Rethinking Player Development in Gaelic Games | Jack Cooney

I want to jump now to, I remember a few years ago at a coach development conference, you were leading a workshop on the player pathway.

And a really good discussion emerged around what age different clubs, because there was a range of clubs there, what age did they first come down to start training? I remember one fella, I can't remember his exact club, so I'm not going to say it, but he was from Cork, said they had pushed back and they're holding them back until around seven now to start because they're wary of...

Not so much the burnout, but just like how long they can potentially keep engagement for deep into the teenage years and keep that same engagement amongst the parents who are bringing him down, whereas other clubs were looking to start at four or five.

And I think ultimately it's far more nuanced than that.

But you might remember some of the conversation because you made some really good points to me just when we were chatting before we recorded around it as well.

Yeah, I can vaguely remember that conversation, all right.

Yeah.

I guess, again, kind of referenced it earlier.

The GAA is unique in terms of its culture, in terms of its, like it's an amateur sport.

It's a representative sport.

in most cases you play for the area or the club that you're born within you could be three or four um you could be a third or fourth in line in terms of your family and and all of that playing for a third or fourth generation and so on and so forth so it's it's it's very very difficult to define and The one thing that is very, very clear about our clubs is that they're very community-based.

And sometimes it can be quite difficult holding players off because they're families embedded in the club.

They're out in the backyard and they're starting into kicking ball and striking and all of this.

And they just naturally filter into the nursery at four and five.

I think the key thing is that whole nurturing aspect of that young player, that we have an opportunity to embed them in that culture and that environment within the club.

We have an opportunity to... give them really good experiences, different experiences, playing with their friends.

Literally, it can be a playground, sometimes a chaotic playground.

But I would always say, that the job is to make sure that they're coming back in that gate on Tuesday evening or next Saturday morning or whatever it is.

And they will if they're having a good time and they're enjoying it.

Parents see the value in it.

Parents will bring them back in.

So is there a right age? Our nurseries kick off from four, holding them off till seven.

That's a decision that can be made locally, can be made from the parents.

But I would say, like, only last weekend, I was in the nursery in my own club here in Curzon, Kinnigad, and just the amount of work that goes on, the amount of energy that's there, the amount of enjoyment that the kids get.

And it's not complicated.