GaelicPerformance

An Old School Mantra

2011-06-19T23:25:00.000-07:00

We often hear about some managers and trainers are "old School".

What does this mean? Laps are old school, Video Analysis is new school. Playing with little warm up is old School. GPS is new school.

Great managers and players know this - Done is all that matters. Not thinking about doing. Not getting ready to get started. Not understanding why something works before you do it. Done, done, done. Get the Job done.

It no wonder Nike adopted this Old School Mantra, Just do it. Its proven to be very successful successful.

What is a Prowler

2011-06-14T01:03:00.001-07:00

Very useful piece of equipment, that can take you to places that allows one to get truly fit, both physically and mentally.

I dont doubt myself

2011-06-14T01:00:00.001-07:00

Do you have ever doubt yourself? NO….Well dont be a liar…..Your brain wants you to have doubts, and encourages you to have doubts. Doubts generally cause you to take the path of least resistance, to stay within your comfort zone. your brain like this.

Don’t pretend you have no doubts, there is nothing macho or helpful in that. Admit your doubts to yourself, recognise your doubts, even give them a name, and then tell them to F%$K off, as they serve you no good, justified or not.

Practice this skill, as it is as important as every other skill you have.

How Do I Defend ?

2011-06-14T00:59:00.001-07:00

We often hear coaches shout from the sidelines push up on your man, play side by side, play in front. Every coach has their preferred method for defenders to defend. But can they all be right?

If we coach forwards , we tell them to vary their runs, we try to encourage them to be unpredictable in the way they get free. Is defending the same? Should we encourage our defenders to be unpredictable when they are marking a man? Maybe not?

But one thing is for sure, it is impossible to mark every forward in the same way. But an even more important point is, when you discover the best way to mark a particular player, this does not mean that it is always the best way.

When the ball is not within kicking distance, you should have a way to mark. When the ballis within kicking distance, you should have a way to mark, when the ball is within fist pass distance you should have a way to mark, when your opponent makes a run off the shoulder, you should have a way to mark ,etc ,etc

We could talk about this all day, but the main point is that there is more than 1 way that each player needs to be marked, and it depends on whats happening with the ball. The best players intuitively know this, and the best coaches intuitively coach this.

FaceBook and Gaelic Games

2011-06-14T00:58:00.000-07:00

We are now fully in the midst of the Facebook age, where instead of players meeting players from other clubs once in a blue moon, at nightclubs or during and after club matches, players get to meet and chat with their opponents everyday.

What impact has this had on Gaelic Games? It is certainly harder to be physical( what ever that means) with somebody you have a “connection” with. Players are now playing against their Facebook “Friends” , every day they step onto the pitch. In fact it is quite possible that these players have been chatting about “your one” , hours before big club matches.

It is certainly harder to ” hate these B$%^&$ds”, the goto team talk of 1000s of managers every week.

Facebook has certainly changed how managers and coaches need to look at motivating their players. Its time managers started talking the language that their player now understand.

Somethings never change.

The Mini Trampoline

2011-06-14T00:57:00.000-07:00

Simple little piece of equipment that can be used for running on while injured, or if you are just looking to train at home, or for warming up before training and matches

Its very easy on the joints and great for ankle stability.

Try using it with only nasal breathing and see what intensity you can reach. See how long you can hold your breath for while bouncing.

Growing Confidence

2011-06-14T00:56:00.000-07:00

Confidence is a product of or grown from positive self-talk, positive use of emotions, positive experiences and the control of emotions.
We were all born ‘problem-solvers’ – I call it ‘challenge-solvers’ – to help us survive.
So learning lessons from good and bad experiences is another way to grow confidence.

The Path of Least Resistance

2011-06-14T00:55:00.000-07:00

We all love this path, we all follow this path at some stage in our lives. This path is ever present at our sides. This path leads to short term gain, it pulls the wool over even our own eyes, but ultimately leads to unfulfillment or failure.

We often hear winners do this, losers do that.

In summary, winners avoid the path of least resistance most days of their lives, losers take the path of least resistance most days of their lives.

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2009-09-28T16:39:00.001-07:00

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The Hierarcy of Success by Seth Godin

2009-09-16T12:54:00.000-07:00

The Hierarchy of Success

Click here to read about an excellent article by Seth Godin

http://sethgodin.typepad.com

A philosophy in four letters

2009-03-31T00:32:00.000-07:00

The Ajax Youth Academy

Ajax’s youth academy is world famous.

The goal of Ajax is to form talented young players into top footballers. Only the very best will reach the top after a difficult and often long road. At AFC Ajax, the training of top players takes centre stage. That is why the youth academy is also known as the breeding ground of Dutch football. The further you get, the harder it becomes to maintain your place. Only one or two players make it to the first team each year.

Ajax is partly dependent on players form its own youth academy. The youth teams are trained exactly the same way as the first team and therefore the boys are already accustomed to Ajax’s style of play, training, behaviour and house rules. Ajax strives to keep the way of playing football recognisable; attractive, offensive-minded, creative, fast, fair and preferably far away from the own goal on the opponents half.

Ajax has developed the so-called TIPS model, which stands for Technique, Insight, Personality and Speed. For each part there are 10 criteria. P and S are generally innate properties, but I and T can always be developed further. All players own a special Ajax passport, in which all achievements are noted.

Adapted from http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/afdeveloping/pitchequip/ajax_youth_development_model_346.pdf

Viking Laws

2009-03-24T05:16:00.000-07:00

Be Brave and Aggressive
Be Direct
Grab all opportunities
Using varying methods of attack
Be versatile and Agile
Attack one target at a time
Dont Plan everything in detail
Use top Quality weapons
Be prepared
Keep weapons in good condition
Keep in Shape
Find Good fighting comrades
Agree on important points
Choose one chief
Be a good merchant
Find out what the market needs
Don't make promises that you cant keep
Don't demand overpayment
Arrange things so that you can return.
Keep the camp in order
Keep things tidy and organized
Arrange enjoyable activities which strengthen the group.
Make sure everyone does useful work.
Consult all members of the group for advice

Into the Zone

2009-03-09T10:13:00.000-07:00

Vic Braden was one of the top tennis Coaches in the world. From watching players serve, Braden noticed that he could predict with a high degree of accuracy, when a player would serve a double fault. He could even predict double faults for players who he had never seen before. When asked to explain how he knew, he couldn’t put his finger on it, he just knew, he couldn’t explain it.

Consider a player who has just kicked the ball into the breeze accurately top a team mate. Stop them and ask them how they done it. Most wont know! They can just do it, kick it at the right angle, judge the speed of the wind, etc. They simply play on instinct, or use senses that they know little about. In fact most players will experience this feeling at some point in their career, a game where they just played, but played "out of their skin". When asked what they did, or how they did it, players will struggle top explain. Is the difference between the great players and the rest? Is it their ability to play in this "zone" most of the time. If so, how do players get here more regularly?

Learning and retaining Skills?

2009-02-23T04:07:00.000-08:00

What do you think?

Answer true or False to the following questions

Continued Drilling of already acquired fundamental skills is vital to maintain the skill?
The more practice a performer gets on a basic skill, the better
Skill maintenance can be performed by watching videos
Complex skills are best thought by breaking them down into component parts
Explaining how and why the skill works helps learning
Getting learners to teach each other is a bad idea because the miss faults
The coach should emphasise key points generated by the learner rather than key points which the coach makes
Testing skills, interfere with learning

Hurling Facts- Hugh Gilmore

2009-02-19T03:02:00.000-08:00

Facts are the truth. They are what happened. They are not opinion and are not swayed by peoples own ideas and bias. The problem I had those two days was that I presented facts to people with their own opinions and they chose to keep them instead of learning. So take into account the next short story, and then if you are ready open your mind.

“A learned man once went to a Zen master to inquire about Zen. As the Zen teacher explained, the learned man full of knowledge continually interrupted the master, going on about how he was taught and what he himself had mastered. Finally the Zen master stopped talking and began to serve tea to the learned man. He poured the cup full, and then kept pouring until the cup overflowed. "Enough!" the learned man once more interrupted. "No more can go into the cup!" "Indeed, I see," answered the Zen master. "If you do not first empty your mind, how can you taste my cup of tea?"

If we look at all the skills in hurling and simply count how often each skill occurs then the skills which occur most often will be the most important ones. The resulting facts can then be used by coaches and players to refine training methods. Four games from the 2005 season where taken involving high Cork Kilkenny Clare Galway. And the following skills where looked at the classification of which is below. This type of study is known as notational analysis.

Facts:

The following facts are true.

Within the tackling or prevention category
The frontal block is the most important, but how often is it coached?
Overall tackling skills, the hooks and blocks form a small part of the game

Regarding the gaining possession skills

88.7 % of ground balls where Jab lifted.
74.2% of aerial balls were caught.

Why is this significant? Because taking the ball on the stick is slow and roll lifting is slow so top intercounty teams use the fastest skills most often.

Regarding the traveling skills
Taking four or more steps occurs 7 times more often than the solo run.

Why because eight steps can be taken with the ball in the hand only being released to tap the ball on the forth step and straight back into the hand and the ball is relatively safe. In the solo run the ball is exposed to being tackled.

I like to say if the ball can’t be hit in eight steps it can’t be hit in twenty eight.

Regarding the striking

The restarting play stats in yellow tell us puck outs provide more opportunity to gain possession than either frees or sidelines we should practice taking puck outs and maximizing the opportunities for scores from them.

Non possessions in play striking stats are lower in general and not a vital part because they are generally inaccurate. Pulling the ball is a “break glass in case of emergency skill” in my opinion this is why top teams are striking to hand because it’s SAFER than pulling and more productive.

The occasion when this varies is directly in front of goal when the ball drops at the feet.

Regarding the in possession in play striking

Aerial strike from the hand is 52.4% of in play striking and from the stick aerial striking is 0.02% of the total in play striking. Why is this expected because from the hand more control and accuracy is available

The handpass is responsible for 18.5% of in play striking is a simple skill which is hard to tackle and provides a fast execution and relatively good accuracy.

Now if we put all the information together we can see the following facts become clear.

70.9% of in play striking is from possession. (Hand or stick)
44.6% of the time jab lift is responsible for gaining possession.
36% of possession is from catching

This has the following implications

Preventing jab lift can infringe on a 32.5% of in play striking max.
Preventing catching can impact upon 26% of in play striking max.
70% of striking done after steps.

We cannot ignore the tackling that occurs on the ground, the snig as some call it this flick to prevent people lifting the ball is the first tackling skill anyone should learn as it means the player won’t wait until the opponent is going to strike the ball before tackling as with the hooks and blocks.

I Believe in Cream, Apples, and Football – Thoughts for Coaches

2009-02-12T01:22:00.000-08:00

This is an excerpt from the book "I Believe in Cream, Apples, and Football – Thoughts for Coaches".
The essence of coaching is accepting the responsibility to help and support youngsters grow as athletes and as human beings. It's IMPORTANT because kids are IMPORTANT. I learned they put coach in front of your name to:

Encourage youngsters to strive for Excellence on the field, in the classroom, and in their personal lives.
Set the Expectations which create athletic dreams and challenges in the hearts and minds of kids-- Expectations point to the star.
Teach youngsters how to play the game; teach them what to do, how to do it, and why to do it.
Motivate kids to grow as much as their dreams and ability will allow them to grow.
Teach kids to Care about winning, Care about doing the right things on and off the field, and to Care about others as people and as athletes -- reinforce the concept of Sportsmanship.
Help the Cream rise to the top and the Apples to ripen.
Punch a kid in the heart to help him alter his life for the better when he is not doing the right things on and off the field.
Make kids understand that Discipline is in their best interests.
Be a kid's Friend and his Fan, regardless of his athletic ability, intelligence, or personality.
Coach kids like you would want your son or daughter coached.
Teach kids to deal with success and Support them through failures and disappointments. Handle it. Do the best you can to solve problems. Don’t wait for someone else to do it.

I Believe . . . There is no better way to spend your life than coaching kids. This article is an excerpt from the book "I Believe in Cream, Apples, and Football – Thoughts for Coaches" by Larry Beckish

Its all about Practice

2009-01-30T10:39:00.000-08:00

Adopted from Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

In the early 1990s , psychologist , K. Anders Ericson, studied the students at Berlin's Elite Academy of Music. In the study he divided the students into three groups, Stars( may become World Class), Good(May become professional), and Average( Would never play professionally).

During the study he asked them all the same question, Over the course of your entire career, ever since you picked up a violin, how many hours have you practiced?

He found that the average hours practiced in each group was –

Average group- 2000Hours
Good Group- 8000Hours
Stars- 10000 Hours by the time they were 20 years of age.

During the study they could not find any naturals ( People who performed at elite level without having practiced 10,000 hours), or Grinds( People who practiced 10,000 hours but just hadn’t got what it takes to be elite)

The big finding was that the elite performers just worked much much harder.

Just look at other elite performers who put in the 10,000 hours before they were a success-

Mozart, The Beatles, Bill Gates!

Some Extra Inches

2009-01-26T14:44:00.000-08:00

It would be interesting to study how many scores come directly from Non Scorable sideline balls or Frees in Gaelic Games.

Surely it should be fairly high percentage. Think about it!

A player is in full control of the Sliotar, the nearest opponent is 14 yards away, and team mates have time to get themselves into a perfect position to receive a pass in a scorable area.

Do managers and teams actually think enough about these situations? Is there too much left to chance?

If this were American Football, there would be a play to run. If this was a corner or a free in soccer, pre- defined movement in the box would have been planned.( Think about the recent Everton v Liverpool games).

Are these some of the extra inches we are all looking for? No Doubt!!

Isn’t Fun and Enjoyment at the centre of all playing?

2009-01-23T04:50:00.000-08:00

When you strip it all back to basics, surely the main aim of Gaelic Games is Fun and Enjoyment.

A player once said “you have to be winning before you can enjoy it”, to which the cute manger quickly replied, “No, you have to be enjoying before you can win”. In there lies a huge lesson for all coaches. We can go on courses and seminars until they come out our ears, we can about new ideas and winning formulas, but unless your players are enjoying what you as a coach are offering, then everything else is a fruitless exercise.

Create Enjoyable Training Sessions, and an enjoyable environment. Not easy, but enjoyable.
Challenge your players, set them targets to reach, individually and collectively.
Allow your players to be Successful at the challenges you set, this can be an art in itself, knowing what your players are ready for.
Breed Confident players- Acknowledge you team’s and player’s successes at the challenges that have been set. Every player loves when the coach or manager says “you’re doing well, keep it up” or “I know you’re having a tough time out there, but how can we improve the situation” We all appreciate and respond when it seems the coach actually cares about us. How many times do we as coaches point out the faults of players on the pitch, this is easy. But how many times do we as coaches actually help to fix these faults, this is harder.

When all of these elements are in place, it will be a lot easier to improve player and team performance, and with this comes the increased possibility of winning.

Coaching Consistency

2009-01-19T15:28:00.000-08:00

What happens when your club’s best coach quits or leaves or gets sick of coaching?

Does your club suffer as a result? Does the conveyer belt of good players that they were producing dry up.

What was so special about this coach? What games, drills, and techniques did they use to produce these good players?

Does your club have a list of aims and objectives for each age group? And more importantly does your club have resources for your coaches to achieve these aims and objectives.

Can new coaches come in each year and still produce “good players”, what ever type of player you think of as “good”.

Maybe its time for some coaching consistency at your club.

Create consistency, create structures, create resources........

Don't be predictable

2009-01-18T12:37:00.000-08:00

Wouldn't it be great if we knew what was going on inside the head of our opponents on the pitch.

Well the great news is that unless your opponent has some sort of physic powers, they haven’t a clue what you are thinking either.

Take your opponent into places where they are not comfortable, places that they don't want to be.

Get your opponent thinking. Don’t be predictable!!

Master the Bar!!!!

2009-01-17T10:45:00.000-08:00

Top 10 Strength and Conditioning Exercise for Gaelic Games in no particular order

Back Squat
Front Squat
Front squat into Shoulder press
DeadLift
Romanian Deadlift
Shoulder Press
Push Press
Power Clean
Bench Press
Pull ups( Hands open)

Master these and become Stronger, Faster and more powerful on the pitch!

Comments Please.........

Purple Cows

2009-01-16T04:26:00.000-08:00

In his book Purple Cow, seth Godin talks about the concept of being remarkable. Imagine if you are driving along in the country side, looking out the window, looking at all the cows. You will not pick out one cow from the other. But suddenly, you see a Purple Cow, well that sure will catch your attention, you will remember that, it's REMARKABLE- something you will remark on.

Use the Purple Cow analogy when it comes to trials, in house matches before championship matches, etc. Do something that stands out, something that catches the attention of the manager and selectors.

Become a Purple Cow. Don’t play it safe.

The Pain of Change

2009-01-15T05:45:00.000-08:00

Change is often required to grow as we all know. There is the story of the Shell fish that must outgrow their solid rigid outer shell in order to mature. As the first shell sheds, the fish is left in a vulnerable state, no protection, exposed to the elements, waiting for a new shell to grow to protect them.This experience is often painful and at times life threatening.

With the introduction of the new rules for both Hurling and Football earlier this year, comparisons with the Shellfish can be made. The games are now currently in a vulnerable state, with players, managers, and referees becoming more frustrated as changed is enforced upon them. The old shell has been removed and we are waiting for a new one to grow. Our games are now in a vulnerable state. What ever about implementing the new rules at Inter-County level, how could they ever be introduced at Club level, where at times clubs struggle to have a panel of more than 17 or 18 players. As one manager has said, if the current rules are adapted long-term, they will no longer be involved in Gaelic Games next year. This is worrying.

We were after witnessing one of the best All-Ireland Football Finals in years, so the timing of the change was certainly wrong. Gaelic Games are supposedly one of the most exciting and toughest field sports in the world. So why do we now have a situation where we are turning the games into dull non contact sports.... Was this type of change required at all? In basketball- A Non-Contact sport, players are allowed 5 fouls before having to be substituted. We now are allowed 4 fouls in Gaelic Games, and to make matters worse, the referee must try to record these fouls as they happen. In basketball they even have a Scorekeeper to record this statistic.

If it’s not broken, Don’t fix it