Coaching Tips By Philip Kerr - Tip 2

Drills v Games
As players develop, their technique improves more rapidly than any other part of their game. They can usually learn to kick, catch, fist,block, solo etc. with a fair degree of comfort. The better players often practise these skills at home and come on faster than those who only rely on drills in coaching sessions once or twice a week.

What they find more difficult is to develop the ability to make the right decision in a game - when to pass, who to pass to, where to run, how to pass. A coach who prepares a squad through sessions filled with drills, is only working at one part of the game.

How can a drill solve problems like 'forwards bunching' or 'lack of midfield support' or 'no width' or 'poor use of quick frees'? The answer is...it CAN'T!

If a player is a poor kicker of the ball, there is work done to solve that problem. What are we doing to help the player who takes the wrong option more often than the right one in a game?
Get working at games. Remember...Games = Problems. Start solving the problems!

Good Practice Award Week 1

Each week I am going to have a Good Practice Award.

There will be no fancy presentations or trophies, the only privledge if you could call it that will be a slot on the Coaching and Games Blog. The award will be given out for examples of good practice that may come from within a club, a coach, a school etc. It's pretty broad but it will be given to something that catch's the eye. Hopefully others will pick up on the good practice and implement it.

The Award for Week 1 goes to: St. Mary's Primary School, Draperstown.

Every morning I drive past the school I am delighted with what I see. The school playground is awash with pupils. So is every playground I suppose, so why have I chosen St. Mary's for this award?

On closer inspection within their playground ladders,skipping ropes, hurdles, balance boards, volleyball nets etc are found scattered around and the children are going through them with much enjoyment. Every morning they are laid out in the same place, I am sure there is a playground supervisor mingling about, but there certainly isn't a coach or teacher organising the activity. I have recently heard Terence McWilliams mention a notion of "Free Play" I thought this was a pretty good example of it, where equipment was left out and the children devised their own games etc and played freely. The primary school coaches deployed around the County have school yard games and literature for teachers to use and implement at break and lunch times also.

In an age where children lead sedentary lifestyles and have a lack of fundamental movement skills this I feel is a great example of good practice.

Coaching Tips By Philip Kerr - Tip 1

The Four Storey Coaching Model

Each player aspires to be the best. Each coach tries to bring the best out in players. One of the better ways to do this is to check for ways to improve individual players.
A top player should have four main qualities:
Superb Technique / Athleticism / Speed of Thought / Ability to be a Teamplayer

Think about your coaching sessions. In every session you should be working to develop at least three of these qualities, one on top of the other. If not, you're not really coaching. If you need to change, do it now!

A group of five year-olds might practise bouncing [technique], running and dodging [atleticism], tag-belt tig [speed of thought] and relays [teamplay].

A group of eight year-olds may work on kicking with either foot [technique], races [athleticism], two-touch football [speed of thought] and a 7 a-side game [teamplay]

A squad of senior players may work on various drills [technique], sprints [athleticism], conditioned games [speed of thought] and backs v forwards [teamplay].

Derry City P.S. Gaelic Football Blitz

Templemore Sports Complex was the venue on Wednesday for the feeder schools of Doire Trasna and Ardmore (Good Shepherd, Chapel Road, Trench Road, Glendermott) to attended a Gaelic Football Blitz. There were 182 children in total, using 4 pitches the children played a hand-pass game scoring into a zone based on the last six weeks coaching programme at their schools. The event organised by Paul Simpson was supported by NWIFE who brought 26 of their Sports students along to help co-ordinate and referee the games and gain valuable experience of working with a large group of children. The feedback from the teachers was excellent.

Communication, Communication, Communication

As the title would suggest this post is about communication! We have run quite a few coaching events so far this season already and we are entering an extremely busy time of year. This year we will use the Teamer service to update coaches what's going on by sending them text messages. It is also of critical importance that when we send out an email it goes to the intended people.

I am updating my email circulation list. If you would like to receice emails from me about what's going on in coaching and games please send an email to ccollins@derry.gaa.ie to get on the circulation list. On the other hand if your on my list and would like to be removed from it send me an email to ask to remove your email address.

I will resend the club contact sheet for 2009, if your club has not completed the form please do so and return as it is very important for teams organising their Lynco Go Games.

Year 9 Football Coaching Day

Following from the success of last years Year 9 Coaching Day, we have decided to run the same event on Wednesday 6th May for Year 9 students in Derry at Derry's Centre of Excellence, Owenbeg. 25 schools have been invited to attend. Last year we had Tony Scullion, Gary Mallon, Paul Callaghan, Nicholas Walsh, Ryan Mellon and Paul Rouse among others all in giving the lads a few pointers.



The Coaching Day will be followed up with a Year 9 seven aside blitz on Wednesday 25th May which should be an excellent opportunity for the players to demonstrate their skills.

New Foundation Coaches @ St. Mary's Magherafelt

11 Lower Sixth St. Mary's students have been working hard over the past 7 weeks to gain their child protection and new foundation awards. They will deliver a coaching day for the schools feeder primary schools later in the year to put into practice what they have learnt.

Cross Community Hurling Team

It is hoped that a Cross Community School Hurling Team will be established in the Limavady area to take part in a Year 11 Hurling Competition planned for the 29th April in Cookstown. The team will be know as the Roe-Valley Learning Community Cuchullains, it will consist of five boys from each of the following Schools, St. Mary’s Limavady, St. Patrick’s Dungiven, Limavady High and Limavady Grammar School.

Kevin Hinphey will coach the team once or twice a week after school on Wednesday afternoons, hoping to begin on Wednesday 25th March. The Blitz will take place on April 29th in Cookstown with teams from Armagh, Enniskillen, Belfast and Limavady. The winning team will represent Ulster in the American GAA Youth Games on the first week in August. (Five boys and one teacher from each school plus the manager). An Ulster Select will also be chosen from the four teams to play a challenge match against Scotland in Shinty.

GAA STATS SOFTWARE

This software has been created by a local Lavey man. Ryan was at Derry's Coaching Conference last year displaying his device and he has been spending the last year or so marketing his software throughout Ireland.

The website is http://www.gaastats.com/

I have been personally using the software for the past 6 month's and I find it excellent. It's very easy to use and the feedback it generates for coaches and players is invaluable. Here are some testimonials from people who have used this device:

"GAASTATS software provides our players and management with an insight into aspects of skill execution that we could not even dream of getting with pen and paper. We believe that the personalised software that GAAstats.com provide will benefit each of our players and make them even more aware of their performance levels. All players want feedback, this is a fast easy to use tool that does not require any specialist training or IT skills. Feedback for the players is clear, concise and to the point, numbers never lie. The fact that the software can be adapted to suit the needs of the team is a massive bonus. I feel the software would benefit a team in any sport"

- Jason Ryan, Wexford Senior football manager.

"I know the new stats device is a big help to us. Not only does it give us instant information on match days but also shows you exactly what you need to work on in training, as a team and individually"

- John Mullane, All-Star Waterford Corner forward and De La Salle Captain.

Log onto the website to get more information. The software and device is not extremely expensive and it can be used for numerous teams within the club not just senior teams.

Adapting Fun Games for Hurling - Wednesday 25th March @ Owenbeg 7.30pm

Practical outdoor Session with Kevin Kelly.
The course will include games to enhance the skills required to play Hurling and Camogie and idea's on how to keep every player involved during your session. Kevin will be working with the County Minor Squad. All club coaches are welcome to attend this course. The games used can be adapted to suit players from 12 years old up.

2 School Titles in a Week

Well done to St. Pius's and St. Colm's Draperstown on their history making acheivements over the past week. It's great to see our schools competing at every code and every level.

Good luck to St. Paul's Kilrea with their All - Ireland Final tomorrow and St. Pat's Camog's in their hunt for silverware.

Club Derry Football Development Squads - 3rd Trial

The trials for the Under 15 and Under 16 Football development squads will continue this Saturday. We have 62 U16 players and 55 U15 players returning to Owenbeg. The standard this year has been very high and places for the squads are extremely competitive. The names of those asked to attend on Saturday are now on the Derry Website. If a player name doesn't attend on Saturday without excusing themselve's it will be assumed they are not interested in making their squad and will not be asked to return.

Club Derry Football Development Squad - 2nd Trial

The second trial will take place for the Under 15 and Under 16 Football Development Squads on Saturday 14th March in Owenbeg from 10am to 1pm. All the players listed on the Derry Website should attend, if anyone is unable to attend or take part they should contact Chris Collins on 07843232208 or ccollins@derry.gaa.ie as soon as possible. I know some people will be looking to get down to Dublin for the NFL game so we will try and get the trials completed as sharp as possible.

Under 12 Club Coaching Week

This year we are proposing to do a number of structured club coaching sessions within the 40 clubs in Derry.

We are going to begin with the “Under 12 Club Coaching Week”

The week will run from the 30th March to the 5th April. This is a month before the Lynco Outdoor Go Games begin so it will be a starting point for some teams and a fresh face for others who have been coaching and playing games over the winter. The clocks will have changed by then so we should have enough light to go in the evenings from 5 / 6 pm if it suits and at the weekend.

During the week we hope to deliver a coaching session with every under 12 football and hurling team within the County. For this to be a success I would like all the coaches and any helpers to attend the club session which will hopefully give them some new ideas.

In order to timetable every club into the scheme, I would like you to email me when it DOES suit to run the session. It is going to be difficult to agree the time everyone wants as we only have a limited number of coaches therefore if you email the day and times that do suit and those that definitely don’t suit it will be easier to timetable. I will let every club know what their slot is at least a week in advance so they can make the arrangements with the children, parents and venue.

Please get the details to me as soon as possible (ccollins@derry.gaa.ie) so there is no delay with this scheme. If you are a dual club i.e. Under 12 Football and Under 12 Hurling you will get two separate days.

We will be running similar weeks later in the year for various age groups also.

A Busy Weekend

On Friday 6th March Tony Scullion delivered an excellent coaching workshop with the Derry Under 17 squad. It was disappointing only 20 coaches turned out. Thanks very much Tony for what was a very enjoyable evening.

On Saturday morning we had the Club Derry Development squad trials for the Under 15's and Under 16's close to 200 young hopeful's took part in a series of games in Owenbeg. We will trial again this weekend, anyone who couldn't make it to the trials on Saturday have been given the benefit of the doubt. Names will appear on the Derry website bu Wednesday.

While the development squad trials were taking place we also had 2 Under 12 Indoor Hurling blitz's beginning in Limavady and Swatragh. The following teams took part Kevin Lynch's (3), Swatragh (2), Ballinascreen (4), Coleraine (2), Na Magha (2) and Slaughtneil (2).

The Kingdom Comes

I'm really looking forward to Sunday's game, i'm sure there will be a great attendance in Bellaghy. It's a long road for the Kerry supporters but no doubt there will be a few die hards that make it up by hook or by crook.

Take Dan for example, I get a phone call to the office on Monday morning. The thick southern accent threw me a bit, "Hello Chris, how's the form?" I hate asking on the phone who it is so I play along.
"I'm grand, how's it going with yourself?"
"Aye sure not too bad now, I have just booked flights from Dublin to Derry for the game on Sunday, would I be able to get a bus over to the game?" I'm thinking to myself who is this anyway, maybe it's one of the Ogra lads who have moved south and quicky got rid of the accent.
Anyway "Jesus you'll get no buses going to Bellaghy from the Airport, it's a right run maybe 40 minutes are so"
"Aye Jaysus Chris your joking me, is the game not in Derry City?"
"No, it's in South Derry"
"What am I going to do, sure I've just paid 100 euro for the ticket?"
"Sorry but who is this?"
"It's Dan from kerry" Nothing else just Dan from Kerry.
"Dan, you'll have to get a lift"

So I get thinking, who would be up there that would take this man down to Bellaghy and back up again sharp after (he was very persistent on this) to get his flight at 7pm. I get my thinking cap on walk into the other office and there is Dan's lift sitting in front of me, Derry's very own Pauline McLaughlin. If i'm stuck Pauline usually come's up with the goods and she has pulled one out of the bag this time too!

I get on the phone to Dan (he could talk for Ireland) and let him know the arrangements, needless to say he's delighted and he'll be landing into Eglinton in his green and gold. That's just one example of a true GAA man trying his best to make it right up the Country to follow his beloved Kerry. Surely we can all make the trip to Bellaghy to cheer on the lads and make it a day to remember! Under 16's get in free so pick up the waynes or the neighbours lads and get them all over.

Well Done St. Paul's Kilrea

Well done to St Pauls kilrea winning the Ulster u 16 championship yesterday, it's a huge boost for Vocational School's football within Derry.

St. Paul's Kilrea 3-8 to 2-5 St. Ciarans Ballygawley

Congratulations to all the players and staff!

Club Derry Football Development Squad Trials

190 players are expected in Owenbeg on Saturday morning for the Under 15 and 16 Club Derry Development Squad Trials. It makes for a really nice headache! The names of the players can be found on the Derry Website.

Upcoming Primary School events excluding Derry City

All County Boys Indoor Boys Football and Camogie – Wednesday 4th March Meadowbank
· 10.00am to 2.30pm
· One team of 7 per school

North Derry Hurling and Camogie League Competition - Wednesday 22nd April Owenbeg
· Only one team per school
· 7 or 5 a side, + 3 subs. (no 9 a side)

INTO Mini 7’s Girls Football and Hurling – Thursday 23rd April Ballinascreen
· 10.00am to 3.00pm
· Only one panel of 10 per school

All Ireland Schools Days – Friday 24th April

South Derry Cross County – Tuesday 28th April Glen

North Derry Football League Competition Wednesday 29th April Owenbeg
· Only one team per school.
· 9,7, or 5 a side, + 3 subs
· Termoncanice, Altinure, Claudy and Dungiven in the 9 a side.

South Derry Hurling Championship Qualifiers – Friday 1st May Swatragh

South Derry Football Championship Qualifiers – 11th / 12th / 13th May

Into Mini 7’s Boys Football and Camogie – Thursday 21st May Ballinascreen
· 10am to 3.00pm
· Only one panel of 10 per school

North Derry Football Championship Competition Tuesday 2nd June Owenbeg
· Max. 3 teams per school
· 9,7, or 5 a side + 3 subs

South Derry Camogie Qualifiers – Wednesday 3rd June Bellaghy

South Derry Football Championship Finals Day – Thursday 11th June Ballinascreen

South Derry Track and Field – Tuesday 16th June

North Derry Camogie & Hurling Championship Tuesday 16th June Owenbeg
· Max. 3 teams per school
· 7 or 5 a side + 3 subs

North Derry meeting Wednesday 17th June
3.45pm St John's Dernaflaw

Sharon Donnelly Girls Football - Tuesday 23rd June Glen

Cumann na mBunscoil Indoor Boys Football and Camogie

The Cumann na mBunscoil indoor competition took place today in Meadowbank Sports Arena, Magherafelt 15 Camogie and 18 Football teams took part. Each school could bring 8 players, we had 260 players taking part so it was an excellent turn out.

The Groups were as follows:
Camogie
Group 1:
St. Mary's Glenview
Anahorish
Ballylifford
St. Canice Dungiven

Group 2:
New Row
St. Mary's Draperstown
St. Patrick's Glen
Tirkane P.S.

Group 3:
St. John's Swatragh
St. Eoghan's Moneyneena
Derrychrin P.S.
St. Patrick's Loup

Group 4:
St. Brigid's Mayogal
Holy Family
St. Mary's Bellaghy

Boys Football:
Group 1:
St. Brigid's Mayogall
St. Mary's Bellaghy
Altayesky P.S.
St. Eoghan's Moneyneena
Knockagin P.S.

Group2:

St. John's Swatragh

Derrychrin P.S.

St. Patrick's Loup

John Bosco's Ballynease

Ballylifford

Group 3:

St. Mary's Glenview

Anahorish P.S.

St. Canice Dungiven

New Row

St. Mary's Altinure

Group 4:
Holy Family P.S.

St. Mary's Draperstown

Tirkane
St. Patrick's Glen

In the Camogie St. Mary's Draperstown, Glenview, Holy Family and St. John's Swatragh qualified fron their groups to the Semi's.

Camogie Semi Finals:

St. Mary's Draperstown 3 vs St. Mary's Glenview 1

Holy Family 1 vs St. John's Swatragh 2

Camogie Final:

St. Mary's Draperstown 3 vs St. John's Swatragh 0

The following teams qualified from the football groups

Football Semi Finals:

St. Mary's Bellaghy 0-02 vs St. John's Swatragh 3-03

St. Mary's Draperstown 1-00 vs St Mary's Glenview 1-01

Football Finals

St. Mary's Glenview 0-02 vs St. John's Swatragh 0-01

St. Mary's Glenview and St. Mary's Draperstown will go onto Enniskillen at the end of March to represent Derry in the Ulster competition. Good luck to both schools.

I Love Teamer

What the hell is Teamer?
It is a website that sport teams can use to send group text messages out to players with one click. I have been using it for that very purpose since it came on the scene over a year a go now. This year I am also going to use it to inform all the underage coaches of Go Game's blitz's etc that may be coming up. I know a few clubs thats use it to text parent's time's for training, social events, club fundraisers and so on. It's a free service and anyone can use it very easily.

Go to http://www.teamer.net/ and see if you can use it within your club. It really is a great tool. I'm not on commission or anything :)

Derry Minor Football & Under 17 Panels

Here are the two panels for 2009:

DERRY U18s
Dermont Mulholland Eunan O Hara
Eoin Anderson Caolan Thompson
Eamon Wilson Gerard Burke
Ruairi O Kane Paul Quinn
Cathal O Hara Eamon Mc Nicholl
Kevin Francis Hugh Henry
Michael Mc Glade Ciaran Diamond
Mark Mc Atamney Eoin Mc Gahon
Sean O Kane Colm Mc Goldrick
Donal Mc Gilligan Christopher Deery
Brendan Herron Paul Keane
Emmett Mc Killion Kevin O Neill S/Neill
Paul Ferris Emmett Mc Guckin
Gavin O Neill Gavin Mc Williams
Stephan Kerlin Kevin O Neill
Sean Murray Paddy Mc Neill
Patrick Draine Connlan Bradley
Thomas Mc Erlean Paddy Kelly
Christopher Kearney

DERRY U17s
Daniel Mc Kindless Canice Rocks
Connor Mc Larnon Cahir Mullan
Martin Mc Closkey Fintan Bell
Padraig Kielt Kevin Scullion
Martin Devlin Aron Devlin
Anthony Mc Gurk Conor Kearns
Emmett Mc Geehan Tony Martin
Ciaran Brooks Ciaran Devlin
Charles Gilmore Karl Mc Keague
Conard Sheerin Orrie Mc Peake
Gavin Kelly Nial Mc Keever
Ciaran Ferris Kelvin White
Martin Burke Philip McCusker

Talk about developing players! That's 63 players. Some might argue it's too much but I'm sure Richard know's what he's doing, he has already said he is going to delegate a lot to the coaches he has and he won't be affraid to bring outside coaches in for the odd session to mix it up. The door is not going to be closed to any player this year, so if you haven't made this cut make sure and impress within your club.

Under 10 Indoor Hurling

On Saturday 28th February we continued with our indoor Hurling Blitz's. We had two blitz centre's one in Roe Valley Recreation Centre and the other in Swatragh G.A.C.
15 teams took part in total at the two venues, fair play to Magilligan for fielding a team, they attended the last under 8 blitz too. This weekend the Under 12's are in action. I'm sure they're itching to get at it.

GAA Child Protection Course

For the past number of weeks we have been running out GAA Child Protection Courses for various clubs. On Wednesday 4th March Glenullin are hosting the course within their club from 7.30pm. Anyone from the surrounding clubs are welcome to attend.

Busy weekend for Football Development Squads

On Friday 6th March the Under 17 Development squad will have their first coaching session in Owenbeg at 7.30pm. Tony Scullion will be delivering the session. It is also a CPD programme, so club coaches have the opportunity to come over and see Tony at work. The session will be on "Games to Develop Football". I'm really looking forward to the session for two reasons; Tony is a class coach and you can be sure to pick up plenty of stuff from his sessions and secondly this will be the first outing for the Under 17 minor recruits. I haven't seen the final panel yet but I was over at one of the earlier trials and there were some excellent players on show.

On Saturday morning we have our first Under 15 and 16 trials. The coaches for 2009 are all raring to go and I am expecting the quality to be exceptional. So far we only have a few clubs who have submitted their players for the trial so please remember to get them to ccollins@derry.gaa.ie before Wednesday. There was a few queries in the guestbook regarding only be able to register three players per club. If some of the teams playing A football feel they have more players good enough then it will be no problem getting them a trial just submit the names, position and DOB.

Foundation Football @ Glack

On Saturday 28th February we held our third foundation course of the year. Glack decided to have one for their own coaches to ensure they were all up to speed. 20 Coaches took part in what was a very enjoyable day. They put on some feed for lunch too!