Students receiving training before becoming CDOs in Connacht earlier this year.
By Cian O’Connell
The Club Development Officer scheme is proving to be a real success story for Connacht GAA.
A total of 87 clubs in the province are availing of the initiative which is affording young footballers and hurlers further exposure to coaching.
Clubs, County Boards, and Connacht GAA fund the project which hopes to increase participation. “This is the second year it is fully in operation, we initially had a pilot with four clubs, then we went to 72 clubs, and now we are at 87,” Connacht GAA Provincial Games Manager Cathal Cregg explains.
“We are very happy with the way it is going, we tweaked it based on the feedback from the clubs and the staff running it. We are halfway through this year now and in the main it is running very well.”
The collaboration between clubs, counties, and province is crucial according to Cregg. “It is key to it happening, to be honest,” he responds.
“You have so many moving parts in this. For something to truly work, you need collaboration and a lot of co-operation from all levels. You need that from club to county to province. With this it was maybe a solution to a problem clubs and counties have.
“You might have full-time staff in Dublin where the population is really big and there was a call for full-time staff in the west. I think this is a solution that suits the clubs in a west of Ireland setting.”
To have a financially sustainable model for clubs in the west of Ireland is hugely relevant, while emerging coaches are afforded placement opportunities. “We obviously reviewed them as part of the process, they were very happy with it,” Cregg says about the reaction of the students, who worked as CDOs last year.
“The vast amount of sports science and sports coaching placements don't get paid, we pay them, we look after them, we upskill them.
Connacht GAA Provincial Games Manager Cathal Cregg.
“We give them a good experience. It is very beneficial for them, and it is obviously very beneficial for us, the counties, and the clubs. Everyone is a winner in it, I feel.”
It is a multi faceted role and Cregg acknowledges that valuable experience is gleaned by the CDOs. “They are coaching in a lot of different settings - schools coaching, nursery coaching, Go Games, Super Games at Youth level, and athletic development work,” he says.
“Also, they help out organising Easter camps and a small bit with Summer camps. There is a huge array of different projects - they have to face to face coaching, but a lot of organisation and admin.
“If they want to further their career in sports coaching and performance, they will have to get very good at that. It is good early exposure for them to do that.”
Cregg is encouraged that the CDOs have helped decrease the workload on volunteers in clubs with the coaching officer still carrying a significant role in organising activities.
Students from sports courses apply to become CDOs and are assisted by Connacht GAA staff. “We do a full week of training where we put them through the various coaching courses and workshops - Go Games workshops, nursery workshops, how to organise camps,” Cregg says.
“We put them through the various introduction courses so that they are properly qualified and vetted. You have daily and weekly check-ins after that, we have various resources online that they use. We have them online for club coaches - sample sessions for example.
“They'd be getting help from our full-time staff, who would go out to mentor them in the clubs and schools, to make sure they are happy in their setting, and that they are delivering what we need them to deliver.
“You have 20 sports courses around the country and the vast majority of students are at a very good level.”