Coaching Help

paulocon

Hi all,

Got coaxed into giving a help out coaching kids at the local club.
Times have moved on since I was young and coaching methods have moved on from the 'give them the ball and let them do what they want' methodology.

Just wondering if anyone has any good links to coaching tips etc.
I've done the beginner coaching course - typical GAA, done it last year at the end of the season!

thirdmantackle

what are you coaching? hurling or football? what ages?

check out the Go Games link on the GAA website: http://www.gaa.ie/page/go_games.html

Ulsster GAA coaching section: http://ulster.gaa.ie/coachingArticles.html

If these don't help then there are other resources available online (especially for football)

Simple drills, keeping them fun! then small sided games to make sure all kids get a chance (with modified rules to make sure the stronger kids don't just get the ball and run/solo all the way from one goal to the other!)

paulocon

Alright thirdman..

Coaching under 9's and 10's football..

Cheers for the links, I'll take a browse through them..

I have to say coming up with drills is a challenge - hard to get something interesting yet not too hard...

Once more, thanks again..

thirdmantackle

there should be plenty of drills in those links

concentrate on the basics - kicking (both feet), catching (overhead and chest), handpassing, soloing

Run small sided games (7 a side) - 2 or three games running simultaneously if you have to (depending on numbers) which will allow ye to teach the basics of gameplay, positioning etc

Important: Have an idea what ye are going to work on, be on time, be prepared, explain things simply, demonstrate the skill, do the drills make sure kids aren't left standing around for more than 2 minutes or they lose interest very quickly. play games to put skills into practice

Best of luck!!

sgarvan

http://www.dublingaagamesdevelopment.ie/

this site has some drills on it.

paulocon

Cheers all,

have a good few drills printed off to study now, much appreciated and if you have any more suggestions (however basic/stupid they may seem), please share them.

Suppose I'm having the same problems that anyone else has - i.e. how to keep things running smoothly and how to keep the, let's say 'more lively kids' from being too lively. Trying to find the balance between the kids enjoying the training yet taking it seriously is also a challenge...

Rogueish

I wrote something very similar for a camogie U10 Coach. The same principles apply.

How many times a week are you on for training and for how long each session?

Dynamic warm up (might as well pioneer the field - if they aren't already doing it) check out http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/warm-up-exercises.html

basic plyometric training - skipping, jumping jacks, vertical jumps. Check out. (It's very important that you dont progess the exercises too soon. You might need two or three weeks at level one before progressing) http://www.performbetter.com/catalog...lePlyometrics1

Your regular football skills, mini games....

SAQ training - if you can't access ladders chalk them or tape them on the ground (SAQ is a form of low level plyometric training)

Mini circuits (mix it up between LME, Skills, SAQ, whatever you can think of)
- sit ups, push ups, agility run, lunges, jumping jacks, star jumps, bicep curls (using the weight of the camogie stick) tricep dips, standing squats, run-throw-catch- squat- building up to using ordinary footballs as a pretend medicine ball

core stability and reaction training using balloons - kids love it
1. sitting on the floor with their heels off the ground (usually start with knees bent) working in pairs (or in a big circle) they have to tap the balloon over and back whoever keeps their heels off the ground the longest and keeping the balloon from touching the ground wins. Increase the difficulty by asking them to straighten their knees
2. balloon for each person - starting in a sitting position they have to throw the balloon up into the air and have get up onto their feet and catch the balloon before it hits the ground. Increase the difficulty of the exercise by getting them to get up without using their hands.
3. Players standing in a line at the back of the hall (or you judge the distance) you are standing at the other end of the hall with the balloon in your hand. You drop the balloon and they have to run up to you before the balloon hits the ground. Progress by either getting them to sit or lie down at the start. Or decrease the distance and use a sliotar or football instead of a balloon.

Reaction ball training (they are available in argos extra for ~€6 each) - they are irregularly shaped and bounce in unexpected directions - great fun especially for camogie training

your normal skills work -

thirdmantackle concentrate on the basics - kicking (both feet), catching (overhead and chest), handpassing, soloing

Don't forget flexibility work - best done at the end of the training session (to increase flexibility hold each stretch for 25-30sec). The dynamic warm-up will sort out the stretching at the beginning

The best advice I can give you is mix it up. Kids get bored easily so variety is the spice of life.

If you have any questions on any of the above or you want any other ideas or if I haven't explained the reasoning behind anything sufficently just let me know.

The above and more has been taught in Carlow I.T and the Wexford Campus as an evening course called Coaching and Fitness Skills. If you are interested check out the curriculum on http://www.itcarlow.ie/pdfandxls/CITPROSPECTUS0506.pdf page 68. It will be going ahead in Sept 06 again

P.S. Best of Luck

thirdmantackle

that's very advanced stuff for under 10s!

I can't understand half of it...

Rogueish

It's really not all that advanced - it's just it sounds like it. It's very basic and what is more important it's FUN for the kids.

The dynamic warm up brings the muscles through their full range of motion and is really fun for the kids especially with exercises with names such as the superman (stretches the hamstrings) and the spiderman (stretches the groin) as they get bored doing static stretches. If they are bored doing static stretches they have arse them and will continue to half arse them right through teir football career.

The plyometric exercises are jumping type exercises. Many of todays kids have not adequately developed their plyometric ability. Plyometric ability simply means the ability to jump and land properly without going THUNK on the landing. With training they learn to jump higher - very useful for any position in the GAA field especially your midfield and backs. Plus landing properly means that they can reduce the incidence of knee, foot and ankle problems.

The SAQ training is designed to help the development of sppedwork and hand/eye/foot coordination. You've seen the ladders used with county GAA and rugby teams for the last few years here in Ireland now. It's something different that the kids love and adds interest to the training sessions.

Core stability exercises help develop hamstrings, lower backs, quads, abdominals and glutes. All of these are very important in being able to kick a ball, jump catch land etc.

There are many 'new' training techniques that have been proven accross all sporting diciplines not just the local U10's football club to be effective training tools for skill development, injury prevention and participant retention in sporting activities.

I'm not talking about bring in all the suggestions at once. It would scare half of the countrys' Senior County Teams if you brought all of this in at once (saying that most of them are already doing it in some form or another even though they don't regognise the terms of plyometric training or SAQ etc).

All I'm saying is that if you take one or two of the exercises you can

paulocon find the balance between the kids enjoying the training yet taking it seriously is also a challenge... & how to keep the, let's say 'more lively kids' from being too lively.

Anything you don't understand ask. I'll do my best to explain how and why

EDIT: The OP has himself stated that

Times have moved on since I was young and coaching methods have moved on from the 'give them the ball and let them do what they want' methodology.

This is where things are moving on to. It will take the GAA's foundation and other coaching courses a while to catch up but there is no reason why you as coaches and trainers cannot do a bit of research yourselves and implement in bits of it here and there.

paulocon

Thanks all for the help.

Actually going quite well.
In it together with another guy who has been coaching for a few years and is very good at it now.

Next step looks to be the dreaded refeering...