American Hurling has a new home.

If you've found your way to this blog post, you've probably already taken a short stroll through our new digs.  First impressions are important, so we hope you like the new look!

As we all know, a lot has happened over the past year.  A global pandemic, a contentious election, crazy wildfires, and countless protests have affected us all in some form or fashion.  Some parts of life have slowed down or even paused, while others have sped up to a rapid pace.  Even as signs of normalcy return, daily life still seems different.  

And in our small (but growing!) gaelic sports community, 2020 was essentially a year that never was.  Every major tournament was canceled and our sport(s) went into an odd form of hibernation. Life carried on, but our games, unfortunately, didn't. 

And so that leads us to the here and now.  We're happy to report that we can see the signs of gaelic sports rousing from their 2020 slumber.  Orders are coming in, equipment is leaving our facility, clubs are back on their pitches, and (some) tournaments are back on the calendar! We can't wait to see what 2021 has in store for our community and the games we love.  

But back to that "life carried on" point from above, we've had some changes over the past year here at American Hurling.  Tommy, American Hurling's owner from 2018-2021, found himself increasingly busy with the developments of his life; so much so that he ended up seeking help handling the day-to-day requirements of American Hurling.  Insert a somewhat random front-yard conversation, a few months of back and forth, and here I sit behind a keyboard typing a blog post for the new American Hurling website (of which I'm now a co-owner along with my soon-to-be retired father, Tom Rigsby).

So I guess I should include a bit about us.  My name is Hunter Rigsby.  I'm a 29 (at the time of this blog post) year old whose day job is designing golf courses.  I grew up playing soccer, golf, and skiing and spent a semester studying abroad at University College Dublin and about 6 months caddying at Portmarnock Golf Club in North Dublin.  I learned about gaelic sports during those stints, and when I came back and found out that my new home, Greenville, SC, had a hurling team/club, I was hooked. 

Tom, my father, who is soon to be retired from his 39 year career, spent the last 30 of those years in the pharmaceutical industry.  He's an avid skier and mediocre golfer (he proofread this and added the mediocre part).  He is a member of the National Ski Patrol and can be found working at Sugar Mountain Ski Resort during the winter months.  He had never even heard of gaelic sports until he visited me in Ireland during the All-Ireland football final in 2015.  Like me, he fell in love with the nonstop action of the games and passion of the community; he's been following ever since. 

Tommy (I know, the Tommy/Tom thing is confusing) will still be involved in American Hurling moving forward.  He still plans on attending major tournaments with us and helping us out as much as possible for the foreseeable future; he just won't be packing and shipping out orders on a daily basis.  

As far as the vision for American Hurling, it remains unchanged.  We plan on maintaining the energy and passion that Tommy had (and has) for this company and gaelic sports in general as we continue to do our small part in growing the game here in North America.  

In addition to that, new eyes bring new perspective, hence the changes you see here on AmericanHurling.com.  We wanted to bring a fresh look to the website while adding some functionality and ease of use to our customer experience.  If you experience any bugs/problems or have any suggestions for how we can make it even better, please feel free to let us know!

We still plan on stocking the highest quality gaelic sporting goods there are and getting them to you as quickly as possible.  We're currently working our way out of a hibernation of our own as we restock our inventory, refill our coffee cups, and do our part in the reinvigoration of our hurling/camogie/gaelic football community moving forward.  We're looking forward to the process and we hope you are too! 

So consider this my informal introduction; nice to meet you, and thanks for your continued support of American Hurling! 

- Hunter Rigsby - Co-Owner (despite how weird that seems to say)!