Music • Stories • History • Viewpoint • Dance • Sport • Photos • Midwest Notes • Commerce Trader
| Originally from Peoria, Illinois, Kevin Carpenter is actively involved in Celtic sports of North America. Between events at the Springfield, Illinois, Highland Games, Kevin sat down to share his thoughts on the sport and all things Irish. |
|||
 |
|||
 |
|||
| Highland Games, Irish Heritage • Kevin Carpenter So how did I get involved? My brother-in-law was an NCAA discus champion. My brother and I are Irish-German. We are probably the only two athletes here to wear the real Irish kilts — from Antrim County, Ireland. And as you know from the Irish heritage, it's where you are from. Mayo, Cork, Antrim, Meath. So it's what county are you from, not what clan. My wife and her family are from Mayo. However, there is overlap. For example, my wife's maiden name is Finlay. However, Finlay is found in the lineage of Clan Farquharson of the Scots. So there is some overlap. However, I'd rather have a green kilt on! I know that lots of times in the Midwest, Irish and German were very closely related. And my family grew up in central Illinois. Carpenter is classed as everything from English to Irish because it denoted what you did — like Taylor. And then through Iowa too there was a large Germanic populace and there were a lot of Irish settled in the Midwest. So then you get Donnelleys, Egans, Finnegans, and everything else. So it all kind of muddles in. I mean, you can be happy about being Irish but to be quite honest, there are so many generations down there's not that many people who are purely Irish. My wife's family is about as close as you get. They're Fenlay-Murrays, but you know what? There's Germans mixed into that too. I think being proud of being Irish is really great. There's obviously a large Catholic constituent of Irish people [in Peoria and the Highland Games]. And it's kind of funny. I'm in my mid-thirties now, I'm almost 35 — can't believe that. But a lot of people grew up the same. Grew up in central Illinois; everybody knows what parishes they were in; what grade schools you went to. We all remember wearing uniforms! So there a lot of similarities and a comfort level when we all get together to compete. Chicago has a really good Scottish Highland Games. The Oak Brook Polo Games. The Illinois St. Andrews Society Games is a charitable event. It supports the Scottish Homes — I'm going to put a pitch in for them. That's where I learned to throw was at the Scottish Homes — having old ladies laugh at me stumble around there throwing weights. I wanted to continue being competitive and be involved in something that was fun. And the camaraderie here — as you can see, it's just incredible. We're helping each other out. We're not yelling at each other or calling each other names! We want to see everybody do well. A lot of us are married but our wives aren't here — and it's not a real big games so they go, "Have fun. Tell me how you did. You're gonna come back drunk and sunburned, aren't ya?" But it's still very competitive. You always want to do well and you are learning all the time. Even my worst events are starting to catch back up. It's not one event. We're throwing nine different events. The weights are the stones are similar, but learning how to do it? It takes timing and strength. And as you can see, technique-wise, some of the smaller guys throw just as well as the bigger guys, if not further. I've been throwing for about eight years and I see people competing [that] I met when I first started. There are some guys here in their mid-fifties and sixties that are throwing today. I think most athletes get to the point where we really want to do really well and we get kind of upset about it if we don't. But you finally get over the hump and realize it's more about doing the best you can and improving on yourself and enjoying the day. And I tell you what, if you stick around to the end of the day, everybody's going to be all — well, it's a lot of fun. It becomes more of an Irish thing than a Scottish thing! May 22, 2006 |
|||
|
Home •
Sport • |
||||
|
• MidwestIrish.com is a part of Lucky13Studios Design Family. For more information, see JoshuaHeston.com•
|
||||