by Lee Chin
My greatest fear is spiders. Not a fan of them.
My current state of mind is one of focus. Focusing on winning.
It’s hard to identify when I’m happiest. I’m obviously happy when I’m in the team atmosphere and I’m enjoying the company and the challenge. I’m happy when I’m with my friends or my family. It’s hard to pinpoint at the moment where I’m happiest but I think if I were to assess my life at the moment I would say I’m happy all-round with the way I’m living my life.
My greatest achievement so far would probably be… winning the Leinster under 21 championship in terms of my sporting career anyway. It’s the most important medal that I have so far. It’s one of very few medals that I have so far.
Leinster Bord Gais Energy GAA Hurling U21 Championship Final 10/7/2013 Wexford vs Kilkenny Wexford’s Lee Chin raises the Leinster U21 trophy alongside teammate Rhys Clarke Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
If I could add one element of talent to my game it would be more and more pace. Speed is incredibly important.
If money was no object I would be a barber. I barbered for about a year within a shop. I studied it for a couple of months and the entire time… from start to finish it would’ve been about two years of practicing it and applying it within a work environment. I enjoyed it – you get a lot of good characters. I worked with two Turkish guys, they wouldn’t have been very involved in the Irish “craic” but they were good fun, great guys.
My advice to a classroom of kids would be to just be themselves. I see a lot of kids sometimes that look up to their hero and they want to be him or her. Don’t try and be that person, be you. Get to their level and become your own hero.
Northwestern Mutual Challenge golf tournament 5/12/2013 Tiger Woods Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Getty Images
When I was younger my heroes were Tiger Woods and Ryan Giggs but when it came to the hurling world I used to love watching Tommy Walsh play. I actually had the pleasure of playing with Tommy with the Leinster Interprovincial squad where we won the Railway Cup and I also went to Chicago and played with him as part of the Super 11s. We’ve crossed paths once or twice on the field also. He wasn’t the biggest guy in the world but he had the heart of a lion.
Leinster GAA Senior Hurling Championship Final 5/7/2009 Kilkenny’s Tommy Walsh Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Donall Farmer
If I could listen to one song it would be My Way by Frank Sinatra. I would have heard it repeatedly in the background growing up, it’s a song that my mother and I both love. It brings me back to my childhood and reminds me of her.
My favourite place in the world is a GAA field. Any GAA field.
Lee,
June 2018.
The Sports Chronicle brings you stories from the world of sport by the players, the coaches and the unsung heroes, all in their own words.
This all began with a contribution from Jamie Heaslip, one of the greatest servants to Irish rugby, with The End is Really The Beginning Part 1 and Part 2.
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