Council to put coaches through their paces

THEY’RE nothing if not eager in the Munster Council. Cork with 30 hurling titles and Kerry with 33 football titles may lead the All-Ireland senior stakes.

But there is always room on the trophy cabinet - and the provincial bosses never tire of trying to increase the hefty reserves of silverware down south.

Saturday is one such example of their good work. The Council hosts a “Best Practice for Juvenile Coaches” conference at Cork Institute of Technology, their first such venture.

The objective is a simple one, according to Games Manager, Pat O’Shea.

“Gaelic Games have grown and evolved quite a lot in recent times,” the former Dr Crokes and Kerry star explains. “Young people today demand coaches to challenge them to reach their full potential.

“Player development requires the understanding and recognition of the physical and psychological demands on young people.”

For O’Shea, the key to making the day a success is practicality. Too many of such events are little more that paper exercises, with beautiful diagrams illustrating the theories of what is being preached.

But this weekend, coaches will be expected to get their boots dirty with Cork senior football trainer, Ted Owens, All-Ireland winners Donal Daly and Jamesie O’Connor amongst those who will be talking - and vitally walking - those attending through a variety of drills.

“Those three hours of practical work are vital,” continued O’Shea. “By doing this, coaches can get a real feel for the things which we are trying to teach and impart. The day is targeted mainly at juvenile coaches who are dealing with players between the ages of eight and 16. Though this is the first conference of it’s kind in Munster, we have always been very strong in the area of coaching at a county and provincial level.”

The day’s tutorials also look beyond the white lines.

“We will also discuss the challenges that face the GAA - issues like population shifts, participation levels, dealing with other sports, discipline and the whole area of over-competitiveness. Those are crucial things facing the GAA. The onus is on getting kids to play games for their enjoyment and building for the future.”

O’Shea rejects the notion that such courses suggest a downturn in GAA skills.

“Far from it,” he counters. “The standard in Munster is exceptionally high as you can see. We just offer courses like this to help brush up and advance knowledge of the game. One of the things that we are developing is some of the team exercises, as we attempt to get players to work as a unit and gel together. To that end, we will have sessions of developing individual and team defence in hurling and football, and an attacking equivalent as well.”

Mention of team defence strategies sets alarm bells ringing. Are Munster football sides finally admitting that they must learn the Ulster way of swarm backline play? Will Mickey Harte and Joe Kernan be calling for copyright infringement?

O’Shea disagrees. “These things are not a knee-jerk reaction to what is happening in other provinces. All teams are looking to improve and we are just examining ways of developing sides - making them play well together as a unit.”

But is such an appliance of science to the detriment of the talented tyros, around the country like O’Shea’s fellow club man Colm Cooper?

“Individual talent is and always will be the most important thing. There is no way that we would want to stop players from developing their own natural way, their own flair.

“That is the big thing that we want to encourage.

“Our aim for coaches is to make training and practicing more interesting. By doing that we can develop the players - and coaches. We also want coaches to understand the youngsters as well. John Carey, a sports psychologist, will be there to talk about the mental side of things and management of kids.”

O’Shea is keen to point out that the weekend workshop is not just a once off. The Munster Council Coaching Programme is manned by development officers in a number of counties. Their work covers a broad spectrum, primary schools, post-primary schools, under age, development of coaching academies and coaching education programmes. From little acorns...

The course is being held on Saturday March 11 at the Cork Institute of Technology (9.30am-5pm). The cost is €50 which includes lunch and coaching pack. For further details contact the Munster Council offices, Limerick.