How her second ACL injury and a world adventure inspired a Leap woman to set up a new business
WHEN MaryRose Shanahan was told in August 2024 that she had suffered a second ACL injury and it was time to hang up her boots, it stung.
‘For a 27-year-old to hear that, when sport is your life, isn’t nice,’ she admits, but the Leap woman didn’t feel sorry for herself. Instead, she kicked into action.
‘From that day on I said I don’t want anyone else to feel like this, and I asked myself how can I reach as many people as possible with my knowledge of injury-prevention and injury recovery. That’s how my mobile sports recovery came about.’
MaryRose set up Wild Atlantic Recovery, her mobile sports recovery business that has already turned heads locally with a number of GAA clubs signed up, and it also won the Ignite Start-Up Lab ‘Best Idea’ prize in UCC. She is onto a winner.
The idea is ingenious – MaryRose brings her mobile sports recovery to clubs after their training sessions, rather than expecting players to come to her. She sets up icebaths and compression boots in the dressing-rooms so when players finish up a training session, their recovery starts straightaway.
‘From talking to various people locally, some of the problems are that players might not do the proper recovery, no-one wants the hassle of arranging an appointment and no-one wants to drive to their closest recovery unit. The beauty of my business is it’s mobile, so anywhere, anytime. Whether you are training mid-week or at the weekends, I am available seven days a week,’ MaryRose explains.
‘After a training session, when the team comes off the pitch, waiting for them in their dressing-room are the compression boots. While one half of the group kicks their legs back and relaxes in the boots, the other half are set up in the ice baths. I work with 12 players at a time, one half in the boots, the other in the icebaths, and after 15 minutes they switch. It’s a 30-minute rotation, and then after that I take the second half of the team.’
Compression boots can get you back on the pitch faster and feeling fresher, says MaryRose Shanahan.
While Wild Atlantic Recovery is only in action since October, MaryRose has already worked with the Castlehaven men’s and women’s teams, O’Donovan Rossa ladies, Kilmacabea and Goleen footballers. It’s an impressive CV, and so too is the knowledge and experience she has built up in recent years.
‘I spent the last three years traveling the world, and during that time I would have had ten qualifications, all to do with the body,’ says MaryRose, who lived in Dubai, Bali, Australia, France, Thailand, Cambodia and Sri Lanka.
‘I spent a lot of time working in boxing and Muay Thai camps, working as a personal trainer, an ice bath facilitator and so on, so I was working alongside athletes everyday, helping with their recovery. I saw how crucial recovery is for sportspeople, and how important it is.’
After she suffered her second ACL tear, the latest injury suffered in Muay Thai, MaryRose combined her knowledge and an underlying passion for mental and physical well-being to set up Wild Atlantic Recovery.
‘I have rehabbed my knee twice so I have been through the trenches,’ she says.
‘I am a huge advocate for cold water therapy. I go swimming in Lough Hyne nearly every day, so while I can’t bring Lough Hyne to people I can bring them an ice bath.
‘With the compression boots, while I am able to give sports massages I can’t give a team of 30 sports massages, so that’s why I use the boots. I combine both to provide a mobile sports recovery so no-one in West Cork is left out.’
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For more information, check out MaryRose Shanahan/Wild Atlantic Recovery on Instagram and Facebook.
