Evanne Ní Chuilinn has told how she was “always involved in sports” — and how she “always needed to stay active for my mental health as well as my physical health.”
The TV presenter told Chic how she was “involved in almost every sport” while growing up, and how she’s got “a new appreciation for the taxi driving that my dad would have done when I was small, because I tried everything”.
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She said, “I did swimming, tennis, athletics, basketball, camogie and I did an awful lot of modern dance. But even the classes that I would have done maybe an hour a week on, I was involved in almost every sport.
"I was always an active kid and I always wanted to be an active kid. I did an awful lot of music, as well. My mam was a music teacher, and I always think that if I hadn’t spent so much time with music, I would’ve spent more time with sports. I was probably better off having a bit more of a rounded childhood.
"I was always involved in sports, and I’ve always tried to keep it up, as well. I played senior camogie in Dublin until I had my first son.
“I didn’t give it up because I had kids — lots of people go back playing team sports after they have kids — it was actually my job. I work evenings, I work weekends. That’s kind of what curtailed my commitment levels.
"Since then, I’ve tried to find other ways of keeping active. It’s mostly the gym, but I also joined the Gaelic4Mothers&Others football team in my GAA club two years ago now, as well. That’s been a brilliant initiative.
“I think I’ve always needed to stay active for my mental health as well as my physical health.”
Evanne also opened up about her own fitness routine — and the part that she would like to be able to “improve on”.
She said, “My fitness routine — I wish it was better. Maybe January is a good time to be better. I strongly dislike running, but I really would like to like running.
“In 2025, I’m going to try again. I try this every few years, I try to get back into running. I try, and then I fail, and then I try again. That’s the only thing that I want to improve on.
"But I do go to the gym, I lift weights. I think it’s very important for women of my age to do strength training.
“There’s an awful lot of research around that. I’m 43 now and I’ve probably been doing strength training for eight years — I think I’ve felt the benefit of it. And I hope my bones have felt the benefit of it.
“I kind of wish someone had told me when I was 21 to start lifting weights.
“They talk about the bone bank and building up the bone density when you’re in your 20s, because you start losing it after that. I know it’s really important, but I also really, really enjoy it.
“I would do that two to three times a week.
“Generally, what I do is I do it at half nine in the morning, after I’ve got everybody out the door to school. It is my time to just switch off and throw a few weights around, and I come out feeling so much more energised.
"Sometimes, you can be really tired in the mornings. And I do have days where I’m like, ‘I can’t do this, I’m too tired’.
“But actually — and my coach always says this, as well — energy creates energy.
“If you actually just go and do it, you do feel an awful lot better afterwards, even if it’s the last thing you feel like doing. That’s what I do.
“It’s not a lot, three times a week — and I do walk a good bit. We have a golden retriever at home, so we take turns walking him, obviously.”
The author recalled how they would “go up to the mountains an awful lot” as a family — something which, she hopes, they’ll be able to continue again soon.
She said, “We stopped after I had my third baby, just because he was not very mobile.
“But he’s getting to the point now where we reckon he could probably tackle the Sugarloaf. He’s nearly three, so I think he’s probably nearly there.”
And with the new year (and the occasionally grey, gloomy days of January) here, Evanne told how it’s important to “be kind to yourself” when it comes to fitness routines — and how she stays motivated on the days where she isn’t feeling it.
The Kilkenny native said, ”There’s a time to curl up on the couch with Netflix, and that can be every single day. Netflix and chill is a philosophy of mine. I’m totally on board with that, and I do that in the evenings, definitely.
“But the days where I’m not feeling it — some days, I just can’t. I’m just too tired. And I really do give into that.
“I think it’s important that we let ourselves have days where we’re just not able, and that’s fine. I do try and at least lift some weights twice a week, because I know that I’ll feel better afterwards.
“I think the hardest part — and I know this is a cliche, but the hardest part is going out the door.
"Once you get into the gym, it’s fine and you get used to it and you get into it; you feel so much better afterwards.
“I think the motivation on the days where you’re not feeling it is — first of all, be kind to yourself. Sometimes, it’s OK not to feel it on that day. Try and go the next day.
"But the motivation for me is knowing full well that I’ll have more energy afterwards than I had before.”
Evanne was speaking to coincide with the launch of the Get Ireland Active app, which is going to be a “place where people of all ages and all activity levels can go and see where their nearest amenities are”.
She continued, “Whether that’s a local swimming pool, playgrounds for kids, basketball courts, walking trails — whatever.
"And I’ve done this before where I’m texting people going, ‘I’m in your area, where’s the best playground for two year olds or three year olds?’”
Evanne added that the app will be beneficial, whether you’re on holidays or with family.
She said, “I do think that wherever you go, wherever you’re based yourself or go on holidays maybe with your family, it’d be great to have something that you can just open up and say, ‘right, what’s around here, what can we do for the next few hours and keep these kids busy?’
“That’s basically what it’s going to be. It’s almost like a database, but obviously it’ll be a very user-friendly app. It’ll have lists of everything in terms of amenities in your local area.”
And it’ll also be beneficial for those who simply just want to know what’s going on in their own areas.
She continued, “My local park recently had the basketball courts resurfaced, and there are these new boxes where you can just put in a token and take out a basketball or a tennis racket, or whatever, and almost hire them for an hour.
“Unless you knew they were, you wouldn’t know they were there.
“There’s a velodrome in my local park, as well. It’s the only velodrome in Ireland, and it’s the outdoor one.
“It’s a really handy one, again, for just doing loops and loops around the outside and getting kids tired, basically.”
Evanne opened up about what she’s looking forward to in the next 12 months — and why she’s not a fan of New Year’s resolutions.
She said, “I’m not really a big New Year's resolution type person, because I think sometimes we can put pressure on ourselves at that time of the year.
“And while I will try and make conscious decisions around healthy living and that, I don't like making lists because then I just feel like four months in, we can feel like a failure if it hasn't happened.
“So, I just think that we all need to be a small bit kinder to ourselves and not be setting huge expectations. And I think January can be a bit of a trap for expectations.
“I'd rather sit down in November and be like, ‘okay, am I happy with what's going on here or what will I change’ or whatever than sit down in January and start thinking about it, because I think it can have the exact opposite effect of what you think is going to happen.
"You can actually de-motivate yourself if it hasn't happened by February.
“I'm not a big resolutions person — and what am I looking forward to in 2025? I'm really enjoying — I know this maybe sounds kind of very, very simple or whatever — but I actually am really enjoying the stage that my kids are at at the moment. I'm enjoying watching them excel in their sports and their lives.
“We have a little boy turning three in January, so he'll probably start wanting to go to little kickers or little academy sessions for different sports.
“He wants to be like his older brother and sister.
“And my son is in secondary. He's playing football and hurling and soccer. My daughter is really excelling at gymnastics.
“I'm really enjoying watching what they're doing in 2025 because they're really enjoying their sport, and I think that's a really important lesson — or a really important way of life that we have passed on to our kids.
"And I'm really proud of that ,because they really genuinely do love sports.
“From a work point of view, I will be looking forward to things like the Women's Euros in the summer and the Women's Rugby World Cup. There's a lot happening.
“It's a bit of a quiet year, just after the Olympics, but there's still plenty of sport going on. Obviously, there will be Europeans, Worlds and various different Olympic sports like athletics and gymnastics and all that stuff will be happening. Hopefully, we’ll get to work on some of those programmes.”
Evanne told how she has her sights set on writing another book, following on from 2023’s The Great Irish Book of Gaelic Games, which was illustrated by Donough O Malley.
She said, “I will definitely write another book. I’ve had an idea in my head, I would say, for the last two years.
“It’s almost writing itself in my head, but I haven’t sat down and signed anything with anybody yet.
“But I will write it and I will get it published, it’s just a case of when and where. I genuinely would like to do that in 2025, as well.”
The Get Ireland Active App can be downloaded now on the Apple AppStore and Google Play Store
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