Let 'er rip

Tony Griffin represented Clare at a senior inter-county level in hurling. He retired from the sport last November.

Have you ever felt like screaming at the sky?

Not an 'oh-darn' yelp, but a full-fledged, all-out, 'why-me-lord' howl?

All-Star hurler, charity activist and entrepreneur Tony Griffin has, a few times—sometimes for pure joy and sometimes from the depths of despair. There were a few of each when Mr. Griffin, a recent Dalhousie graduate, embarked on a cycling marathon across Canada and his native Ireland in 2007 in memory of his late father.

“I was cycling along the Trans Canada highway through the lashing rain ... I couldn’t tell you exactly where. A lovely woman stopped and asked me if I needed a lift and I was so distraught and exhausted I could barely shake my head no,” says Tony Griffin, reached on the phone in Limerick, Ireland. “I thought of my father and losing him and I could just shout at the sky with pure anger.”

Of course, there’s the flip side: heaven-sent exclamations of elation. Those escaped his lips as he drew near the end of his 7,500-kilometre trip in his hometown of Ennis, County Clare on Ireland’s west coast. While much of his journey across Canada proved lonely and introspective, back in Ireland, thousands turned out to cheer him on.

Kinesiology degree

“Wow, we saw all those people lining the streets and waving. That’s when you just want to holler in pure delight,” says Mr. Griffin, who was accompanied throughout by Dalhousie classmates Ben Whidden, Matt Bethune and Rob Book.

Life is like that, full of highs and lows. Screaming at the Sky just seemed to fit as a title when Mr. Griffin sat down to write about four years in his life, from the high of playing hurling in front of tens of thousands of rabid Irish fans to the low of losing his father while studying for exams at Dalhousie with the Atlantic Ocean between them. And then there was that marathon cycling trip, which raised close to $1-million for cancer-related charities. Three times nominated for a Hurling All Star, Mr. Griffin was a recipient of the coveted award in 2006—a stressful time when he was in the midst of kinesiology studies at Dalhousie and commuting to Ireland twice a month to play his country’s native game.

After representing Clare for almost 10 years at a senior inter-county level in hurling, Mr. Griffin announced his retirement from the sport last November. It was a gut-wrenching decision that made the front pages of Ireland’s sports sections. The consensus was that at the age of 28, Tony Griffin was at the height of his game.

“When you grow up here, you live for the honor of playing for your county,” explains Mr. Griffin, who has since turned 29. “For a Canadian kid, it’s like the chance to play hockey for the Maple Leafs.”

Hockey is a good comparison. Although distinctly Irish, hurling is similar to the Canadian game, in that it is fast, furious and played with a small ball and a curved wooden stick. 

New business

But in Ireland, hurling is an amateur sport even at the highest level. Revved up on everything he learned at Dalhousie, Mr. Griffin wanted to devote himself to his new business, Sports Academy International, which he founded in 2008 with Clare footballer Tomas Madigan. The company, which offers training camps and sports specific teambuilding to professional and amateur sports teams, hosted recently a visit by Mohammed Ali to Ireland.

“I do credit Dalhousie for a lot. I’ve always loved that line, ‘inspiring minds.’ It encouraged me to think big, to plan well, to apply the information that I’ve learned,” says Mr. Griffin, who admits to being “scared senseless” a month into his Dalhousie experience, until he went out of his way to meet people. It also helped that John McCabe, associate professor in the School of Health and Human Performance, took him under his wing. “You realize it’s not only what Dal gives you, but what you make of it.”

Written with the help of T.J. Flynn, Screaming at the Sky is being published by Random House U.K. in June. Mr. Griffin is also hoping to have the book published in Canada.

LINK: There's a Facebook page for Screaming at the Sky. Pictures of people screaming at the sky are encouraged.