St. Peter’s Hurling Club was founded in 2010 by Colm Kenny and Mike DeSchmidt. Since 2010, the hurling club has traveled across the nation and won two National Championships in 2016, 2018 and many other tournaments. We are a partner in the annual West Coast 7’s Gaelic sports tournament, which is held every Memorial Day weekend in San Diego.
We are a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit, charitable organization and a California registered non-profit. Our San Diego GAA club is dedicated to the promotion of the sport of hurling and its cultural heritage. Our mission is to provide opportunities to learn and play hurling for our members of all ages, skill levels, and gender. We also seek to promote greater awareness of the Irish culture and San Diego Irish community.
You’d think that after 20+ years of baseball and 6 years in the Minor Leagues that baseball would be my favorite sport. But after about 3 practices and one game of hurling things changed pretty quickly.
Baseball definitely helped the transition easier, catching high balls like an outfielder or trying to hit a home run every time I swing. Now it’s a new challenge to learn the rest of the skills/tactics.
Everything else that comes with hurling is an added bonus. Getting to compete again is huge for me, the cardio component makes sure I don’t get out of shape.
But the camaraderie is probably the most
Important. Being new in San Diego I’m lucky to have this group of guys to grab a beer with (or two or ten).
I try and recommend hurling to anyone who has played any sport in the past, come see if you can hang.
When I moved to San Diego in January of 2019, I knew two people; My brother and my fiance.
I joined St. Peter’s Hurling Club soon after. The club was welcoming and patient with me as I learned the new sport.
I had grown up playing hockey in the Bay Area so I felt that Hurling wouldn’t be difficult to learn, and to some extent my sports background has helped a ton, but the men in this club were quick with pointers during training and were enthusiastic with their support during games, even when I felt lost out on the field.
From youth sports, through high school and into adulthood I have played on many sports teams, but the passion, comaraderie, and commitment to winning that this club possesses is stronger than any team or club I have played with before.
The members of this club are great competitors on the field, great friends off the field and genuinely good people all the time. I’m happy to say, they are some of the most outstanding bunch of lads I’ve had the pleasure of knowing.
San Diego has been an amazing place to live, but with the help of this club, it has been easy to call it “home”.
