Thoughts on Fitness and Coaching for Gaelic Games

[Logan]

I've been speaking with a few guys on here about this for a while and they asked me to post  and share some of these points for debate and input....

We've been looking for some input into how we coach our teams and the club want to put a plan together etc etc.
I also want to improve my own coaching and I know I don't know enough.

So the past few weeks I went around asking some coaches for advice etc and after talking to a few people I tried to write some notes.

But I very luckily got some time recently with a 'well known' professional coach/consultant and some of his points were very interesting these are some limited short hand notes from those conversations, I need to flesh them out ....



In response to a question about 'fitness'
- "'Fitness' is the one thing most people ask about but it is not something you can compare across sports with one value." It's really only a school yard debate that doesn't matter in reality to winning. There is no one value.

- It is possible (to compare fitness), but only with a very complicated process. If you can or do this you'll find that GAA players are not as fit as professionals.

- Training Gaelic Footballers is difficult but generally, in many cases the biggest improvements [I've made] are to be made by addressing off field issues rather than training.  

- Basically, every quality in a player, except height, can be changed and improved if the proper training is selected.

- The future of training teams is individualization of physical preparation. The problem is the level of knowledge is not ready to do it properly.

- The area most teams get wrong is weight training. Too many coaches train for size, not performance. Others train for endurance – very, very few are well enough qualified to train players with weights properly and many get injured. Not enough train properly for power.

- Skill is a physical ability. It is very trainable if you know how. The brain is simply another a muscle that must be trained. The brain has a 'plasticity' that can adapt to changes  and learning.

- Talent is trainable. No player is 'just born with it'. This is a proven fact.

- Every position has a completely different set of training requirements.

- The first thing a manager must do is evaluate his team before he selects his style of play.

- The biggest threat/danger to Gaelic Footballers is their health due to poor knowledge and understanding of training by coaches. (He made a point that the GPA would have far better success focusing on this than any other as the GAA is exposing some players to severe health risks considering many coaches are not properly trained and may be causing long term injuries.)

- In one line - The training of GAA players is only limited by budget.

- In 99% of cases - never tape injuries

- Sports Psychologists should never talk to a team

- A player carrying fat will only last about 47 constructive minutes in todays championship matches

- The faster the player generally the stronger they are. If they aren't the coach is at fault.

- The majority of players drink too much water before games.

- Must GAA diets have far too much carbohydrates and not enough protein in them

- 76% of all sports supplements are tainted [he said based on a published journal paper]. There will very likely be another 'Adain O'Mahony' case very soon with a 'false positive' drug test.  

- Pain is not necessary - Coaches don't have to kill athletes in training to make them improve. Must training is too hard.

- The best thing an inter county player can do is improve their sleep quality

- There is no such thing as 'periodisation' anymore. Traditional Periodisation doesn't work in team sports.

- Fitness testing in the GAA is a waste of time.

- Hamstring injuries can be healed in 3 or 4 weeks if treated properly. The faster the return the better. The sooner the return to play after injury the lower the chance of reinjury. The longer the delay in treating the injury the longer the return to full fitness and best playing level again.

- Players who lift weights to get big will fatigue faster than properly strength trained players.
   
- The most important thing for a coach to train is the nervous system.    

- There is no excuse for a soft tissue injury – i.e. hamstring injury etc.


It was a fascinating few hours and I've a lot more to write up, but that's a start – I need to finish writing them up and stuff.

[Dinny Breen]

- In 99% of cases - never tape injuries

- Sports Psychologists should never talk to a team

- The faster the player generally the stronger they are. If they aren't the coach is at fault.

- The majority of players drink too much water before games.

- 76% of all sports supplements are tainted [he said based on a published journal paper]. There will very likely be another 'Adain O'Mahony' case very soon with a 'false positive' drug test.  

- There is no such thing as 'periodisation' anymore. Traditional Periodisation doesn't work in team sports.

- Fitness testing in the GAA is a waste of time.

- Hamstring injuries can be healed in 3 or 4 weeks if treated properly. The faster the return the better. The sooner the return to play after injury the lower the chance of reinjury. The longer the delay in treating the injury the longer the return to full fitness and best playing level again.
   
- The most important thing for a coach to train is the nervous system.    

- There is no excuse for a soft tissue injury – i.e. hamstring injury etc.

Besides stating the obvious a lot of the time I'm quite sceptical about the above so any chance you can explain further.

[Logan]

If it's all below you then you don't need to comment ... we're sadly not all as expert in coaching as you.

Like I said I haven't got the full thing written up - I'm working from bullet points and hand writing.

- In 99% of cases - never tape injuries
Taping prevents the structures from healing and operating normally - immobilization is not the best way to allow or encourage the injury to heal

- Sports Psychologists should never talk to a team
The point here was that psychologists are to help the coaches present information or an image (everything) in the best way to players - psychology it's self is not the important thing, it's the psychology of coaching that is. Just throwing a shrink into a room to work on confidence doesn't work.   

- The faster the player generally the stronger they are. If they aren't the coach is at fault.
If a coach has a strong player that's not fast - they're training them wrong or not doing the proper type of speed training

- The majority of players drink too much water before games.
He said that hydration in players was taken too far and most players drink too much - with no actual proof that so much water is needed in this climate. He showed me a paper which stated more people each year die in sport from over hydrating than dehydrating.

- 76% of all sports supplements are tainted [he said based on a published journal paper]. There will very likely be another 'Adain O'Mahony' case very soon with a 'false positive' drug test. 
That's a bit self explanatory isn't it? - If a player is taking a supplement that has a trace of a banned substance in it they'll fail it unsuspectingly and will be made a scapegoat of.

- There is no such thing as 'periodisation' anymore. Traditional Periodisation doesn't work in team sports.
Nothing grey about that.

- Fitness testing in the GAA is a waste of time.
(If you're serious Pm me and I'll send you a list of things on this one)

- Hamstring injuries can be healed in 3 or 4 weeks if treated properly. The faster the return the better. The sooner the return to play after injury the lower the chance of reinjury. The longer the delay in treating the injury the longer the return to full fitness and best playing level again.
Basically that treatment of injuries in the GAA is too conservative and archaic and GAA players should back playing faster. The longer someone stays out the longer it takes to get them up to speed - even when they are fully fit, so you need to get players back fast for a number of reasons.
   
- The most important thing for a coach to train is the nervous system.    
This is a complicated one - Pm me if you like - I don't have the time to explain what i think this is about.

- There is no excuse for a soft tissue injury – i.e. hamstring injury etc.
Well was interesting - this guy said that if you were training a team and you had a soft tissue injury you've almost certainly done something wrong. Either not warmed them up right, done speed work too soon, not moved correctly from drill to drill, done too much too fast - but most likely simply done too much work when they were tired. He said there was little excuse - every muscle pull should be preventable.

Besides stating the obvious a lot of the time I'm quite sceptical about the above so any chance you can explain further.

Hope that's a little help

[Jinxy]

"He showed me a paper which stated more people each year die in sport from over hydrating than dehydrating."

[Logan]

Check your pm

[DuffleKing]

Remove the word "coaching" from the title of this  thread. your post is entirely about physical fitness and conditioning, not coaching.

[Logan]

Remove the word "coaching" from the title of this  thread. your post is entirely about physical fitness and conditioning, not coaching.

No

[Logan]

Coaching notes will follow

[dundrumite]

As having a vested interest in sport psychology I am interested in why you suggest they should never talk to a team? With Mental skills training you can increase levels of concentration and motivation. Numerous studies show you can improve self paced closed skills to a great degree ie free kicking. All surely relevant to coaching/a coaching session?  in addition Psychology has being proven scientifically to combat anxiety and counteract choking on the big stage. Would love to meet the guru who has bestowed you with this advice. Granted some very interesting stuff you have put up.

[JMohan]

Some interesting stuff there - different thinking too

[JMohan]

As having a vested interest in sport psychology I am interested in why you suggest they should never talk to a team? With Mental skills training you can increase levels of concentration and motivation. Numerous studies show you can improve self paced closed skills to a great degree ie free kicking, in addition Psychology has being pr oven scientifically to combat anxiety and counteract choking on the big stage. Would love to meet the guru who has bestowed you with this advice.

Don't think he's saying that.

I think he means that the best way is to talk to individuals not to a team as a large group - not that psychology is bad or that it doesn't work...

[dundrumite]

As having a vested interest in sport psychology I am interested in why you suggest they should never talk to a team? With Mental skills training you can increase levels of concentration and motivation. Numerous studies show you can improve self paced closed skills to a great degree ie free kicking, in addition Psychology has being pr oven scientifically to combat anxiety and counteract choking on the big stage. Would love to meet the guru who has bestowed you with this advice.

Don't think he's saying that.

I think he means that the best way is to talk to individuals not to a team as a large group - not that psychology is bad or that it doesn't work...

Agree with that 100%. I posted before reading his brief explanation post... My bad

[Dinny Breen]

If it's all below you then you don't need to comment ... we're sadly not all as expert in coaching as you.

Now now no need for attitude, I'm not a GAA coach, although some day I hope to be, I'm a rugby coach. Coaching is all about different opinions.

Anyhow thanks for the further elaborations, I'm interested in some of the points you raised as it's a direct conflict to the IRFU experts and if we're honest as a professional sports body the IRFU should know what their talking about.

- There is no such thing as 'periodisation' anymore. Traditional Periodisation doesn't work in team sports.
Nothing grey about that.

That has to be the greyest answer ever but this completely contradicts the IRFU fitness and conditioning gurus, Leinster, Munster, Ireland et al all practice periodisation and the results are there. It's all about knowing when to raise intensity and when to download. At a recenct conditioning course in Limerick the whole philosophy core to the course was periodisation. Even in the GAA world Kildare are practicing this and again the results are there for all to see.

[Rav67]

As having a vested interest in sport psychology I am interested in why you suggest they should never talk to a team? With Mental skills training you can increase levels of concentration and motivation. Numerous studies show you can improve self paced closed skills to a great degree ie free kicking, in addition Psychology has being pr oven scientifically to combat anxiety and counteract choking on the big stage. Would love to meet the guru who has bestowed you with this advice.

Don't think he's saying that.

I think he means that the best way is to talk to individuals not to a team as a large group - not that psychology is bad or that it doesn't work...

Agree with that 100%. I posted before reading his brief explanation post... My bad

From the OP's clarification in #2 it seems as if this is not was he is saying - rather that the psychologist should advise the manager how to frame his advice/discussions with players.  He seems to suggest that the psychologist should not have direct contact with the players.

That's what I took from it anyway, perhaps he could clarify further.

[Rav67]

And what the buck is periodisation when you're writing home?