With the Paris Olympics just on the horizon, the Ireland rugby sevens team have enjoyed recent reinforcement from an unexpected source, with All-Ireland winner Vikki Wall joining the squad late last year.
Wall is the latest on the list of Irish sportspeople to have excelled in more than one sport, and spoke to us about the challenges of transitioning into a new sport as she was unveiled as Lucozade's newest ambassador this week.
Already a two-time All-Ireland winner with her native Meath, Wall enjoyed a successful spell playing Australian Rules for the 2022 AFLW season and in 2023, she joined up with the Ireland Women’s Sevens Team with aspirations of making the squad for the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris. In January 2024, Wall made her debut for the team at the SVNS World Series event in Perth, starting in Ireland’s Quarter-Final defeat of Japan. The team would go on to win the event, claiming their first SVNS World Series title.
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Wall took up her position as a forward in her competitive debut in the World Series against Japan in Perth in January, before Ireland went on to their historic first win of the tournament.
It was next level. We played a few development tournaments and things like that but that was the first cap for me. Getting into that level and getting a bit of exposure was good.
It’s definitely a higher tempo than you’re used to. Obviously, 30 odd degrees heat has a bit of an impact on it as well, especially with the thick jerseys. We were there a week or two beforehand so I suppose we were acclimatized and in a good place.
Getting time against Japan was great, the first minute is probably a bit of a shock to the system but you don’t really have much time, especially in the Sevens games to be able to adjust. You just have to throw yourself into the swing of things. A lot of work-ons, even from my short time on the pitch but it was great to get out there.
Wall also addressed the improved balance in her life she has experienced in contrast to playing GAA, and the luxury of having the time for recovery. The 25-year-old said that the additional time to recuperate and work on her game was the biggest change since switching codes:
I suppose the biggest difference is time. There’s a lot more access obviously, it’s a professional sport, but it’s nice to have the training done during the day and have off time in the evenings. I think that’s the thing I’ve noticed most.
Still in touch with one of the girls from the Meath panel, she’s not home until half 11 most evenings that they’re training and she could be gone all day Saturday and Sunday with games, so for me it’s probably the most off time I’ve had in terms of actually having that balance.
You’re getting to do it full time, it’s a privilege to be able to do it. Having that switch on and switch off, I think you get a bit more down time to be able to recover. The recovery levels probably aren’t the same within the GAA, they don’t have that luxury.
Vikki Wall on the challenge of transitioning sports
Wall discussed the challenges she faces in her transitions between sports, and passionately praised her teammates for their astounding patience during her introduction to the sport:
I suppose patience isn't something I would pride myself on and it's definitely something I always try and work on but I have to give huge credit to the girls. Like, I know for the first month, easily, that I was in there, I was wrecking their heads.
Whether it was new drills, whether it was just random questions on things that would probably be second nature to them...any question I had, I was never turned away. There was never a huff, never a sigh, things like that. They're always so willing to help.
Whether it's sitting down and going through analysis, like just asking basic questions and just getting them to explain things 10 times over until I actually have a handle on it. I just can't give them enough credit for how good they've been.
Someone coming in probably knocks things off kilter a bit. I was messing up drills quite a bit at the start and you know how frustrating that is - the cohesion of a drill. They have been unbelievable to me and I'm very, very grateful, but hopefully I'm not disrupting training now as much as I was a few months ago.
I had frustration at myself, wanting to be at that level, forcibly having to be patient because you’re just not at that level. A lot of doubts for the ego, absolutely.
You want to be able to perform and sometimes it’s just not clicking at the start. Being able to strip it back and just look at it for what it is, a massive challenge, a massive shift in sport, a massive change in everything, as in my life from back here.
Being able to break it down on a smaller scale probably helps, otherwise I think I’d be a bit angry most days.
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