NUALA Carey has a habit of hitting the headlines in her local paper.
This week it’s her selection on the Ireland Masters’ women’s basketball team for the FIMBA World Championships in June. Back in November 1998 Nuala was in The Southern Star headlines as the ‘First Drimoleague girl selected for Irish U16s’. There’s a link between both stories: her love for basketball.
‘I didn’t really play basketball until I started secondary school in Mercy Heights in Skibbereen,’ explains Nuala, who is now one of the driving forces with the progressive Bantry Basketball Club.
‘Once I started, I just loved it. I played with Mercy Heights, Ireland underage, and went to college in Scotland and played there too.’
When Nuala was just 14 years old, as well as being selected on the Irish U16 basketball team she played for Skibbereen’s U18 and senior teams. But when Nuala returned home to West Cork after studying in Scotland, life on the hard court took a back seat for almost 13 years.
Nuala Carey made Southern Star headlines in 1998.
She swapped Drimoleague for Adrigole when she married local man Darragh Carey, and they have five children – Zac, Max, Zoe, Eve and Ivy, ranging from 11 years old to seven – and they are her biggest fans. Like their mom, they all play with Bantry Basketball Club. And while they now get to watch their super mom play basketball with Ireland, they are also the reason that Nuala returned to the sport.
‘I only got back playing when my kids started playing in Bantry and they were looking for coaches. I started coaching, and then joined the Bantry ladies team,’ says Nuala, well known locally for running Glengarriff Pharmacy.
‘All five of our kids play basketball, they love it, from playing games to going training. I coach them as well in the club. It’s great for them to see that, especially for women in sport, there is a pathway there to play at a high level. It shows you can play into your forties, and who knows, maybe even fifties!
‘I had been out of it for so long, from moving down to Beara, to opening the chemist in Glengarriff, and having five kids so I thought I would never again play, but I was bitten by the bug.’
Nuala Carey will line out for the Ireland Masters women team this summer.
When friends asked Nuala to get involved in the Ireland Masters team last year, she did, and played at the European Championships in Pesaro, Italy last summer. The target this year is the World Championships in Switzerland in June.
‘It’s great to still be playing and training at a high level – it’s magic,’ Nuala says, highlighting how this team effort starts at home. With training sessions regularly held in Tullamore, which is an eight-hour round trip from Adrigole, the support from home is the rock her second coming in basketball is built on.
‘I couldn’t do this without Darragh’s support – he is brilliant, and all the help he gives. His family lives near us here in Adrigole and my family is in Drimoleague. It takes a village, like they say, and I couldn’t do it without Darragh’s and their support,’ adds Nuala.
‘It is a huge commitment, there is a lot of travel involved, so you really have to love it! We had been training every second weekend since January and now it’s gone every weekend from here until the championships in June. We train in Tullamore a lot, Portlaoise a bit, Thurles and we have one weekend in Cork. We would train for four or five hours when we meet up, so they are long days with travel factored in, but it’s all worth it.’
Nuala’s success is great for Bantry Basketball Club, too, and all the kids involved who can see their coach playing in an Irish singlet. It shows what’s possible, joining dots from Bantry to the world stage. On and off the court, Nuala is making an impact, and still making headlines.
