Messages

What do they lose if they 'capitulate' to the players?

Whose we Guillem2?

Through the computer BTW, I find it very handy but I have access to a computer every day. I use it to notify/remind players and parents of training or games. It is especially good for letting parents know about training etc. as kids can forget especially if there are changes. Using this system you know parents will get the correct message. I'll definately get back to as regards cost next week.

I know we go through O2, costs would obviously be dictated in large part by the amount of texts you send but I think it is reasonable enough. If I can get my hands on what it costs us on average I'll let you know. We get a certain amount of texts free each month with our deal. Anyway I'll try and get more specific details for you, though it will be next week before I can do it.

Mick Lyons was always one of my favorite players, last night only served to elevate him in my estimation. If only more footballers were as manly as him, he gave it and took it without exception. Certainly a player everyone in Meath can be proud of.

Yeah it's excellent, not sure how much it costs but I find it an invaluable aid and you know everybody has got the message.

Nah AB, I never trained a team in Mayo, but I'd love to and hope to do so one day. I don't have any connections there or anything just feel that it would be a good county to develop a team in.

Yeah definately, if I was coaching a team in Mayo and I knew we would have 7-8 weeks without a competitive game, I would take field training down to 2 nights a week in the first week, down to 1 night the second week and let them off altogether in week 3. Then I'd bring them back for 3 nights a week for week 4-6/7 with at least two games in those weeks. And in the week of the game it would be back to 2 nights with both sessions 45min-1 hour in duration. So the 2 month period would look something like this;

Week 1- 2 sessions
Week 2 - 1 light session
Week 3 - off
Week 4 - 3 sessions (1 game)
Week 5 - 3 sessions
Week 6 - 3 sessions (1 game)
Week 7 - 3 sessions
Week 8 (game week) - 2 short sessions (45 - 60 min)                             

Could you elaborate please Zulu ?

Well OM every coach should get a list of games his players are involved in during the coming season. So if your training the senior footballers in order to plan your training season properly you should know when all your games are fixed for. Not only that but you should know when the U21's and minors are playing if you have some of those lads on your squad. If your a dual cub you should know about all the hurling matches that your footballers are involved in. Of course you'll need to agree a training regieme with all these coaches so as to make sure no-one is doing too much. You'll also need to take into account lads who played soccer, rugby or any other game during the winter as these lads may not need the same type of pre-season training. Now when you have all this done you need to plan out your season with these factors in mind. Break up the season into blocks of 4-6 weeks with a goal for each block e.g. the first block will build up stamina. After each block of training you have a down week. This might consist of one easy night of training or a game of soccer/rugby/basketball etc.
                           As for IC players, clubs need to be careful here, counties often give IC players a week off but clubs insist that they attend all their training sessions during that week. This means that the players aren't getting any break and this can influence their form later in the season. What coaches need to remember is that the only purpose of training is to prepare for games and then act accordingly.

how would you go about peaking at certain times Zulu?

Having rest periods of just say 2 weeks from training a few times throughout the year?

Yeah, something like that BM, there is a basic concept in training called periodization. Where a training schedule is planned out over the course of a season with intense weeks of training interspersed with 'down' weeks. This type of training schedule is designed to allow a team to peak at various times in a year.

There is no real reason that a team can't do well in the league and championship, even the likes of Down, Donegal etc. If Down have sensible training structures in place they should be fine. The problem is often that lads are also playing and training with their clubs and of course holding down full time jobs. If they only served one master and could get the right rest and recuperation then they'd be fine. You can generally only peak a few times a year but there is no reason that one of them can't be in January and another in September.

Have you any comment on the question that both myself and His Holiness have raised about the standing of the people involved in this "strike"? By what process are they deemed the Cork Senior Football Team when no such team has been selected?

Have they though Hardy? I suppose this comes down to interpretation (doesn't it always!) but my reading of this is, the 2007 panels are not making themselves available for selection this year because of the new selection system and Teddy Hollands actions. They have not said the management teams can't go along and select another panel, now Holland might try this but Gerald MacCarhty won't take a Cork panel devoid of those players into a championship. So I don't think they have done anything wrong, they are just not making themselves available under the prevailing circumstances, as they are entitled to and as I would if I was in their position. So I don't accept your position that they are a pressure group, but simply the first choice players of Cork GAA who won't play for the moment. If they are applying pressure it is because they want to play but only under the right circumstances. Hardy your a Meath man, lets say for some reason Meath CB appointed the village idiot from Navan as the county manager. How would the players respond, would they be at training every night, would they travel around the country representing Meath in the league and championship, or would tell the CB to take a hike if you think we're playing for that fool? We both know what they would do and why, because they fundamentally believe what the CB did prevented them from representing Meath to the best of their abilities. My example id obviously unrealistic but to follow your logic, once the county board make a decision the players should just get on with it. I don't accept that, the players are fighting for what's best for Cork GAA and as such ordinary supporters should support them, not castigate them.

Well there's plenty of posters adding legs to the players demands, that's for sure. Let's be clear about this, the players are objecting to the CB's constant attempts to undermine their efforts to be successful while representing Cork. The attempt to get CB lacky's on the backroom staff of the senior football team was the last straw. The players do not want to ;

A. Pick the manager, they want the CB to do so.
B. Pick the selectors, they want the CB appointed manger to do so.
C. Prevent other players represent Cork in their stead, I haven't seen any picket lines around training pitches.

What the players do want is the environment in which they can compete against the other top counties in both codes.

It is the CB's responsibility to provide this while maintaining a decent club championship. A difficult balancing act in a dual county I'll grant you but possible nonetheless. The CB have behaved stupidly at best, cowardly and underhandedly at worst. Take off the anti-GPA/Donal Og glasses lads, this is about a CB that has lost sight of its role in the GAA, not the players.

No the issue of democracy is not my view point it is the generally accepted way democracy works.  As regards the decision to change the selection process it was voted on twice and the clubs knew exactly what they were voting on the second time.  The first motion was proposed by Bob Honohan and as far as I know it was a solo run by Bob. In an earlier post I said I thought it was ill advised but was a perhaps well meaning but wrong way to address the club v county issue that is a huge issue in Cork.  I believe the players maybe genuinely but mistakenly saw it as an attempt by the county board to get back power and to get rid of Billy Morgan.  I also think that had the players not threatened strike that the motion would have been reversed on the second vote (three weeks after the first). However many clubs saw the strike threat as blackmail – thus the players are equally culpable for the mess. I do think that making wild statements about the motives or intentions of CB members is unhelpful and Sean Bog's assertion that CB officials would prefer power to AIs is the type of stuff that is best left out of reasoned debate

Again I agree with your assessment of why the delegates voted the way they did the second time TJ. They reacted to the players strike threat, and while I thought the players over-reacted to the initial vote they would have eventually had to go on srike to get their voices heard. I stand by my comment questioning the validity of the vote, but even if I'm wrong and the vote is the democratically expressed view of the Cork GAA membership I still support the players.Why? Because the CB introduced a proposal that effects only the IC teams and was then voted on by people with an axe to grind with that same IC set up.
                                        Players put an awful amount of time and effort into representing their county, administrators job is to facilitate them to the best of their ability. They should create the environment for success not try and hinder that process. If the CB wanted to sort out the club situation in Cork then they should behave like men, face down IC managers if they make unreasonable demands, but don't engage in back ally politics. IMO the CCB don't go about their business in a open and straight forward manner, they don't conduct themselves in a manly fashion, i.e. say what you mean and mean what you say

You will have to do better than this Zulu - meaningless waffle. Some of your arguments up to now have some validity (unlike Ringy) but this is nonsene. Either you have democracy or not. You cannot have it on a selective basis or have someone define what is democratic and what is not purely from their own perspective.

That's your opinion and your entitled to it TJ but I don't accept that this vote was democracy at work. For the vote to be a democratic representation of the views of Cork GAA members, the CB should have contacted each and every club in Cork told them that they were proposing this change and allowed plenty of time for clubs to arrange meetings to discuss this. Then we could be sure that the vote represented the views of the club members and not those of club delegates. You cannot deny that some delegates (at least) vote in whatever the executive support. That is why the players want the board to support a return to the old system and allow the clubs to vote again. Why did the CB bring this up when no-one felt the need to change anything?