Brian O'Driscoll
Brian O'Driscoll
NationalityIrish
ProfessionAthlete
Date of Birth21 January 1979
CountryIreland
best life people perspective
You have perspective when little people come into your life. You take the best things you have and let them overshadow your disappointment.
best dressing possible rooms vicious
Dressing rooms can be vicious places, in the best possible way, from a slagging point of view.
amount best decide huge teams understand
There is still a big onus to be coached. I understand the best teams don't need a huge amount of coaching, but that's when a coach should decide not to do coaching.
best good leave practise
Practise things you're good at. Keep on top of things you're not so good at, but be world-class at your best. Never think, 'I'm very good at this and that, I can leave those for a bit.'
defeats definitely
As you get older, the defeats become more painful. They definitely hurt more.
athletes becoming english huge opposed pass players room throw weights whether
I'm not privy to the English set-up, but at the academies in Ireland, there is a huge focus on the weights room as opposed to whether they can throw a 10-metre pass on the run. They should be rugby players becoming athletes, not athletes becoming rugby players.
five life lucky managing settled took understand
For me, it took five years to understand what professionalism meant. But I'm more settled now. I'm married, life changes, and I've been lucky in managing my injuries.
bay fairly good
I'm fairly adventurous with my eating. I've tried kangaroo, and Moreton Bay bugs, which are a kind of lobster, are so good.
good home life model people plenty rest role sit sports though
If you can be a good role model for people, well, great. You try and live your sporting life and the rest of your life as well as you can, and if it's something that people admire, well, fantastic. I don't sit at home and think about it too much, though - there's plenty of other things in my life going on.
case trying work
You never sit on your laurels. It is always a case of trying to work on your deficiencies as much as working on your strengths.
few grasp last life sudden switch third
When you've done something for more than a third of your life, your whole adult life, and then all of a sudden you're going to have to switch off and say, 'No more,' you want to grasp as much of it and enjoy the last few years of it as much as you can. Because you can't get those years back.
facet lower muscles send
It's happened a couple of times in training when I hyper-extend my back. Some facet joints send all the muscles in my lower back and lumbar-spine into spasm.
change last mean
Just because you lost your last game doesn't mean you change anything.
bad great lose pain playing share sports win
The great thing about playing team sport is you win and lose together, and the pain is never as bad when you share it.