The Secret GAA Coach: Should the 'gifted' nine-year-old come before the good of the team?

Pic: iStock

How many skills are in the game of hurling? Some argue there is actually a finite number, whereas others view it as an ever-evolving quest to achieve, if not the impossible, then the improbable. For better or worse, I gravitate towards the latter camp.

Of course, even elite players have to start somewhere and, without exception, it’s the local GAA pitch in the company of their pals as they come to terms with “the tingle in their fingers of the impact of ash on leather”, in the words of then-Taoiseach and former teammate Jack Lynch at Christy Ring’s graveside.

Which, in my parish, for one group of U9 boys, is where I come in. Like so many mentors taking on the responsibility of managing juvenile teams, I did so with great hope and the best intentions of doing my very best on behalf of those U9 players and the club that brought us together.

I was fortunate to have the help of some dedicated parents and together we catered for a group of over 50 boys. 

With every Bainisteoir’s bib, a warning should be printed noting that “with great power comes great responsibility”. Not long after raising my hand at a parents’ meeting, I found myself managing an organisation of over 160 people (50 players come with roughly 100 parents, eight or nine fellow mentors and various members of the club executive who we ‘reported to’) with the associated logistical, financial, communication, equipment, and countless miscellaneous responsibilities that come with volunteering in your ‘spare’ time.

Each new season brings with it new possibilities and heightened optimism. This is particularly true at Under 9 level which, for most of those involved, is their maiden sporting voyage with dreams unblemished by the failures and frictions of the previous year. Among the mentors, we had a blend of experience and raw enthusiasm in addition to a workable combination of former players and willing helpers. 

Unfortunately, the modern reality is that it is becoming difficult to get former top-level players to coach teams, leaving the club with no alternative but to recruit well-meaning parents instead. Sadly, many just do not have the necessary technical or practical knowledge that comes with playing.

On the face of it, our group of mentors shared a common philosophy which, in addition to helping the boys’ skills, focused on their personal and social development. In addition to weekly training sessions and Go-Games, visits to clubs in other counties were a regular feature. As players developed, the emphasis switched from fun to introducing players to more competitive action in some of the traditional hurling strongholds.

Ironically, it was at this point that cracks began to appear. The competitive action was offering some of our stronger players an opportunity to flourish with others showing sufficient signs of progress to suggest that we had a group of players whose potential was on a par with their enthusiasm. Almost overnight, the notion of ‘one for all/all for one’ went out the window for some parents.

The better players (ie their sons) should be coached separately to the rest of the group. More tellingly, these parents, despite a number of unexplained gaps in their respective coaching and playing CVs (unproven claims of playing “a bit of county minor” did not cut it), felt they were best equipped to train their own children. This did not sit right with the other mentors whose views had not been corrupted by parental bias.

The gifted player needed to be nurtured and challenged but not at the expense of the group.

A well-developed 11-year-old boy may be the best player on any given pitch but the skinny, late-developer shivering in the corner may need little more than time and encouragement to be just effective by the time they reach the age of 15.

The weakest player, just like the strongest, needs to be nurtured and challenged but in a manner appropriate to them. Long story short: for the sake of my soon-to-be former coaching colleagues, it was probably for the best that this particular revolution was never televised!