Burnfoot woman to represent Ireland at Para-Floorball Tournament

A Burnfoot woman will pull on the green jersey this week as part of the Irish para-floorball team competing in an international tournament in the Netherlands.

Sam McColgan, from Birdstown in Burnfoot, has been selected for the 12-strong Irish squad that will take part in the European Para-Floorball Tournament in Zoetermeer from 23-25 October.

Seven countries will take part - Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Belgium and the United States - in what promises to be a showcase of elite para-sport talent.

The team, which is managed by Burt man Paul Callaghan, has been drawn from the GAA’s provincial wheelchair hurling and camogie squads, and McColgan is one of only two women selected, alongside Ellie Sheehy from Limerick.

“It’s a great honour to be selected,” said Sam, who will travel to Croke Park on Tuesday before flying out with the team on Wednesday. “I’m looking forward to it. Can’t wait to get started, but a wee bit apprehensive about what’s ahead.

“Floorball is a bit different to what we’re used to here. But I felt the same when I started the hurling. Training sessions were one thing, but the games were so fast you’d be wondering what is happening, but I’m really looking forward to it.”

Sam’s only took up wheelchair hurling last year, having been persuaded by friends on her wheelchair basketball team to give it a go.

“I thought it wouldn’t have been for me, but I decided to give it a try, and I loved it,” she said. “I was hooked from the first night I went. It’s brilliant.”

She first played with the North West Wolves basketball team in the Derry/Donegal area before joining the Craigavon Lakers when the Wolves folded. Wheelchair hurling sessions are held on Tuesday nights in Cookstown, and more recently in Draperstown.

Earlier this season, her Ulster side were beaten by a single point in the interprovincial semi-final - a loss that still stings. “It was horrendous - it’d be better to be beat by ten points than one!”

The sport can be physical, and Sam doesn’t shy away from the rough and tumble. She even picked up a black eye recently when a hurley slipped through her helmet faceguard.

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“It’s a bit more rough and tumble than the basketball, but I like it - you have to give as good as you get.”

Moving from wheelchair hurling to floorball has brought new challenges. In floorball, players can’t lift the ball or raise the stick above the wheel - a key difference from hurling. “It’s all ground hurling, so to speak, and no handling is allowed,” Sam explained. “It’s played with a longer stick, a little like an ice-hockey stick. I found that a bit difficult at the start. There’s a lot of technical differences, but once you get used to it, it’s not too bad.

“If you lift the stick above the wheel in floorball, you’re sent to the sinbin. I may get used to the sinbin,” she laughed.

Overcoming adversity

Sam’s journey to this point is remarkable. When she acquired her disability, the prognosis was bleak and the prospect of living independently seemed remote. Participating in sport was out of the question.

“I acquired my disability in 2014, and suffered a significant loss of power,” she recalled. “I had personal assistants in the house, five or six times a day. I went from being a mammy to needing a mammy and needed a whole lot of help.

“I found it very hard to deal with. My personal assistants would put me to bed at half six or seven o’clock in the evening, that was my allocated time.

“My top half was so weak. But I joined a gym, started doing my own training sessions and got stronger.

“Things kinda fell into place after that. I met a girl whose son was playing wheelchair basketball in Derry, and she put me onto it. I loved the basketball, then it progressed to wheelchair hurling and now to floorball.”

Today, Sam gives talks in schools and to groups, sharing her story to encourage others living with disability.

“To be honest, I want to be the person that I needed back when I acquired my disability,” she said. “No disrespect to doctors or carers, but they were just kinda ticking boxes. My needs were being catered for, but I couldn’t live like that.

“I want to speak to people that find themselves in the position I found myself in. I tell them that it’s difficult, probably the worst thing that can happen, but emphasise that their life isn’t over.

“Back at the start, I wondered what kind of life was I going to have. I thought my life was over. But it’s far from it. Other than walking, I can do everything now and it’s great.”

‘Sport the number one medicine’

Sam credits sport with transforming her life, both physically and mentally.

“I genuinely believe that sport is the number one medicine. The effect it has had on me has been phenomenal. I know that I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for sport. My life would be so much more difficult and smaller if it wasn’t for sport.”

Sport also gave her back her independence. After being told she would never drive again, Sam was determined to prove otherwise.

“I was like a dog with a bone. I annoyed the hell out of anyone who’d listen to me, telling them that I needed to drive.”

She’s been driving since 2019 - a milestone that changed everything. “Now, I just go out, hop in the car, throw the chair over and head wherever I need to go.

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"I’d never have the freedom to do my sport if I needed someone to give up so much of their time to take me to training and the rest. When I learned to drive again, it definitely opened a lot of new doors.”Sam’s sons, Alex (15) and Mason (5), are proud of their mum’s achievements.

“Mason is only five, he can’t believe his mammy is going away and leaving him for a few nights. Alex is 15, so he’s saying it’s happy days and he’ll have peace to do what he wants,” she laughed. “Some of our games are streamed, and when Mason sees me playing he likes to see his mammy on TV.”

Sam, who has become Inishowen’s first international wheelchair hurler, continues to break new ground. She hopes Ireland can make their mark in Holland - and maybe avoid another agonising one-point loss.

“Please God we don’t lose another game by a point - I think Paul Callaghan would lose his mind if we did,” she laughed.

Her determination, humour and passion for sport have made her an inspiration both on and off the court. She wore that black eye she got playing for Ulster as a badge of honour, dismissing suggestions from friends to use concealing make-up.
Not a chance.

“You want to see the looks people give me when I told them I got the black eye playing hurley,” she laughs mischievously.

“They’re looking at my wheelchair, wondering whether I’m half right in the head when I’m chatting about playing hurley.”

Later this week, in a quiet moment in a sports arena in Holland, she’ll think back to where she was ten years ago and marvel at where she’s got to.

Then the ball will be thrown-in, and it’ll be game on for Sam McColgan.

The Ireland squad for the 2025 Para-Floorball Tournament

• Sean Bennett (Kilkenny)
• Ciarán Bradley (Down) – Captain
• Shane Curran (Galway)
• Darren Dineen (Limerick)
• Paul Hannan (Armagh)
• Cian Horgan (Kerry)
• James McCarthy (Limerick)
• Sam McColgan (Donegal)
• Stephen Melvin (Sligo)
• Jason Muldoon (Derry)
• Maurice Noonan (Limerick) – Vice Captain
• Ellie Sheehy (Limerick)