_One of the most important decisions a parent makes in the very early years of a child's hurling career is the size of the camán they buy for their son or daughter. Traditionally the hurley was measured against a child's hip; a hurley was deemed to be the correct size if the butt of a vertical hurley reached the top of a standing child's hip-bone. The trend in recent years (even amongst adults) has been towards a smaller hurley, as a smaller "stick" offers a number of advantages:

• a lighter hurley leads to closer and better control
• a smaller hurley results in a shorter, quicker, better striking action
• when using a smaller hurley a child is less likely to strike the ground before making contact with a sliothar
• a smaller hurley reduces the chances of being hooked
• it's easier to solo with a smaller hurley

Children that use inappropriately sized hurleys naturally change their grip to compensate for the large camán, this leads to a bad grip and poor swing in the longer term. In his recent visit to the club, George O'Connor suggested that the butt of a vertical hurley should reach no higher than a standing child's wrist-bone. According to George, the hip-bone measure resulted in a hurley that was several inches too large and resulted in many of the problems outlined above.

_You will have noticed that small kids train for both hurling and football using specific sliothars and footballs. Under-6s and under-7s have been using the First Touch sliothar, under-8s have been training with the smaller Quick Touch ball. The GAA supply a third sliothar, the Smart Touch - a heavier ball than the others, for bigger kids. The First Touch sliothar is the largest of the three, it also has a soft core which means that it is very child-friendly. Training and practising with a larger ball at such an early age builds confidence and minimises the frustration players (big and small!) suffer when they fail to make contact with a ball.

_One of the first hurling skills a young child should learn when learning to play the game is how to hold a hurley properly.

The dominant hand (or the "writing-hand" as we tell the kids) should grip the hurley at the top of the Handle, with the weaker hand placed directly underneath it when striking the ball.

Small kids should be encouraged to grip the hurley properly; failure to address a poor grip at this stage will likely result in a child maintaining a poor grip as they grow. Although many top class hurlers have an unorthodox grip, some experts suggest that these players succeed in spite of a poor grip rather than because of it. Getting a child to change their grip takes perseverance. It is said that it takes three weeks to change an old habit, three weeks to learn a new skill and a further three weeks for the new skill to become habit. All told that's nine weeks of perseverance before a child relaxes into their new hurley grip!

As far as possible the dominant hand should not leave the hurley. The ball should be caught with the weaker hand, tossed into the air with the weaker hand, and then struck by moving the dominant hand to its position on the hurley.