SFH diarist Rebecca Barry has become the first field hockey player to be nominated for the fabled ESPY Awards, which celebrate America’s greatest sporting achievements.
Rebecca, 20, featured alongside Lionel Messi and LeBron James in ESPN Sports Centre’s Top 10 Plays of the Week last October after scoring a wondergoal for Richmond Spiders.
Ballybricken native Barry, also a fine GAA player in both codes, soloed her way through the Temple University defence before lobbing the onrushing goalkeeper and finishing with aplomb from a tight angle.
Viewed more than 100,000 times on YouTube, the goal drew admiring tweets from top sportspeople across a variety of codes, and now the ESPYs — Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly — have taken note by nominating it for the Best Play ESPY Award.
The goal has been named among the top 16 plays across all sports in the 2012/13 season – Swedish football superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic is among the other nominees – with online voting beginning yesterday to choose the top four, who will be present at the star-studded ceremony in Los Angeles on July 17, hosted this year by actor Jon Hamm.
Catholic Institute starlet Barry, an Ireland A international and former youth Olympian and Irish U18 captain, is on scholarship in Virginia but is currently back in Ireland coaching at SFH summer camps.
Last October, Barry said the furore around her strike had “escalated into something I could have never imagined” and she was similarly taken aback yesterday.
“I’m totally shocked; I don’t think this will sink in for quite some time,” she said. “I’m not even fully sure what it all entails at the moment. I’m delighted and extremely grateful for the publicity this will give the sport of hockey.”
Ryan Elliott, assistant head coach with Richmond Spiders and a native of Bangor, Northern Ireland, said the university was proud of Barry’s achievements.
“Becca deserves this moment in the spotlight, as she is one of the most humble, hard working and talented young players you are likely to meet,” he said.
“My ultimate hope would be that [Irish senior women’s coach] Darren Smith might use this as an excuse to take a closer look at Becca for future squads.”
*SFH is hoping to get hockey people around the world united in voting for Rebecca’s goal – here’s the link you need to vote, please share it on your social media profiles and help spread the word! You can also read Rebecca’s diary about the initial reaction to her goal back in October here.
Ballybricken native Barry, also a fine GAA player in both codes, soloed her way through the Temple University defence before lobbing the onrushing goalkeeper and finishing with aplomb from a tight angle.
Viewed more than 100,000 times on YouTube, the goal drew admiring tweets from top sportspeople across a variety of codes, and now the ESPYs — Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly — have taken note by nominating it for the Best Play ESPY Award.
The goal has been named among the top 16 plays across all sports in the 2012/13 season – Swedish football superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic is among the other nominees – with online voting beginning yesterday to choose the top four, who will be present at the star-studded ceremony in Los Angeles on July 17, hosted this year by actor Jon Hamm.
Catholic Institute starlet Barry, an Ireland A international and former youth Olympian and Irish U18 captain, is on scholarship in Virginia but is currently back in Ireland coaching at SFH summer camps.
Last October, Barry said the furore around her strike had “escalated into something I could have never imagined” and she was similarly taken aback yesterday.
“I’m totally shocked; I don’t think this will sink in for quite some time,” she said. “I’m not even fully sure what it all entails at the moment. I’m delighted and extremely grateful for the publicity this will give the sport of hockey.”
Ryan Elliott, assistant head coach with Richmond Spiders and a native of Bangor, Northern Ireland, said the university was proud of Barry’s achievements.
“Becca deserves this moment in the spotlight, as she is one of the most humble, hard working and talented young players you are likely to meet,” he said.
“My ultimate hope would be that [Irish senior women’s coach] Darren Smith might use this as an excuse to take a closer look at Becca for future squads.”
*SFH is hoping to get hockey people around the world united in voting for Rebecca’s goal – here’s the link you need to vote, please share it on your social media profiles and help spread the word! You can also read Rebecca’s diary about the initial reaction to her goal back in October here.
Take a bow son!