By Will Hanson

Wexford, Ireland is known for its long sandy beaches, to which no other Irish coastal county can compare. However, to all of us here at Collegiate, it’s known as Associate Athletic Director Will O’Brien’s hometown.

The O’Brien family. Photo credit: Will O’Brien.

In 1976, Will O’Brien was born in the countryside of County Wexford. Growing up in a tight-knit family of seven, O’Brien worked in the family country store and helped out with the family’s trucking company.

Additionally, his mother put a significant emphasis on education. This busy lifestyle as a kid helped mold O’Brien’s determined work ethic. However, he was very passionate about sports, especially Gaelic football and hurling, both of which are played outside on what closely resembles a soccer field.  Unfortunately, limited access to such sports and even fewer spots on his high school teams led O’Brien to never make either team. However, that never stopped him, and he “played club sports, where there was a lot of opportunity for Gaelic games” like hurling and football.

He then looked across the sea at the United States and decided to take advantage of athletic and academic opportunities here. At age eighteen, O’Brien left home to become a first-generation college student and attended school on an academic scholarship at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania, where he also picked up rowing.

On moving to America, O’Brien says, “I didn’t know anything about the US besides what I saw in the school brochure and on TV.” After graduating, O’Brien attended Georgia State University for his master’s degree in Athletic Training and Exercise Physiology, after which he found a job at Westminster, an independent school in Atlanta (and where former Collegiate Head of School Keith Evans currently presides). O’Brien came to Collegiate in 2005, as he had always strived for “a job that didn’t feel like a job,” and he has been passionate about the Collegiate community ever since.

A hurling match in Ireland. Photo credit: Billy Galligan via Wikimedia Commons.

At Collegiate, O’Brien has taken on many different roles, such as parent, coach, athletic trainer, and Associate Athletic Director. O’Brien says he considers moving back to his homeland every time he visits his family. While reflecting, he also says that, “I took some aspects of my past for granted,” and talked about his home’s history, such as Ireland’s oldest lighthouse, and the vast landscape. He hopes to educate his three children—Caitlin (’24), Fionna, and Liam—on Irish history so that they can one day connect to his past. 

Even 3,500 miles away, O’Brien found a way to connect to his Irish roots through athletics. In 2016, The Richmond Times-Dispatch published an article on the rise of Irish hurling in the Richmond community. O’Brien was a part of this team in its early stages. Played on a field 160 x 100 yards, hurling is without a doubt physically demanding and tests both hand-eye coordination and grit. O’Brien said he had a small advantage over those who were playing for the first time, since he was a bit rusty. However, his newfound appreciation for the game “isn’t about wins and losses anymore, but more about the comradery and passion shared by fellow countrymen.”