500 target for GAA coaches

FORMER GAA director of hurling, Paudie Butler, was in Kildysart last Friday night, where he gave a talk on best practice for the development of players up to the age of 12. The Tipperary man, who played hurling and football for the Premier County, told The Clare Champion that allowing unqualified people to coach under-age players could prove very damaging for young footballers or hurlers.

“If somebody volunteers 10 years of their time, they’d like to think that it was valuable, that they made a contribution and that things are better for their presence,” the former school teacher said.

“But without training and without guidance they could be the most destructive people in the whole place. They could destroy Gaelic games in the place because they’re over-competitive. Our job is to help that person and to help other people,” Paudie Butler explained.

Amongst the formal courses, aspiring coaches can take are three night foundation courses, a five-night award one course and a year-long award two course.

“Sometimes coaches have no training at all. They’re coming from seriously competitive adult hurling and they bring that philosophy sometimes. It’s over-competitive and it’s seriously stifling for young children.

“Our job is to educate everybody. We know that in every parish the people are going to put in the time. What we want is for that time to be beneficial, that they’re proud of what they do and that there’s a legacy after them,” Butler stated.

He is confident that Clare will have access to hundreds of qualified coaches in the coming years.

“In Clare we have a target for 500 trained coaches between hurling and football so that every child that goes to the field, will meet a trained coached. We have a three-year time scale on it but we’re going to reach it in two. We might have another couple of hundred who didn’t make time to go to courses or who felt that they were already committing too much. But gradually the numbers going to courses is increasing way beyond expectations,” he said.

Noting that the GAA has been very committed to coach education over the last decade or so, Butler outlined the various stages of player development, from childhood to adulthood.

“The primary school child goes to school locally and must be treated and communicated with through their parents. There’s clear guidance now around all of that. The child must be valued and must be seen for what they are.

“From my point of view, every child in Ireland should experience Gaelic games in football, hurling, handball and rounders, with the girl and the boy treated the same. That’s our child philosophy and it has evolved greatly,” Bulter noted, adding that ensuring that children had the option of playing Gaelic football or hurling was part of Michael Cusack’s vision when he founded the association in 1884.

“Every child gets coaching in line with the primary school curriculum, the primary school ethos and in line with Michael Cusacks vision for Ireland. He founded the GAA to upgrade peoples self esteem after the Famine. The self esteem of Irish people was in tatters. They had no regard for the language, they had lost all regard for their music and they had lost all regard for Gaelic culture. He set out as an individual, with a dream, that young Irish people would restore pride in themselves through gaelic activities. If he was there now, he would know that he succeeded. He probably died thinking that he had failed. Now we know the numbers playing are enormous. If every child in Clare gets a chance to play Gaelic games in primary school, then we have a great job done,” he reflected.

Butler acknowledged that ensuring widespread player participation at second and third level was more difficult.

“What happens in secondary school is very different. They leave their local area and they travel into a central school, where, with the best will in the world only 20 can get on a first or second year team.

“There’s big losses there within the school system but when they come back to their clubs, most of them are very precious to their clubs. Then when they go to college, there might be 15,000 inside in UL for example. There’s still only 40 or 50 going to play for the team. We have huge challenges at second and third level but we have managed the primary system well,” he maintained.

Paudie Butler’s take on encouraging players to play hurling and football is simple; let them play what they want as children but don’t let them burn out when they reach their late teens and adulthood.

“If there’s any problem in the child section, it’s the adults are making the problem. An U-8 doesn’t mind if they play half and hours football and half an hours hurling. They take that as normal. Then when comes to the real competitive stuff at minor, U-21 and senior, then life will become too difficult. If he’s U-18 and he’s playing hurling and football at minor, U-21 and senior then life becomes too difficult and he will go down with some debilitating condition and his whole career could go haywire. But because they’re young they can be massively ambitious and they think that they can play everything,” he feels.

“If they were older and wiser they’d pick and choose a little bit more carefully. They’d get all the range of speed from the hurling and strength from the football that you’d ever want. But children are young and they want to dabble. It’s certainly detrimental for children to be involved in more than five activities. If a child is swimming, playing basketball, soccer and Gaelic games they are gone beyond the point of enjoyment. It becomes a drudge. Across the western world there’s a huge drop off in teenage play. All over Europe and all over America,” Butler concluded.