New Coaching Setups Within AAI

thirtyfoot

Another step in the right direction. 5 different coaching groups to be setup - sprints, endurance, throws, jumps, walks - with event specific leaders within these groups. Gary Ryan is doing a good job. The best example is our great junior squad and the great work he has done here, who knows but the blueprint in that age groups will spread across all categories for the next Olympic cycle. Looks like there is a coherent plan being put together now and from the job spec it looks like the event co-ordinataors will have to take ownership of their own event grouping and be responsible for the event coaches they put in place for the specific events and that is not a bad thing. This is all good in my opinion and there is a massive emphasis on coaching the coaches.


http://www.athleticsireland.ie/content/?p=4923#more-4923

helpisontheway

Tingle wrote: »

Another step in the right direction. 5 different coaching groups to be setup - sprints, endurance, throws, jumps, walks - with event specific leaders within these groups. Gary Ryan is doing a good job. The best example is our great junior squad and the great work he has done here, who knows but the blueprint in that age groups will spread across all categories for the next Olympic cycle. Looks like there is a coherent plan being put together now and from the job spec it looks like the event co-ordinataors will have to take ownership of their own event grouping and be responsible for the event coaches they put in place for the specific events and that is not a bad thing. This is all good in my opinion and there is a massive emphasis on coaching the coaches.


http://www.athleticsireland.ie/content/?p=4923#more-4923

Yep i agree,great idea! Divide and Conquer!

RoyMcC

Indeed, positive and proactive. I hope the (small) coaching community get behind the initiative and aren't too precious about preserving their own small empires.

Maybe it's also a step to the formation of event-specific training squads to push the standard upwards.

And it's good to see (via Little Athletics) that the dire participation levels amongst schoolchildren is being addressed.

thirtyfoot

I did a training course in work once with one of these self titled motivational gurus. Been to many of these but this guy was actually good. I took one thing from him and used it and still do when getting involved in change management or anything along those lines in the work environment. Basically in any organisation you work with the "winners" and fcuk the "losers". The "winners" are those who want to learn, want to co-operate, want to make changes for the better, look at the bigger picture and are reasonable. The "losers" are those who are "precious about preserving their own small empires" as RoyMc said, fight petty-political battles, are parochial, in it for the wrong reasons and aren't or never will be open to change. If you want to make changes you'll need to separate the "winners" from the "losers" and when you realise you cant change the "losers" (some of them can be changed) just focus on the "winners" and forget about the terminal "losers" in their small-minded world. If you end up with an organisation with too many "losers" you just get out of dodge and move on because there is no point and life is too short but if there are enough "winners" you will get the change you want.

In athletics in Ireland I think we have enough "winners" to work with (and there is an increasing number getting into the powerfull positions) but a fair few "losers" who we will just leave behind and in the dark old ages. Gary Ryan is a "winner", lets hope he can find enough "winners" to follow him. My winner-loser theory sounds great on paper, doesn't it!

eagle eye

This is great to see, definitely moving in the right direction now.

RoyMcC

G'wan Tingle, name some losers...:pac:

thirtyfoot

RoyMcC wrote: »

G'wan Tingle, name some losers...:pac:

As a self titled "winner", I wouldn't go so low as to out the "losers", as by definition I shouldn't even talk about them:)

ChickenTikka

RoyMcC wrote: »

And it's good to see (via Little Athletics) that the dire participation levels amongst schoolchildren is being addressed.

Athletics Ireland launched the Little Athletics initiative last year and it seems to be having an impact on encouraging new coaches to get involved and undertake training courses and in getting free equipment out to clubs. The scheme works well because if you send people on training courses, you get the free equipment. No training, no equipment.

I see McDonalds are sponsoring the Little Athletics program from Sept 2008. While its good to be attracting sponsorship into the sport, I think it would better still if part of this sponsorship was to include some good nuitrition advice for young children. e.g. maybe our new sponsor could advise on the recommended frequency of eating burger and chips vs alternative and possibly healthier options. I hope that such sponsorship isn't seen as a blanket endorsement from athletic clubs that eating junk food is recommended for our little athletes.

Athletics Ireland press release on the sponsorship is here:-
http://www.athleticsireland.ie/content/?p=4924

Its great to hear that McDonald’s have a passion for getting children involved in a healthy lifestyle from a young age. Here I was thinking they only wanted to sell as much junk food as possible to children but I see them in a new light now.

thirtyfoot

ChickenTikka wrote: »

Athletics Ireland launched the Little Athletics initiative last year and it seems to be having an impact on encouraging new coaches to get involved and undertake training courses and in getting free equipment out to clubs. The scheme works well because if you send people on training courses, you get the free equipment. No training, no equipment.

I see McDonalds are sponsoring the Little Athletics program from Sept 2008. While its good to be attracting sponsorship into the sport, I think it would better still if part of this sponsorship was to include some good nuitrition advice for young children. e.g. maybe our new sponsor could advise on the recommended frequency of eating burger and chips vs alternative and possibly healthier options. I hope that such sponsorship isn't seen as a blanket endorsement from athletic clubs that eating junk food is recommended for our little athletes.

Athletics Ireland press release on the sponsorship is here:-
http://www.athleticsireland.ie/content/?p=4924

Its great to hear that McDonald’s have a passion for getting children involved in a healthy lifestyle from a young age. Here I was thinking they only wanted to sell as much junk food as possible to children but I see them in a new light now.

While I wouldn't be 100% comfortable with the idea either, I'd prefer kids to be active and jumping and throwing and eating McD kids meals rather than sitting at home on their playstations eating McD kids meals. We have to be realistic in some ways and weight up the pros and cons and not be too holier than thou about it.

If its good enough for Wariner and Bolt, then maybe it is the food of champions after all:D

dna_leri

Tingle wrote: »

I did a training course in work once with one of these self titled motivational gurus. Been to many of these but this guy was actually good.

I heard Gerry Hussey Psychologist to the Irish Boxing Squad on the radio last night and it set me thinking. Anyone know does AAI have a Sports Psychologist on its books?

This guy is being given some of the credit for helping prepare the boxing team for their olympic successes, and a lot of what he said made sense. He sees himself as a performance psychologist and is not all that different from the "motivational gurus" you come across outside of sport. His focus is on working on the things in life you can control.

It seems to be that our high performance athletes would benefit from the help of a top-notch psychologist to ensure they are fulling prepared mentally as well as physically.

Rineanna

dna_leri wrote: »

I heard Gerry Hussey Psychologist to the Irish Boxing Squad on the radio last night and it set me thinking. Anyone know does AAI have a Sports Psychologist on its books?

This guy is being given some of the credit for helping prepare the boxing team for their olympic successes, and a lot of what he said made sense. He sees himself as a performance psychologist and is not all that different from the "motivational gurus" you come across outside of sport. His focus is on working on the things in life you can control.

It seems to be that our high performance athletes would benefit from the help of a top-notch psychologist to ensure they are fulling prepared mentally as well as physically.

I believe former Armagh footballer, Enda McNulty works with some of the Elite Irish athletes.

thirtyfoot

There is an interesting debate through the letters page of Athletics Weekly at the moment with last week Frank Dick and this week Malcolm Arnold talking about the ills of the sport in the UK and the dire system issue they have. Arnold claims the performance management experiment of the past four years has failed and its time to return to the coaching focused regime.Also a two article piece by Jeremy Tiger about his opinions on the lack of recognition or support the grassroot coaches get. Interestingly, coach education and coach support is something which I believe we are getting right here in Ireland.

One great line is that you can pump lots of money into one (or a few elite athletes) and get very small returns and its very high risk while if you pump money and support networks into coaches they may over time create several eilte athletes with a constant supply of athletes also coming through. Stuart Hogg mentioned a great Malcolm Arnold quote recently "it takes 7 years to make a great athlete, but takes 20 years to make a great coach". Its a long term view that requires courage by the powers that be to follow the path they are currently following and keep coaching the coaches, its kinda like the give a man a fish and you'll feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you'll feed him for a lifetime story. If somebody is a great coach with 20 years experience they won't need much S&C gurus or psychologists or whatever other support gizmo you can think of as being a great coach they'll have mastered these aspects of the game.

RoyMcC

I've not seen this week's AW yet. However it is the most contentious issue in the UK right now. And it is scandalous how many proven, elite coaches have been sidelined in an effort to centralise power at the HiPACS. But the balancing act of course is how to gauge and distribute funding amongst elite coaches/athletes that do not necessarily go along with the centralised performance approach.

As to local coaching education I was disappointed at the upcoming courses just published. These are mainly entry level and child protection courses. No event-specific, Level 3 or (for example) winter conditioning stuff which would be very useful right now. However maybe these are in the pipeline somewhere. And admittedly I missed the recent coaching conference which did look very worthwhile.