Juvenile Hurling Coaching

[sail_in]

Hi lads.

Are any of you involved in juvenile hurling coaching in your clubs or local schools?

I'm just wondering what structures are in place in these places as I'm looking to improve the conditions and the standards in my local club.

Any of you that are involved, what age do you start coaching kids at?  

I've been taking a group of Primary School kids recently (P6/7) and I've noticed that already they've started to pick up a few bad habits - things like not knowing which hand should be at the top of the stick, which hand to take the ball in when you lift it, what shape the stick should be when you're lifting (toe facing in or out) etc.  

The youngest we coach in our club at the minute is Under 8, do any of you go below this and have training for Under 6s, as I've started to think that this definitely isn't too early for kids to be learning the basic skills.

Also, what approach do you take when coaching?  I assume you start with the basic skills, and then at what stage do you introduce defending as that usually scares the bejaysus out of them?  How do you handle it if a kid decides to do his/her own thing and won't be told, for example, what shape the stick should be when you're lifting the ball?

Thanks in advance.

[highking]

Strong Hand on Top
To get everyone doing this right, first try and make sure they have hurls that are not too long, as that leaves space at the top of the hurl to put in the weak hand on top (golf swing). Get your players to stand in a circle with their strong hand on the hurl and their weak hand behind their back. Get your players to pull left and right with the one hand on a piece of grass on the ground. That will get them used of having strong hand in dominant position. Then introduce second hand on the hurley and repeat the exercise of swinging on the grass (ready lock and swing). Keep watching to ensure weak hand isnt being put on top. Move onto the tyres then. Usually after three sessions of this, about 80% will have the grip right. The others just need constant reminding but will eventually get it right.

Toe of the hurl out
Right handers turn the toe to the right and left handers turn it to the left. If the players dont mind, I use a marker to put reminders on the bosses of players hurls. I put a correct mark on the proper side, and an X on the wrong side. Every time they pick the ball, they will see an X or a correct mark looking up at them. They know themselves then.

Catching in the wrong hand
This is hard to change, but you have to explain to your players that all the catching is done with their weaker hand. If they start catching with their stronger hand, they will be all over the place with their technique in a few years time.

If a child wont change
Dont get fustrated if a child wont change. There are always a few who dont like to be told. However, if they hear it from two or three different coaches that they are doing it wrong, they will start to take notice. If you have a guest coach or different helper with you, make sure that you tell them in advance about which lads have to tidy up their technique, especially the guy who wont take advice. Some players wont change until they are 14/15 and become exceptional hurlers then.

[neilthemac]

spend 4/5 sessions concentrating on getting the grip and swing/lock position right. once those core principals are in place you can do anything. graduate onto tires and loose balls. always, always allow children to mess around with sliotars at start of training for 5mins ( but in controlled enviroment), play small team games at end of every session.

here's an idea for correcting the grip -

http://cumashurling.com/corrector.asp

[the colonel]

agree with near everything there lads, been involved for a number of years mostly anything under age of 10.
at our club we maybe dont worry too much about drills so much with under 6's (obviously you might get some really good kids who want drills etc) so we work on things like co ordination and fun activities just to get them involved with the club, get them to enjoy it early so that when it comes to the business end they are really feeling that they want to be part of it. (this is more important for kids who may not be from traditional GAA families, and go because their friends do etc)

as regards to tyres, they i believe they should be burnt. its easy to see at a blitz clubs who use tyres.a tyre is about 3 times the height of a ball so a kid will come running up to a ball but pull over the top of it as they are used to trying to hit a ball.  (yes they strengthen wrists but so do many other things). balls on pegs/ ropes do a good job

getting as many parents out as possible helps, they may not be able to coach much but they can act as 'observers'. they can spot basic faults and can let the coaches know so they can then go to correct them. they are also useful in setting out drills, cones etc leacving the coach more time to actually coach. believe it or not it also makes the kids more intersted as if they do something right, score a point/ goal  or make a good  block etc they are delighted their parent is their to see them do something great and helps keep them in line as well.

we also got older coaches out, guys who took teams yrs ago but maybe not as involved now with the club. they no the basics as they obviously never change and it gets them back in to the thing that started them off before coaching got stressful and age levels too competitive,

conditioned games at the end rather than backs and forwards or a full game with only 10 a side or so means everyone gets involved rather than that really good player doesnt just dominate

try getting an afternoon in the primary school a week or every 2 weeks along with your camogie club and various coaches and take different classes for 30 mins or so which gets those involved who dont come to training and you can maybe work on them to come out. for the school it means that teachers dont have to take pe as they generally hate it. school should be all for it.

[neilthemac]

you screw or stick half a plastic sliotar onto two sides of the tire as a target to hit... end of problem with hitting top of tire!

[the ship]

if you can afford it employ a full time coach to go into the primary schools in your club catchment area, it works wonders with their skill levels and takes the pressure off the club coaches who dont have to spend as much time at the basics, i know its a lot of money but its worth it beleive me  if you can get the right coach.