Coaching should make sport fun and beneficial for children

When it comes to coaching children, the focus needs to be on play and developing good movement skills, discovers Siobain Peters during her training course 

NOBODY is born a coach. As delightfully cute (and a little scary) as that might be, no baby has ever come bedecked with dangling clipboard and whistle. Big, angry red head... maybe. But those days of the roaring, jugular-bulging, hand-flailing coach are numbered.

Picture Timmy Ryan, the notorious GAA coach figure of the D’Unbelievables sketch. Wouldn’t want the likes of him coaching your little darling, would you? A little less José Mourinho, a little more Joe Schmidt. And please, definitely no flying boots, à la Sir Alex, as there are children at play here, and what they need is a really great coach.