Cahill settles in to Clare role

Long-term player development planning has rarely been a visible specialist subject in Clare football.  Underage development squads have been in place for several years but until now the physical advancement of players has not been to the forefront of thinking in this county. A particular management team might do an excellent job but there was no real sustainable plan in place to aid a young player’s physical development. Thankfully, that is about to change. 
Micheál Cahill’s primary task is to ensure that the Clare senior football team is physically primed to achieve their maximum level in the NFL Division 4 and during this summer’s Munster Championship.
He is also helping out with the U-21 and minor football panels, while plans are afoot to extend the Limerick man’s expertise to the development squads. Clare senior hurling trainer, Joe O’Connor, who lectured Cahill in the Health, Fitness and Leisure degree course at Tralee IT, is dovetailing with his former student in designing a programme for underage football and hurling county squads.
“At the moment, we’re meeting and talking about a long-term athlete development plan for the 14s, 15s and 16s hurlers and footballers. All of the strength work is done with one coach and there’s continuity with players.  That’s very important because everybody has a different programme and a different philosophy towards things,” Micheál maintained. 
His appointment as Clare senior football trainer, with responsibility for the squad’s strength and conditioning, came following a recommendation from former Kerry trainer, Pat Flanagan.  
“I try to give the players a structured, professional approach. With the amount of time and effort they put in, there has to be a structure there for them. The players’ response has been excellent so far. They all have to log their sessions with me, whether they do an individual one or within specific groups. They’ve all bought into it because if one person isn’t doing it they’re letting the whole team down,” Cahill told The Clare Champion.
In conjunction with Joe O’Connor, Cahill oversaw the stocking of the new Clare GAA gym on the Quin Road in Ennis, while much of Clare’s training has been at the new all-weather pitch in UL. “The county board have been excellent. Anything we’ve asked for we’ve got. We’ve a state-of-the-art gym facility. We couldn’t ask for much more with that,” he commented.
Cahill spent most of 2010 based at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, working in several sporting environments.
“I primarily worked with Baylor University in everything from (American) football, women’s softball to golf, equestrian sport to soccer. From there, I went to University of Missouri in Columbia on an exchange programme, again working in the same areas in the strength and conditioning department. I’d a short stint then with the Houston Texans in the NFL. It was good to see a different set-up and different programmes,” Cahill reflected.
The Clare footballers he deals with know that much of the responsibility for their development rests with themselves. If a player isn’t capable of taking personal responsibility for his preparation, he won’t cut it at inter-county level.
“With all the pre-season and in-season manuals, what I try to bring in is player accountability. It’s all down to that because you’re only with them for maybe one hour out of the 24 hours in the day. Really and truly, that’s only the stimulus. All of the adaptations occur in the other 23 hours when you’re not with them. You have to educate them in the importance of nutrition and the importance of recovery to make sure that they’re accountable for their own actions. That’s one of the big things that I try to bring in and I’ve said that to the lads from day one,” he outlined.
From Raheen, Cahill plays club football with Mungret St Paul’s while he is currently studying for a Masters at UL.
His experience as a player and his professional expertise has convinced Cahill that ensuring players are fresh is an essential part of his job.
“The best player to put out is the freshest player so you really have to emphasise looking at volumes and intensities of training to make sure players aren’t being overtrained,” he explained, adding that training programmes are tailored to suit individual players. Significantly, he points out that hours of pumping iron doesn’t churn out able footballers. It’s not that simple. 
“The reason you exercise is to improve movement. In a 70-minute game you’re probably only on the ball for five minutes, maximum. So for 65 minutes you’re off the ball. Being strong and powerful is no good if you can’t move efficiently.
“So at the very start we screened every single athlete and looked at how well they move through a movement screen with Seán O’Meara (Clare senior football physio), who is excellent to work with. From that, I designed specific programmes, categorising them into groups and then giving them specific corrective exercises to improve their movement. It’s not all about building muscle and bulk. That’s bodybuilding. It’s about making specific football training functional,” Cahill stated.
The long-term benefits of Cahill’s work with the Clare footballers will emerge throughout 2012 and in the years ahead, although it would definitely be a huge confidence booster for all involved if Clare win Sunday’s league opener against Waterford in Cusack Park.