus healthy for the following year's championship. It involved visits to the clinic every two weeks for three hours of intensive physo and intensive rehabilitation sessions. And a home exercise programme of 90 minutes every day along with cycling and pool work to build endurance and cardiovascular fitness. The long hard grind and slow progress of the winter began to yield results in the Spring, and when the summer arrived Seamus had a new found spring in his step. Not only was he more flexible, but his core was the strongest it had ever been.

At 34 years of age he had found a new gear and he was injury free for the first time in several years. Seamus was man of the match in several games that summer and he played one of the best games of his career in the 2006 All Ireland final when Kerry won easily against an underperforming Mayo. Ger Keane and I sat in Croke Park that day joyous that we had contributed to see Seamus play his last inter county match and end his career at the very top. To see him hold the Sam Maguire Cup brought tears to our eyes. On the Wednesday after the final we shared a special evening in Seamus house along with his wife Noreen and new born son Jamie. This great player, respecting that every sportsman has his day, announced to us in the privacy of his home that fifteen years in the green and gold jersey for Kerry, serving his county had been enough. Family and playing for Glenflesk would be his life line for the years ahead. Sometimes the hardest decision an athlete has to make is to retire at the top of their game, but Seamus had made the right choice, and had walked away entirely contented with no regrets. That's a privilege very few athletes get to enjoy, but he had deserved it. A few weeks later, ever the gentleman, Seamus presented me with his Kerry jersey and Adidas boots that he wore in the All ireland final, with this written message".

Ger, The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle! Thanks for making 2006 so special. Seamus Moynihan.

Seamus Moynihan is one of the greatest Kerry footballers to have donned the green and gold. His love and passion for his county was always unquestionable and now thanks to Gerard Hartmann's superb publication we get a brief glimpse behind the scenes as he struggled through one of the most trying seasons of his magnificent career. His is just one story revealed in "Born to Perform". Sports stars from all over the world and GAA greats feature in this excellent publication. But I leave the last words to two more Kerry greats and their quotations in the book First, Paul Galvin "For those of you lucky enough to meet Gerard Hartmann on your journey through life, you will instantly recognize his voice and infectious enthusiasm in his inspiring book. For those of you who haven't, prepare to meet a very special man when you read this book. Truly a one-off." And Jack o Connor added "Born to Perform" is a must read for those seeking excellence in a competitive world."

Fogra; Next Wednesday week December 7th you can hear the Gerard Hartmann story coming from the man himself when he  with Gear Keane travels from Limerick to join me in the Radio Kerry studio as I present my programme " In Conversation With." Not one to be missed from 6=7 pm  as we delve into the lives of the world's greatest sportsmen and women.


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