Roisín Baker wouldn’t want it any other way.
A graduate of Genetics and Cell Biology, she’s now in her second year of studying to be a doctor. All the while, she’s balancing her academic pursuits with life as the Dublin senior camogie captain, having previously represented her country for water-polo.
She doesn’t have a minute to spare but with ambitions and targets aplenty, busy is exactly what the Na Fianna club woman wants to be.
“I love studying it and I love playing camogie so I find it okay balancing the two…I’m fairly busy but I’m enjoying it,”said the RCSI student to us at an AIG event recently.
“It’s pretty full-on (medicine), it’s a very intense course but it’s brilliant. You have to really love it because there’s a lot to do and a lot to learn in it.”
“It’s good to have the balance because when you come in – you’re like, ‘right, I have to study this now before we head out to training because I won’t have time after.”
As for her water-polo career, the talented Dub got into it by pure chance but ended up making the Ireland tram.
“I kind of got into that by pure chance. We used to do our swimming lessons in St Vincent’s and they had a water polo club in there…Like all of our sports, if one of us did it, all three of us did it!
“I’m honoured to say I’ve played for my county and my country! Not many people get to say that, so it’s great!”
Comhairle an mhaith ó Róisín Baker! @clgNaFianna @MacallaTeo #Cúla4 #CLUB pic.twitter.com/cf1HHXmHIj
— Cúla4 🌈✨ (@Cula4_TG4) November 29, 2018
And that experience benefits her camogie too, especially with its rules not permitting a shoulder challenge.
“Holding players up – it’s very contact based, in people’s faces, I bring that to my camogie, trying to stand players up…You keep your arms out wide and you try go for the ball when they have it in their hand.”
From a camogie perspective, this is an exciting time for Dublin, who are attempting to bridge the gap with the top dogs, the Cork’s and the Kilkenny’s of this world.
“We’ve competed in every match, but we want not just to be competing. That’s why it was great to get the win against Clare, so we have that belief that what the lads are telling us is working and that we’re going in the right direction…”
That game against Clare was played as a double-header in Cusack Park with the Clare senior hurlers.
A look back at the @CamogieDublin Senior team as they prepared for their final league match! ✊ #IWD2019 pic.twitter.com/hzMTRVUQGu
— Dublin GAA (@DubGAAOfficial) March 8, 2019
“It was good to get a few matches with the lads as well, to see how they approach matches and to prepare and stuff like that, that was a really good learning curve for us…”
“It was brilliant, it was the first double-header that Dublin camogie has ever had. It was brilliant to play in such a great pitch – compared to what we’re used to anyway, or where we could potentially have been brought to if we were just playing the girls.
It’s particularly exciting for her, after she was asked to be the captain of the team by Frank Browne at the start of the year.
“It’s a fantastic honour, I was really honoured when Frank asked me to take up the position, it’s been going good. It’s a bit more on your plate, you’ve a lot more to think about, around the matches I suppose. It’s ‘how are they feeling, are they worried, how are the lads getting with that and stuff like that – you kind of have stuff like that hanging around in your head…I hope that I’m doing a good job with them anyway!”
Like everything, she’s putting her best foot forward anyway.
Dublin players, from left, Róisín Baker, Chris Crummey, Cian O’Sullivan, and Niamh McEvoy with David Greville, MD of Heartsafety Solutions, at Parnell Park to launch AIG Dub Club Health. The Heart Safety Roadshow is the first programme in the initiative that will provide training around CPR, choking, defibrillator/AED usage, storage and maintenance.
