On the 22nd January, the TY's took part in a GAA Coaching Programme. At the end of this programme, we would be receiving a certificate to show that we have become assistant coaches. Over 8 weeks, we will be helping to coach the 1st and 2nd years.
In the morning, we met Kevin and Michael. They talked to us about the importance of this programme and about what it was about. We would be thought practically and through notes. There were 4 modules that we would need to know for this course and they were: The Role of an Assistant Coach, Movement in Gaelic Games, Skill Development and An Intro to the Game. These modules were compulsory for us to learn as they were guidelines to how to be a coach and had to be followed even for people coaching at club level. After we covered the modules, we were split into 4 groups where we had to plan, demonstrate, coach our year different skills from hurling and camogie such as the roll and jab lift, soloing and hand passing. We had the make the demonstration very simple and easy to follow. My group had to demonstrate the roll lift. After lunch, we set up and coached our year each of our skills. It was a good way for us to be confident in our teaching and work as a team. At the end of the day, Damien Coleman came to the gym to talk to us about the importance of participating in the course and why it is beneficial to the young people of Ireland. Overall, I really enjoyed the day and learned a lot about being an assistant coach. I learned that an adult has the attention span of 9 seconds and that a child has an attention span of 5 seconds or less. This taught us that our techniques need to be acquired to the different age groups and our tactics changed to that age group. I highly recommend this to people who do or don't have any sporting interests as it can really help with improving confidence levels and people skills. I believe there is also a lot of teamwork involved as planning how to demonstrate all the skills and games is important also. |