Ursula Jacob explains her unique pre-match routine that she followed religiously

Wexford’s Ursula Jacob was the most recent guest on the Laochra Gael series on TG4…

The Ursula Jacob episode follows her journey from a young girl playing hurling in the backyard, to her time with Coláiste Bríde in Enniscorthy, her All-Ireland title wins, and her time on the hit RTE show, The Sunday Game.

One interesting part of the documentary came when she explained her pre-match ritual, a ritual that she stuck by religiously. Many athletes across all sports have a pre-game ritual, and Ursula Jacob was no different during her playing days with both Oulart-The Ballagh and the Wexford Senior Camogie team.

“It’s all about having a routine, doing the same thing on the day of a match. It progressed gradually over the years. The big one with Mum, was obviously the Holy water. Blessing my hurls, blessing me, giving me a hug and wishing me good luck. The same with Dad; he would give me all his energy through a hug – and then I’d hurl anyone.”

“And then be specifically – with my gear. The famous brown headband… I had to wear this. If I didn’t wear the brown headband, I felt I couldn’t go out and play on the pitch,” Ursula Jacob said.

Her mother, Breda, discussed how she hated the headband and was perplexed how Ursula, who loved colours, loved the bland brown headband. The famous headband went missing before and a Facebook post was issued by her club in an effort to find it, which they did.

Interestingly, Jacob also wore the same socks with her club, Oulart-The Ballagh, throughout her club career – despite the fact that there were holes in them. For Jacob, it was the little things and she placed importance on maintaining the same routine:

“It’s the same with the socks. It didn’t matter if it was hail, rain, or snow, or whatever. You’ll see – it’s absolutely terrible. There’s holes in the socks, but right up until my last game in the County Final, I wouldn’t change the socks. I was probably the only one who stuck with the routine; the hugs, the rituals, the holy water – and Mam and Dad were central to that,” she said in the Laochra Gael documentary.