GAA Coaches play to Your Strengths.
By Noel Dundon Tipperary Media
In recent years the role of the coach in GAA has come sharply into focus, to the extent that the coach carries as much weight now as the manager does. And yet, when things go wrong with a team and when the performances are not at the expected level, it is the manager who gets it in the neck, rather than the coach.
There are countless coaching manuals out there for aspiring practitioners and some really good resources exist to help those who are dealing with juveniles right up to your senior and elite players. Coaches can go off and get their certification with little or no bother – to give credit where it is due, Tipperary has been to the forefront in ensuring that coaching courses are available to all who wish to avail of them.
But, there is an issue creeping into the games which needs addressing and that is the whole area of copycat coaching and unrealistic expectations. This relates to club coaches more than to inter county exponents – well, you would expect the inter county coaches to be dealing at an elite level with elite players.
In the club scene, there are coaches who move around from club-to-club, spreading the gospel and trying to bring a bit of an edge to their charges. However, the vast majority of them are bringing the same ideas with them; the same coaching techniques; and ultimately trying to play the same style or brand of hurling wherever they happen to be stationed. That’s a big mistake, but it is one which clubs do not seem to have grasped at all.
Surely the measure of a top class coach is the ability to assess the players at his/her disposal and then decide what style of play they are going to employ. Surely it is prudent to carefully consider a suitable style for a team rather than just trying to impose the same style over and over again ….. especially if that style is not achieving what was intended.
Celebrity coaches tend to have their pre-ordained ideas ingrained in their template. They rock in with the cones and poles, create all sorts of masterful drills, and orchestrate the session as a major general would a wartime plan. Sounds lovely, yes? And it is lovely; and it looks great; and it is very impressive to see in action. The thing is though, games are not won or lost when doing drills; games are won and lost when the ball is thrown in, in the red hot heat of competition.
It is quite amusing to see the number of coaches who all but refuse to actually play games in their sessions. They will play three-on-three; five-on-six; backs and forwards; but they are very reluctant to play full size games. Why? Because other coaches don’t do it? It seems crazy that the very thing you are training so hard for – ie a game – is the one thing they will not practice in training. It’s a bit like learning to drive a car but using a bicycle instead of a car to do so.
When it comes to systems, coaches must understand that some players are simply not suited to playing it some ways. An older team might struggle with the running game; a more physical team might struggle with the short, sharp passing-through-the-lines game; while a young team may need to keep it wide, use the space and run all over the field. So, does it make sense for a coach to keep using their usual template on different teams? Of course it doesn’t.
A farmer will use one tractor to pull a silage trailer, but a different one to sweep out cattle sheds.Why? Because you are dealing with two very different sets of capacities and capabilities. So it is too when it comes to panels of players.
The successful coach is the one who will be brave. That coach will recognise what the panel is capable of and will work around ensuring that the strengths of the panel are imposed on the opposition. If that means they will be tutored on going long, so be it. But, alternatively, if it means the personnel are more suited to the possession game, then that is what will be employed.
In many clubs the role of the coach has eaten into the role of the physical trainer. We are seeing more and more muscle-bound hurlers and footballers than ever before, but can they move? Has the S&C gone too far with lads being able to lift more than their own weight, but unable to get to the ball when summertime comes? Why are so many players gassed out now with fifteen minutes left to play?.
Is this because they have not actually put enough running and stamina work into the legs on grass during the wet, dreary and cold pre-season in preference to their gym work in warm, bright, comfortable settings. You cannot beat the slog to build character, spirit and stamina. And, you cannot beat anyone if you don’t have these three elements. How do you measure them? Well, stamina is easily enough calculated, but the other two true readings really only come to the surface when the backs are to the wall, the pressure is on and the chips are down.
John Whitmore said that coaching is about unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their growth – that is as true in the collective as it is in the individual. Unlock the potential of the panel and you will maximise their growth. But, the coach needs to recognise and appreciate the potential, the strengths and the positives in the individuals and in the collective, if they are to really achieve success.
What does success look like? For perhaps five teams in the various grades in Tipperary in both codes, it is about winning the county championship. For another five teams across the grades in both codes, it is about surviving the drop. For the rest, it is about being competitive and trying to be better than they were last year. Obviously, not every team can achieve success in the same year, so measuring success is a very subjective thing. For some coaches, success simply means that they are asked back again next year.
They say the purpose of coaching is to close the gap between potential and performance. They also often say that champions are just brilliant at the basics. Perhaps across Tipperary coaches at all levels need to reassess their thinking and switch the dial to mastering the basics, rather than complicating their message with confusing and pointless tactics.
It is what it is, but it will be what you make it.
‘Church man Fr Phil Barry was a fine exponent of the ancient game of hurling
The passing of Pallotine priest, Fr Phil Barry of Upperchurch Drombane occasioned sadness amongst all hurling people who knew this kind, gentle man of the cloth. A fine hurler, he first came to prominence as part of the Thurles CBS Harty Cup winning team in 1951. He quickly progressed to the intercounty ranks where he played minor hurling with Tipperary, winning back to back Munster and All Ireland titles in 1952 and 1953, the second year saw him consolidate his position in the team at corner back in 1953 as Dublin were defeated in the All Ireland final.
Phil also made his mark with Upperchurch Drombane lining out in the 50’s through to the 70’s – depending on where life had taken him.
In ’66 he was centre forward when the club claimed the mid title against Boherlahan Dualla before playing in the senior grade in subsequent seasons.
Phil worked in the UK and US before a higher calling saw him ordained as a Pallottine priest – a vocation to which he was faithful at home and on the missions where he made an enormous difference. Fr Phil was particularly proud when his nephew James won the Liam MacCarthy Cup with Tipp in 2016. Sympathy is tendered to the Barry and Pallottine families on the passing of a great man.