The Gaelic games approach to Athletic Development
By John Harrington
A new Gaelic games Athletic Development Level One course for coaches working with players in the F3 Youth phase (13 to 17-year-olds) of the player pathway has been hailed as ‘world class’.
The interactive course will be launched at the Gaelic games Coaching Conference later this month and then available thereafter on Tobar, the online Gaelic games learning hub.
Tightly aligned to the Gaelic games pathway, it includes user-friendly videos featuring experts in the field of Athletic Development and will provide great educational support and practical resources for coaches working with youth players.
The Level One course has been developed by the Gaelic games Sports Science Working Group’s Athletic Development sub-group which is headed up by Director of Sport and Physical Wellbeing at University of Galway, Des Ryan.
He hopes it will be a game-changer when it comes to athletically developing young Gaelic games players in an age-appropriate way that maximises player retention.
“In the age we live with chat GPT and social media sound bites there's a lot of information out there, it is bordering on too much and people can be confused and need help and support,” says Ryan.
“That was one of the main drivers for the sports science framework, the athletic development action statement, and this F3 Youth Athletic Development Level One Course. To guide what good practice is, who should deliver it, what should be in place at all the different stages, and how it can come to life.
“I would call it world class. I have a big interest in education, especially in Athletic development. I've been involved in many other projects with national government bodies and world government bodies, but the effort that everyone has put into this has really resulted in a world class resource.
“What makes it world class is the interactivity of it and the click and play element to it. There has been some good use of technology with green screens so people like Ian Jeffreys (National Strength and Conditioning President), Martin Kennedy (GAA Head of Coach and Player Development), Aoife Lane (Head of Department of Sport and Health Sciences in TUS Midlands Midwest), and other experts deliver the information as if they're talking to the coach in their Living Room.
“Then the coach can click on graphics to get more information, there's some simple multiple-choice questions, graphs, lots of visuals.
“I would like to thank David Sweeney, Emma Byrne and Martin Kennedy for their professionalism and expertise in the development of this course.
“The modules cover game-speed, force, endurance, understanding growth and maturation, planning and Health Benefits. It's very digestible content attuned to the modern needs of people. It's stimulating and it can be planned to fit people's busy lifestyles.
“They can do a module, then park it, wait till they have the next free time, do the next module, and so on. It's all about the coach then having the choice if they want to progress on to the face-to-face element of the course.
“As the children and youth athletes move on to different age groups there can be a turnover of coaches and we need to have something that's high-quality, efficient, easy to access and appropriate. This will help upskill current and new coaches."
Director of Sport and Physical Wellbeing in University of Galway, Des Ryan.
There is a lot to consider for coaches working with players in the F3 Youth phase of the Player Pathway.
Biological maturation can vary significantly from player to player, so workload is one significant consideration. Tactical play also comes more in to focus, but hopefully not at the expense of fun.
“It definitely shouldn't look and feel like an adult session,” says Ryan. “It should look and feel like a youth session. In the youth session there should be variation, there should be enjoyment.
“There should be some structure, more structure than the child phase, and it should be about competency and learning new things that they can progress as they get older.
“Young people grow very quickly around those age groups. Earlier for girls, later for boys. At approximately the age of 12, girls are in the middle of their growth spurt. Boys, later, approximately around the age of 13. The research would suggest that if they grow more than 7.2 centimetres a year, they're more predisposed to growth related injuries.
“The more we know about that, the more we can manage and make sure we reduce the risk of those growth-related injuries, and injuries that are different to adults.
“We've come up with some good workload principles that I think, and this is a bold statement, can solve any challenges of workload with young people, and there are many challenges with different sports, different teams, different codes.
“If the workload principles are followed, and that will take cooperation and collaboration, we can make sure that no young player, boy or girl, is over-trained or under-trained as they go through their week.
“There's many different demands within Gaelic Games and outside of Gaelic Games, but we're very happy with what the working group has developed in terms of simple one pager of principles that can be followed to help make the plan for the youth player as appropriately as possible.”
Athletic Development Workload Principles.
The Gaelic games Player Pathway is designed around the principle ‘As many as possible for as long as possible’.
The drop-out rate from Gaelic games during adolescence is significant, and Ryan is optimistic that the new Youth Athletic Development Level One course will help improve player retention.
“We’re giving suggestions and advice how we can minimize the dropout and maintain the enjoyment and fulfilment of sport along with athletic development while supporting the coach to deliver good practice,” he says.
“If we look at the surveys that have been undertaken, players take part in Gaelic games for their health and fitness benefits.
“There are many other reasons they participate, but that's the primary reason. So, we want to give them good quality health and fitness content from the coaches. That's what the level one course will help to provide while giving resources in all the different areas of athletic development.
“If we look at the research and we see only 12% of post primary school children achieving the minimum requirement of physical activity as recommended by the World Health Organization, which is a worry.
“Now, what a great support Gaelic Games are giving young people by organizing regular structured training sessions that involves athletic development. The research has shown that when young people are involved in Gaelic Games, it results in a higher proportion of them achieving the minimum recommendation by the World Health Organization.
“What we're recommending is the same as the World Health Organization. They say be active for an hour every day. They say do muscle strengthening activities, and that's what we're showing in the force module. They say to do moderate to high intensity activities, and that's what we're showing in the endurance module.
“All that we're showing really is what every young person should be doing on the island of Ireland to achieve the minimal physical activity recommendations by the World Health Organization.
“And, luckily enough, concurrently, they'll also help you be better at Gaelic Games, enjoy Gaelic Games, and reach your potential in Gaelic Games.”