St Mary's Basketball Club
By Siobhan Long
It was St. Thomas Aquinas who urged us to trust authority of our senses. Castleisland's basketball blitz is living, breathing evidence of just how vital that little maxim really is. If the sight of a slew of ball players lining up, togging out, warming up and giving it heaps in the town's community centre isn't enough proof of Castle Island's vibrant beating heart, then chances are that you're either a) blind to the beauty of the court game, or b) in urgent need of pulse reading.
In every community there are elements, which unite, and others, which patently divide the local population. Politics and religion are notable in their ability to do both, or neither. Sport can often inspire equally schizoid emotional reactions, but the Christmas Blitz errs on the glorious side of unity, year in, year out. Sherwood Anderson once compared his beloved Winesburg, Ohio to the best of home places: 'where every small town has a roof over it'. For five days, between the roasting of the turkey and the airing of auld lang syne, Castle Island very definitely has a roof over it. It's a place where locals and exiles gather to watch the huge tapestry woven on court and off.
It's been a sporting year of numerous highs and lows. Ecstasy came to us in the shape of the superb victory of the under 13 girls team in the national finals of the Community Games, in the triumphant opening of the Riocht Track, (another gem in the town's crown), in Seamus Moynihan's magnificent reign of his Kingdom, in Sonia's majestic Antipodeans performance (both on and off the track), in Mairead Berry's and David Malone's peerless achievements in the Sydney pool.
The agony made itself felt in the last minute defeat of Castle Island's Division 1 Men's team at the hands of Queens of Belfast (does it get any more agonising than a scoreline of 111 to 110?) and in the grotesque and demented scribbling of Mary Ellen Synon. The depths which she plumbed in her dismissal of not only the Irish paralympic team, but of the broad sweep of people with disabilities is deserving of every ounce of opprobrium which was cast on her in the weeks that followed. Her grasp of the essence of sporting achievement is as tenuous as a bullock's grasp of the finer points of algebra.
Sporting achievement thrives on diversity, as any footballer, swimmer, archer or darts player will attest. The Christmas Basketball Blitz flies that flag with aplomb. We'll frequent it yet again this year, safe in the knowledge that its heady combination of pace, style, wit, intelligence and sheer single-mindedness will buoy even the dullest post-Christmas blues spirits.
Siobhan Long wrote this article for year 2000 Blitz
Programme.