Soccer gives Oranmore amputee a new lease of life

AN Oranmore national school teacher will make history when he travels with the Republic of Ireland amputee soccer team to compete in their first competitive international tournament this weekend.

David Saunders – a Kerry native who has been teaching at Scoil Iosaif Naofa (Oranmore Boys NS) for the past six years – is a recent addition to the Irish set-up, having joined the squad late last year.

That said, sport – and football – is in the blood. His father John won an All-Ireland minor medal with Kerry in 1963 and later represented The Kingdom at senior level while David, himself, was showing a similar talent and application for Gaelic football before bone cancer took his left leg when he was just 11 years old.

“It was rough,” admits the 29-year-old Rathmore native. “Then I had a recurrence [of the cancer] a year later. Initially, I had a below knee amputation but then I had to also have an above the knee amputation.”

The amicable resource teacher, who works with special needs children, recalled achieving some normality to his life before the second operation, but when he lost his knee, it was “a different kettle of fish”.

“You don’t have as much mobility. I mean, you adjust and you get on with things and you find your own pattern and routine. Then, as you get a bit older, the playing field kind of levels off because guys aren’t running around. As children, everyone is running around and messing around and that was not easy.

“That said, I always had a fairly good attitude about it. I realised this was the way things were. I was positive and got on with things and made the most of my situation. I was never treated any differently by my friends, which actually meant an awful lot to me. As a result, I didn’t behave any different, I just got on with things. I knew what I couldn’t do and they knew what I couldn’t do and that was it.

“I would have always kept fit, though, and I would have been in the gym a lot. I would look after myself in that regard. However, this (joining the Irish soccer side) has been a whole new lease of life for me. It has been really fantastic. I never envisaged being part of a team again. That has meant an awful lot to me – the fact that I am actually part of a panel and part of a team again.”

Saunders – who has always been keen on maintaining his fitness, be it through cycling, gym work or hill climbing – came upon amputee football by chance on an internet search. “I am always looking out for new things to do as regards sports,” he explains.

He subsequently made contact with former St. Pat’s legend and amputee player Christy McElligott and since late last year he has been travelling to venues such as Mountview Community Centre in Blanchardstown and Ballymun every two weeks for training.

“You almost have to see it on Youtube to understand it,” says Saunders. “We don’t wear our prosthesis at all. It has a very high skill level and it is quite fast moving. It is a sport that is growing throughout the world. There is a World Cup in it and as far as I know there is a World Cup this year in Russia.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.