Mayo basketballers play for Ireland at Masters World Championships

Two Mayo basketballers are set to represent Ireland at the Masters World Cup in Switzerland in the coming week.

Mayo Meteors guard Hermann Heyl from Castlebar is one of them. 

"My highlight was playing junior men’s for Ireland, and I never thought I’d be playing in the green Irish shirt again, but here we are", Hermann laughs, speaking to The Mayo News before heading over to Switzerland.

The guard from Mayo Meteors has just hit the 40-year mark to qualify for the Masters age grade. With a twinkle in the eye, one could argue, Hermann played the long game:

"I just had to stay in shape until I hit 40 and then try again," he quipped. 

And if wearing the green again wasn't enough, Hermann is reunited with a few former team mates 20 years after they played together on underage Ireland teams.

Those were exciting times. Hermann played at St Gerald's when he was a teenager, the same hall he now trains and plays in for Mayo Meteors.

"I grew up in Castlebar when basketball was going through a bit of a boom. We were lucky to have a strong core of players around the same age. The highlight was winning the U-19 Schools Cup with St Gerald's."

Hermann also remembers how he used to work as the caretaker of the school's basketball hall. 

"I got a set of keys and could go anytime I wanted. I spent more time in that gym than anywhere else growing up. It feels like coming home when I’m in there."

What sounds like a teenager's dream definitely required a lot of goodwill form Hermann's mum back then.

"She would tell you the story. Whenever I was there, there were always one or two other guys hanging around, but she’d be parked outside waiting to bring me home. I used to finish work at 11pm, and she could be out there till midnight waiting for me because I was still playing, leaving her having a snooze in the car. My poor mother put up with a lot when I was growing up."

From Castlebar, Hermann's career path could have taken a different route. He played in Dublin for a while but then his studies to become a vet took priority and when he was in his athletic prime, there wasn't a lot of time for basketball.

Hermann moved to England for 15 years. And when he moved back to Ireland, he came to Castlebar and thought he'd be playing very casually, being the old guy on the team, maybe coming to a few sessions.

"But the first person I saw when I rocked up at the gym was Anthony McHale, 26 years my senior, so I decided I had no excuses and had to give it a proper go."

And now Hermann Heyl is travelling to the Masters World Cup in Switzerland with the aforementioned Anthony McHale, who will compete in a higher age grade.

For Hermann, putting on that green jersey again, the career seems to come full circle with being on the floor with former team mates.

His family will be with him and they're going to make a holiday out of it.

The first game for the Ireland 40+ men's team with Mayo representative Hermann Heyl will be against Georgia, on Saturday afternoon. And then it's Brazil on Sunday.

Heyl is looking forward to the challenge: "There are three guys on this team who played in the European Championships last year, and they seem convinced we’ll have a pretty competitive team.

There will be a high standard of players—lots of ex-pros, some still playing pro. From the way we’ve played together, with many practice, scrimmage and challenge games over the last few months, it’s a really nice, fun style of basketball."

Find out more about the tournament here. And you can find a livestream here.

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