By Shaun Casey AN unexpected phone call from Glen manager Malachy O’Rourke was just the start of a rollercoaster ride for Gareth Fox. In the past two seasons, he helped the Watty Graham’s men collect back-to-back Ulster titles along with that much sought after All-Ireland crown. Fox, a mental skills and culture coach from Armagh, […]
By Gareth Fox LISTEN in on any pre-match talk and you’ll hear the words “work rate.” The single most demanded or expected attribute of any player about to go out and perform. Yet in today’s world of GPS and distance covered, perhaps a faux amis. The recent introduction of stats has been extremely interesting in […]
By Gareth Fox CROKE Park plan to clamp down on competitiveness for underage players up to 12 years of age. As it stands, all games played at u-12 level and below will fall under the restriction of Go Games, intended to be ‘non-competitive’. No score-keeping, no knockouts, no finals, no winners, no losers. Why? To […]
IN sports, the concept of winning and losing is central to the game. However, focusing solely on winning can lead to short-term thinking and a lack of sustainability. Instead, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were all able (coaches especially) to adopt an “infinite game” mindset, where the goal is not to win but to […]
SOMETIMES, not all the time, but sometimes GAA can look and feel a bit robotic. Whether that’s a good thing or bad thing, who knows? But one thing is for certain, Autonomy plays a vital role in player improvement and enjoyment, so it’s important not to remove it completely. It’s finding the right balance between […]
WHEN asked by Gaelic Life’s Michael McMullan what he learnt from last year’s National League, Rory Gallagher replied “I learnt that we weren’t prepared enough for it. We weren’t focused well enough and we weren’t hungry enough.” A normal, standard response from a GAA manager – preparation, focus, hunger. For the first two (preparation and […]
AS I sit writing this, Michael Smith and Michael van Gerwen have just qualified for the PDC World Championship final. Both men with something very interesting in common – besides the name Michael. The World Cup ended, the darts started – a more than adequate replacement in my view. I #luvthedarts. It is fascinating, it […]
I WAS first made aware of the term ‘The Dark Arts’ in sport in a post-game interview given by Paul O’Connell. I was in my teens and was fascinated by his summation of an international defeat being down to Ireland’s inability to match the opposition in the dark arts. And from then, I’ve watched sport […]
THERE is nothing more important in performance and learning than feedback loops. A two-way dialogue between coach and player (or player and player), with the joint objective of getting better. All my clients give me performance and mindset feedback after every game – it’s mandatory. Why? Because it creates improvement; it creates growth. Highlighting gaps […]
OVER the last few weeks, as teams bow out of championship football, I’ve had a number of club managers get in contact regarding building mental toughness for the season ahead. One email stood out as particularly worrying; “… we’ve done all we can as managers – the lads are just not mentally tough enough.” Aside […]
