The GAA, the Ladies Gaelic Football Association & An Cumann Camógaíochta are delighted to announce details of a new and exciting Gaelic Games Coach Pathway.
For the first time, all three Associations with responsibility for the promotion of Gaelic Football, Hurling, Ladies Football and Camogie will have an aligned pathway and vision for coach development.
All coaches are at the heart of this new Pathway – and there will be a key focus on creating an effective coach development environment.
The Gaelic Games Coach Pathway follows on from the successful launch of the Gaelic Games Player Pathway in 2021.
The Coach Pathway has been created to mirror the Player Pathway, ensuring that coaches are provided with the knowledge, skill, and capacities to develop players within and across phases of the Gaelic Games Player Pathway – “just for me” and “just in time.”
The Pathway is also heavily informed by the cross-Association coach education study conducted in 2020 with over 10,500 coach respondents.
People identified a lack of time and other commitments as barriers to engaging in learning.
They said they wanted shorter, more bite-sized learning opportunities. Consequently, a key feature of the new approach is to provide flexible and modular courses.
By keeping the end goal in mind, and understanding the coaching pathway in its totality, coaches and other stakeholders can provide players with the level of support that they require at any moment along their developmental journey.
The Coach Pathway is grounded in three core elements aligned to the Gaelic Games Player Pathway, namely The Player, The Game, The Environment.
The Coach Pathway will exhibit a Coach ‘Learning Space’ that aims to reflect the variety of coaching needs, and the breadth of learning opportunities that should be provided for coaches.
This ‘Learning Space’ is accessible to all following the completion of the Introduction to Gaelic Games course, with the exception of core modules and specialist modules which have a pre-requisite of participants required to complete Award/Level 1 formal courses.
The Learning Management System (TOBAR), linked to Foireann, will power the delivery of the Coach Pathway.
All three Associations are committed to providing coaches with the right supports at the right time, which will enable them to individually empower themselves to engage with the many challenges they will face along their Coach Pathway journey.
Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael Larry McCarthy, Uachtarán Cumann Peil Gael na mBan Mícheál Naughton, Uachtarán Cumann Camógaíochta Hilda Breslin and Liam Moggan, Chair of the Coach Development Advisory Committee, were on hand to launch the Coach Player Pathway.
This announcement once again reinforces the commitment and joint approach to Games Development from all three Associations, and builds on previous collaborations such as Go Games, Féile, Club Leadership Development and ‘Be Ready to Play.’
Speaking about today’s launch, Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael, Larry McCarthy, said: “The launch of this Gaelic Games Coach Pathway is the natural next step in evolution after the successful launch of our Gaelic Games Player Pathway across all three Associations.
“Coaches are integral to our objective of nurturing and developing skills and a passion for the games in players. Coaches equally need to be nurtured and developed and this Coach Pathway will allow coaches at every level the opportunity to benefit from expert guidance and best practice which will benefit our players and our games.”
Uachtarán Cumann Peil Gael na mBan, Mícheál Naughton, commented: “This exciting programme will help greatly to foster and enhance a culture of development and excellence for all of our coaches.
“Our wish is that our coaches get involved in our Association, share their incredible knowledge and expertise with players, and stay involved for life.
“You may be a coach who’s fortunate to run the line on All-Ireland Final day – or a coach who’s in our sport at grassroots level and heavily involved in nurturing and developing the stars of the future.
“There is no distinction to be made here – it’s about coaching our sport because you enjoy it, and being encouraged to coach.
“I would like to acknowledge the hard work and collaboration of key stakeholders in all three Associations in bringing this Gaelic Games Coach Pathway to fruition.”
On behalf of An Cumann Camógaíochta, President Hilda Breslin commented: “The Camogie Association is delighted to play its role in this collaborative effort in creating a pathway for our coaches, who hold such a pivotal role within our games.
“This pathway shines a light on coaches active at all levels of our game and looks to provide the relevant guidance and support where, and when required.
“Like our players, the needs of our coaches differ from phase to phase and we, along with GAA and LGFA, strive to continue our efforts in providing for our coaches across this Coach Pathway in a meaningful way.
“I would like to acknowledge and thank the work of the staff within all three associations and the many volunteers who have contributed to the development and ongoing maintenance of this Gaelic Games Coach Pathway.”
For full details on the Gaelic Games Coach Pathway, visit this link.
For further information, please contact:
GAA – Shane Flanagan, Director of Coaching and Games Development shane.flanagan@gaa.ie
LGFA – Lyn Savage, National Development Manager lyn.savage@lgfa.ie
Camogie – Lizzy Broderick, Technical Development and Participation Manager lizzy.broderick@camogie.ie
