No tracksuit but coach O’Shea continues lifelong learning

FOR most of his adult working life Pat O’Shea wore a tracksuit to work, a Games Promotion Officer based in Kerry, loving every minute of it as he went around to the various clubs and schools spreading the GAA gospel.

In his spare time Pat was an outstanding dual player, won an All-Ireland senior club football title with Dr Crokes in 1992, played hurling for the Kingdom, went on to manage Kerry to an All-Ireland senior football title in 2007. Nowadays Pat is still spreading the GAA gospel, but the tracksuit is no more; as Coaching & Games Manager (football), he is now an executive, tracksuit exchanged for pinstriped business suit.

The drive, however, remains the same, as do the hours. “To be honest it’s 24/7,” he explains, of his new and his old roles; “Because most of the people you’re dealing with are from the voluntary sector, there are a lot of evenings and weekends involved. You have to be on call at all times, dealing with queries, meetings and so on, a lot expected of you. It’s not a nine-to-five job, it’s more like a vocation and you find out very quickly whether it’s for you or not.

“We deal with a lot of different issues across a broad range of levels – schools, clubs, from kids starting out to the elite players. Each one of our GDAs (new title and expanded role for the old GPOs) are assigned an area or division, and inside that division they design all the programmes, which gives them responsibility but also gives them the challenge. They cover a broad spectrum of games development, player development, but they’re coming across very well.”

As part of the overall structure mentioned by Pat, the Munster Council held an all-day coaching seminar in Mallow GAA complex last Saturday, where nearly 200 club coaches from all grades were given practical instruction on the field by a succession of the top GDAs from the various counties, innovators like Seán Herbert, Pat Culhane and current football star James Ryan from Limerick, hurlers Martin Coleman and Brian Murphy from Cork.

They also received tips from the likes of Eoin ‘Bomber’ Liston, multiple All-Ireland football winner and All-Star from Kerry, and Cian O’Neill, Tipperary senior hurling trainer and lecturer in Sport Science in UL.

For ‘de Bomber,’ ! the theme of the day was Developing The Whole Player – “Jack O’Shea was the most complete player I ever saw,” reckoned Eoin, “But the complete player doesn’t exist – no-one yet has ever scored 10/10 in all the qualities required.”

Those qualities he listed as: team player; skill; knowledge of your sport; good communicator; athleticism; commitment/motivation; discipline; confidence; mental toughness; leadership.

For Cian O’Neill, ‘Physical Fitness In The GAA’ was the theme of the day, and a short but comprehensive lecture was followed by half an hour of practical work.

“Don’t be afraid to learn from other sports, or from other coaches,” said Cian, quoting an old maxim: ‘You must learn from the mistakes of others – you can’t possibly live long enough to make them all yourself’.

He went on to point out, however, that anything gleaned from other sports should be adapted to suit hurling and gaelic football.

“Gaelic Games are high intensity/multi-sprint/contact games, a challenging mix for any trainer. Don’t just do straight-line non-competitive drills – that’s fine for foundation level; for adult teams, what you must do is combine strength and fitness drills with tactics and technique – do everything with the ball, make everything relevant to game situations. Set up drills for a constructive reason – to create space, to duplicate match situations, always with movement, constant communication with and among the players.”