Psychology Informed Coaching develops people as well as players

By John Harrington

An impressive list of speakers has been assembled for the 2024 Gaelic games Coaching Conference which will take place in Croke Park on Saturday, November 23.

One of them is former Waterford camogie star, Dr. Trish Jackman, now an Associate Professor in Sport and Exercise Psychology at the University of Lincoln, who will speak on the topic of Psychology Informed Coaching and also contribute to a panel discussion on how best to keep young players in our games.

GAA.ie spoke to Jackman to get some insight on both topics ahead of the Conference.

GAA.ie: Trish, how would you define 'Psychology Informed Coaching'?

Trish Jackman: When we think about sport, people often talk about the technical, tactical, physical, and then the psychological. Often, it's seen as a little bit removed from these other areas. Yet, there's a growing recognition of the importance of psychology in Gaelic games and that psychology happens in every interaction. If we think about coaches, they have a huge number of interactions with players, parents, and other coaches. Ultimately, they can be really powerful drivers of creating environments that are going to be conducive to promoting personal growth, wellbeing, skill development, and performance. Crucially, as we're going to emphasise at the conference, there is a real opportunity for the holistic development of young people and not just players. So when we're thinking about coaching, being psychologically informed is about being able to understand psychological concepts and language, and applying this into what they're doing.

If we think about coaching, it involves having relationships with people, managing group dynamics, trying to build confidence, and helping people to grow in a particular sport. All of these are going to be influenced by psychology. So, the focus of our session will be around trying to support coaches with being able to create learning environments that can help players at all levels and across all stages of the game to grow on and off the pitch.

GAA.ie: Is that holistic approach key? I'd imagine a common pitfall would be that a manager would bring in a sports psychologist thinking that they'll look after all of that and the manager doesn't have to worry about it at all.

TJ: Absolutely, and in some of our research in Gaelic games, we've seen that as well. In environments where there tends to be a sport psychology practitioners, which generally occurs at the higher levels of Gaelic games, the best outcomes are likely to occur when the implementation of psychological principles is seen as a collaboration between the practitioner, coaches and other support personnel. If we can take that systems approach, it should mean that as a coach, you're able to embed psychological principles into your coaching behaviours, your session design, and the culture you're trying to shape around a group.

I think that's a key element, as opposed to seeing it as something that is in a box and the preserve of the sports psychology practitioner. I think the skill really is being able to embed that into the environment and recognizing that psychology is omnipresent. It's in everything we do, every session we design, every behaviour that we see and engage in, every instruction or piece of feedback that we give or hear, and every conversation. So, from that perspective, rather thinking that psychology is going to take more time, what we hope to help coaches think more about is how can they optimize the quality of every one of those interactions and every opportunity they have to embed psychology into their existing practice. This can, in turn, help them create even better environments for people to develop in.

GAA.ie: Is the role of the Sports Psychology practicioner also to help the coaching staff and players have a better understanding of one another?

TJ: That collaboration is a really crucial part. We know that coach-athlete relationships are fundamental to coaching and player experiences. So we might ask the question, how can a sport psychology practitioner help coaches to empower players? But we also need to place emphasis on the philosophy of a coach, and actually to think about where do they see the development of the person, and not just the player, in their coaching philosophy?

I think that comes from highlighting the importance of holistic development and environments that are looking at much more than just the player, and that's something that we're really going to try to emphasise.

The dynamics between different groups, between coaches, multidisciplinary teams, sports science staff at the higher levels as well are really important too. That, in and of itself, is another complexity, but also something that when done well, can be really helpful in terms of enhancing a playing environment.

GAA.ie: I would imagine that's another big responsibility for the Sports Psychologist in a team environment - to help the management group work together as a unit more effectively?

TJ: When we think about the work of a sports psychology practitioner, it tends to be probably at the higher levels of the game or at the adult levels. In sports like Gaelic games, where players are amateur, and time is really of the essence, it's important for those practitioners to think about how they might actually work with and through coaches, so they’re able to then amplify the support that we're able to provide.

It's really about being able to find ways to embed psychology into everything in that environment and make psychology everyone's business. There will obviously be areas that are only within the expertise of a sports psychology practitioner, and, equally, some that may be referred beyond that as well if it doesn't fall within the scope of their competence.

GAA.ie: Where in Gaelic games is the biggest room for improvement in terms of the delivery of Sports Psychology?

TJ: I think that recognizing that everyone in Gaelic games can contribute to shaping that psychologically-informed environment is vital. A lot of the time, coaches are probably doing it without realising, right down to club level and underage. What we want to try to do is harness this great work and help to build enabling environments that result in a love of Gaelic games for all players and ultimately help them to have an active lifestyle. So I think a big step forward would be for coaches and everyone else to realize the opportunities that do exist and the potential benefits that could come from engaging with psychology and applying some of the principles and the practices we're going to talk about at the conference.

GAA.ie: We see a high drop out rate in Gaelic games among adolescents...how can Psychology Informed Coaching help with player retention?

TJ: That's where the importance of people enjoying the game and having fun is key, especially for young people. We want young people to be in environments where they're being treated and coached as children and as adolescents, and not as mini-adults. We look through the research and what it points towards is the importance of fun, enjoyment, and that sense of belonging. There's a great responsibility and also a great opportunity for coaches and club structures to create environments that are ultimately going to foster those types of experiences. The more that we can grow and build these positive relationships with Gaelic Games, the more able we will be to retain people and to ultimately help them to make a positive contribution to our communities and society as well.

GAA.ie: As children grow through adolescence, do they require a different psychological approach in how you coach them?

TJ: There are various developments psychologically that happen throughout childhood and adolescence, cognitively, emotionally, and socially. During this period, we also see changes in identity. It is a time of change and what we must remember is that the young person is ultimately shaped by the environment around them. And that's not just their sporting environment; it's their school, family, community, and broader youth cultures. All of those elements are contributing to that young person and how they view the world. Once we start from that point of view, of actually understanding the system around that young person, we should be able to start to understand a little bit more easily why they might think, feel, and behave in certain ways. Again, that’s something we'll focus in on, the importance of understanding the whole system and not just looking at the person that's in front of us.

GAA.ie: At that point do you want the communication to be more of a two-way thing, an for them to take greater ownership of the team and their contribution to it?

TJ: I think what we would like to see there is, we often talk about being autonomy supportive, so this idea that we're giving opportunity to the person to be able to express themselves and to make their own choices. We try to understand why is it that they play the sport? And that's a really crucial thing of trying to understand: what is their why? How can we then shape some of the interactions that we may have with them based on that it is that makes them tick?

Equally, we have a real opportunity to help young people to learn a lot of life skills used through playing Gaelic games. Sometimes I think we don't realize just how much of an education playing Gaelic Games is for life and not just what happens on the pitch.

I think having that dialogue with young people as they go through those periods of change and also having open dialogue with parents is really important. Being able to recognize that parents can have a really profound impact is key. The more that we can support them by helping their child to be involved in Game games, then the better off everyone will be as well.

GAA.ie: Finally, what advice would you have for coaches who are interested in applying Psychology Informed Coaching?

TJ: I think the first thing is to recognize that as a coach, you can do a huge amount in terms of supporting players psychologically, supporting the team psychologically, and also other support personnel around you. Coaches can do huge amounts by nurturing holistic development, being socially supportive, creating a sense of belonging for people, and structuring an environment that encourages effort and personal development rather than having a focus on winning. If we can get those ingredients into Gaelic games playing environments, we will be in with a much better chance of optimising the wellbeing, personal development, and participation of players.

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Tickets for the 2024 Gaelic games Coaching Conference on November 23 can be found - here - with prices as follows:

€65 per person (for a group of 5 delegates, club price) or €75 per person (individual). Includes lunch and refreshments and great day out in Croke Park!