Survey of Coaching Development in Leinster

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Survey of Coaching Development in Leinster

• 18 February 2006

Brendan Harpur Chair, Subcommittee on Review of
Coach Development
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Sub-committee on Review of Coach Development

• Sub-committee are undertaking this review
• Pat Henderson (Kilkenny)
• Sean Dempsey (Laois)
• Paddy Christie (Dublin)
• Sean Kelly (Meath)
• Noel Delaney (Leinster Coaching Director)
• Lester Ryan (Leinster Coaching Director)
• Brendan Harpur (Dublin)

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Content of Presentation

• Profile of Respondents
• Overall and Comparisons of Survey Results
• Coaching Staff
• Foundation Course Issues and Content Needs
• Accessibility of Information and Uptake on Best
  Practice Course
• Knowledge Transfer and Support Levels
• Level 1 Course Issues and Content Needs
• Handball Results
• Key Findings Going Forward

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Key Issues to be addressed

• 1. Code of Best Practice
• 2. Need for an Introductory course
• on coaching.
• 3. Need Foundation participants to see an actual
  
• Coaching Session in Action
• 4.The need to support Foundation participants at
  
• Club level.
• 5. The need to improve support to local schools
  by
• Clubs.

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Key issues to be addressed

• 6. The need to implement a Level 1 course for
  Juvenile coaches only
• 7. How to improve the coaching of key skills in
  Hurling and football. (Tackling/Evasion/Scoring)
• 8. How to address the Rules of the Game at
  Introductory, Foundation and Level 1
• 9. How to put in place the necessary resources
  for coach Tutors to deliver their courses
• 10. How to maintain and improve the Tutoring
  skills of Tutors

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Profile of Respondents

• Number of Respondents
• 138 Respondents, representing approximately 559
  people
• Number of clubs and schools
• 65 Clubs or 90 Clubs 28 Schools or 39 Schools
  7 unknown or 9 unknown
• Coaching Roles of Respondents (N 138)
• 82 in an active coaching role
• Attendees at the convened meetings
• This included School Liaison Officers, Club
  chairmen/persons, Executive Committee members,
  Voluntary team mentors, Adult Games
  chairmen/persons, Club officers, and Juvenile
  Committee members
• Other views included
• 82 Level 1 course participants
• 27 Foundation tutors
• 11 Level 1 tutors
• 78 County players(36 football/36 Hurling/6 dual )

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Coaching Staff
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2.1 Coaching Staff Totals and Percentages of
Males and Females

• The vast majority of coaches are male. Roughly
  95 for Football and Hurling.
• On average, there are 9 active Football current
  Juvenile coaches per Club and 3 per school.
• There are 8 per Club and 3 per School for
  Hurling
• There are 4 per Handball Club and 2 per School.
• There are consistently fewer female coaches,
  especially for Football and Hurling Clubs and
  Schools.
• The percentage female coaches is highest for
  Schools versus Clubs and Handball compared to
  other sports.

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2.2 The course on "Code of Best Practice for
youth sport?

• About 27 of the respondents say that all of
  their Club Juvenile /School coaches have
  undertaken the course on Code of Best Practice
  for Youth Sport.
• 11 indicate that a course is planned for their
  coaches.
• About 63 either dont know or indicate that
  none of their coaches have undertaken this
  course.
• Far too many either dont know or report low
  take up of this important course.

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2.3 2.5 2.8 Courses, a log book and receipt
of certificates

• More coaches have completed the Foundation versus
  the Level 1 course.
• On average per Club / School, 6 Football and 4
  Hurling coaches have completed the Foundation,
  and 2 and 2 respectively, the Level 1 course.
• An average of 2 Juvenile coaches per Club /
  School have completed the log book received a
  certificate.
• An average of 2.5 adult coaches per Club / School
  have completed the Foundation course and 1 for
  the Level 1 course.

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2.3 2.5 2.8 Courses, a log book and receipt
of certificates

• More coaches have completed the Foundation versus
  the Level 1 course.
• On average per Club / School, 6 Football and 4
  Hurling coaches have completed the Foundation,
  and 2 and 2 respectively, the Level 1 course.
• An average of 2 Juvenile coaches per Club /
  School have completed the log book received a
  certificate.
• An average of 2.5 adult coaches per Club / School
  have completed the Foundation course and 1 for
  the Level 1 course.

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2.6 2.7 Reasons for Inactivity among Coaches

• Other Commitment and Own children no longer
  involved appear to be the top reasons for a
  coachs inactivity over time.
• Perhaps increasing the levels of commitment and
  personal satisfaction gained from coaching are
  among the key drivers for sustaining activity
  levels among coaches who have completed the
  Foundation and Level 1 courses.

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Foundation Course Issues and Content Needs
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3.1 3.2 Parents and Key Topics for Shorten
Version of Foundation Course

• A solid majority of the respondents (65.7)
  believe that parents (who are not intending to
  become active coaches) should have a shorter
  version of the Foundation course.

• According to the respondents, the Top 5 key
  topics for such a course should include the
  shaded items in the table.

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3.3 - 3.5 Foundation Course

• Both Clubs / Schools agree that the Foundation
  course should be primarily aimed at Those who
  wish to become active in coaching teams (41 and
  50 respectively) and Parents and Coaches (45
  and 47 respectively)
• 100 of clubs / schools would favour the
  Foundation course to consist of the following
  parts
• Part 1 An appreciation of coaching for Parents /
  Mentors / Coaches, and
• Part 2 Emphasis on the practical aspects of
  coaching for Active Coaches.
• Over 54 of the Clubs indicated that a Theory
  Session followed by practical and that Seeing a
  Coaching session in operation were both
  essential methods of delivery for the Foundation
  course.
• The Schools agreed at 49 in both cases. None of
  the other methods exceeded this percentage for
  the schools.
• 77 of the Clubs and 83 of the Schools felt that
  if the Foundation course content was increased,
  they would be prepared to attend for 9 hours
  rather than 12 hours.

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3.6 Foundation Course Topic Priorities
Top 5
Bottom 5
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3.7 Assessment and Accessibility of Information
(4.1 / 4.2)

• Clubs and Schools prefer that coaches
  participating on a Foundation course should be
  assessed by means of undertaking practice
  supervised by the Tutor during the course.
• Both also agree that information on the
  Foundation courses in their counties are readily
  available (71 for Clubs and 85 for Schools).
• Both also agree that information on the Level 1
  course in their counties is readily available
  (68 for Clubs and 82 for Schools).
• However, improvements are needed as Clubs also
  indicate that in some instances information on
  the Foundation (21) and on Level 1 courses (27)
  is not readily available.

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Accessibility of Information and Uptake on Best
Practice Course
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4.3 4.5 Special Workshops (Topics listed under
Clubs, Schools and Football and Hurling according
to interest)
School - Football
Clubs - Football
Schools - Football
Clubs Football Hurling
Clubs Football Hurling
Schools Football Hurling
Drills to improve football skills, 69 Tackling
skills in Gaelic Football, 59 Kicking or
Possession, 54 Go Games Workshop, 44
Tackling skills in Gaelic Football, 71 Drills to
improve football skills, 68 Go Games Workshop,
56 Kicking or Possession, 54
Fundamentals of Agility, Coordination and
Balance, 60 Physical conditioning, 59 First
Aid, 57 Young Referees course, 51
Fundamentals of Agility, Coordination and
Balance, 51 Physical conditioning, 41 First
Aid, 49 Young Referees course, 46
Schools - Hurling
Hurling Advanced Skills, 59 Indoor Hurling
Drills, 51 Go Games Workshop, 46 Wall Ball
activities, 41
Clubs - Hurling
Hurling Advanced Skills, 36 Indoor Hurling
Drills, 36 Go Games Workshop, 36

• Only workshop topics showing higher interest
  levels (40) are listed here.
• Special workshops which provide for skills
  acquisition, conditioning, and drills seem to be
  the most desirable for coaches.

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Knowledge Transfer and Support Levels
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5.1 5.2 Knowledge Transfer and Support Levels

• From your experience, what percentage of
  Foundation course participants apply their
  learning from the course to actual teams
• 39 of Clubs indicate 25 to 50 and 24 say
  gt50 to 74
• 37 of Schools indicate 25 to 50 and 37 say
  gt50 to 74
• What difficulties do Foundation participants
  encounter in applying their learning to actual
  Teams or Groups

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5.3 Evidence showing that Juvenile coaches made a
difference

• What evidence to you have that Juvenile coaches,
  who have completed coaching courses, have made a
  difference to your Club/ School players

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5.4 and 5.6 Support and Skills

• Very little support is provided by the full time
  Employed Club Coach to the Club / School
  according to the respondents feedback. Only 14
  of Clubs and 15 of Schools say that the coach
  provides advice and guidance to the Club /
  schools juvenile coaches and 13 of both Clubs
  and Schools says that the coach coaches juvenile
  teams. Two percent of Clubs and 3 of Schools
  say the coach coaches adult teams.
• In fact both report that the coach spends lt50 of
  time actually coaching players (56 of Clubs and
  57 of Schools report this.)
• 29 of Schools and 28 of Clubs says that the
  full time Employed Club Coach spends 50 to 74
  of time actually coaching players. None of the
  schools and 6 of the Clubs estimate the time at
  75.
• The low level of time spent actually coaching
  players may be a significant disincentive for
  those interested in coaching or those actually
  coaching players.
• This may also have a negative impact on skills
  transfer.
• More of the coaches time should be spent actually
  coaching.

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Full time Coaches

• Very little support is provided by the full time
  Employed Club Coach to the Club / School
  according to the respondents feedback.
• Only 14 of Clubs and 15 of Schools say that the
  coach provides advice and guidance to the Club /
  schools juvenile coaches
• 13 of both Clubs and Schools says that the coach
  coaches juvenile teams.
• In fact both report that the coach spends lt50 of
  actually coaching players (56 of Clubs and 57
  of Schools report this.)
• 29 of Schools and 28 of Clubs says that the
  full time Employed Club Coach spends 50 to 74
  of time actually coaching players

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5.5 Problems Coaches Encounter with Schools

• Very few Clubs are Schools reported that full
  time employed Club Coaches entered problems when
  working with schools.
• Other than possible problems regarding no
  obvious follow up on coaching from teachers,
  and the lack of interest from teachers, the
  following graph shows that the vast majority
  (80) report few problems encountered.

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5.7 Skills or Aspects of Game Presenting the
Greatest Difficulties in Developing Players

• The greatest difficulty is with tacking, evasive,
  and scoring skills.

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County Players views

• Most neglected in modern coaching
• Football Hurling
• No.1 Tackling Hooking
• No.2 Blocking Frees/ Sidelines
• No.3 Kicking Blocking
• No.4 Pick- up Catching

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5.8 5.9 Level of Support to Schools

• Coaching support from Clubs to Schools
• 91 of the Clubs describe the level of support
  the Club gives to local schools in relation to
  coaching Football as "moderate to high." Only 43
  of the schools report the same.
• 77 of the Clubs describe the level of support
  the Club gives to local schools in relation to
  coaching Hurling as "moderate to high." Only 36
  of the schools report the same.
• Rather 64 report mixed or minimal to no support.

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5.10 Most Important IssuesWhat are the most
important issues for local schools in relations
to coaching Football and Hurling?

• Issues were identified based on whether gt20 of
  the respondents ticked each items as a issue.
• For Clubs, most of the issues involve Football
  within the primary schools. This includes the
  "Need for a coach from the Club", "Need for
  Mentors / Team Managers to assist at matches",
  and "Coaching courses for teachers". These also
  were consistently mentioned across Football and
  Hurling as well as the "Need for a coach from the
  Club", "Coaching courses for teachers, and
  Coaching Equipment being mentioned for
  Secondary Schools.

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5.10 Most Important IssuesWhat are the most
important issues for local schools in relation to
coaching Football and Hurling?

• Issues were identified based on whether gt20 of
  the respondents ticked each items as a issue.
• For Clubs, most of the issues involve Football
  within the primary schools.
• This includes the "Need for a coach from the
  Club", "Need for Mentors / Team Managers to
  assist at matches", and "Coaching courses for
  teachers".
• These also were consistently mentioned across
  Football and Hurling as well as the "Need for a
  coach from the Club", "Coaching courses for
  teachers, and Coaching Equipment being
  mentioned for Secondary Schools.

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Level 1 Course Issues and Content Needs
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6.1 Content and Issues for Level 1 Course

• The priorities for Clubs and Schools in the Level
  1 Course involve
• Techniques
• Fitness
• Planning the Programme
• Drills
• Tactical Decision Making

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6.2 6.4 Testing for Level 1 and Intermediate
Course Elements

• 84 of Clubs and 82 of Schools agree that a
  Level 1 Coach should successfully complete a Test
  on the Playing Rules before being certified.
• Considerably fewer Clubs and Schools see a need
  for some form of Intermediate course between
  Foundation and Level 1 for Active Coaches
• 51 of Clubs say Yes, 30 No and 19 neutral
  on this matter
• 33 of Schools say Yes, 30 No and 37
  neutral on this matter
• Those that say Yes consider the following the
  key elements of such a course
• See the illustration on the next page.

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6.4 Intermediate Course Key ElementsWhat would
you consider to be the key elements of an
Intermediate Course between Foundation and Level
1 courses
Clubs, Rank 1
Schools, Rank 1
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6.5 Do you agree that the Steps in Coach
Development should consist of 5 Steps
Your Feedback
An appreciation of coaching for parents / coaches
/ teachers (98 Clubs 96 Schools)
Agreement on Steps to Coach Development
5 Step Plan
Fully supported
Step 1
Practical aspects of coaching for active coaches
(97 Clubs 100 Schools)
Fully supported
Step 2
An intermediate level between the foundation and
Level 1 courses for active coaches or as
identified in key elements (65 Clubs
Schools)
Majority Support
Step 3
Level 1 Course designed for juvenile coaches
only (75 Clubs 82 Schools)
Majority Support
Step 4
The current Level 1 course but only for coaches
involved with adult teams (69 Clubs 67 Schools)
Majority Supported
Step 5
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6.6 Overall and Specific Assessments of the Level
1 Course

• General consensus is high levels of satisfactory
  to excellent experience with the Level 1 course.

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6.7 6.9 Details of Level 1 Course

• The pace of the level 1 course is reported by
  both Clubs (92) and Schools (88) to be about
  right.
• Not more than 6 said that it was too advanced
  (Schools and Clubs at 6) or too elementary
  (Schools at 6 Clubs at 2)
• On average, about 20 to 22 participant coaches
  attend the Level 1 course. Over 60 of Clubs
  (63) and Schools (71) believe that these
  numbers are just right considering the course
  objectives.
• The general consensus seems to be that about 25
  to 50 participants are too many, 12 is some
  cases is too few, and between 15 and 20 are
  generally considered to be just right.

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Changes Recommended by participants

• No.1 Shorter / more concise
• No.2 Less repeating
• No.3 Standardise Handouts
• No.4 Focus on Juvenile or Adult coaching
• No.5 More examples of sessions/drills
• No.6 Minimum requirements for participants

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Handball Results
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7.1 7.2 Handball Issues and Content Needs

• Compared with Clubs, Schools more often report
  Handball to be an active sport. For example, 37
  (10 of 27) of Schools indicate that it is an
  active sport , only 8 (5 of 60) of the
  responding Clubs say this. Thus 92 of Clubs and
  63 of the Schools do not have Handball as an
  active sport.
• Of these, 46 (26 of 56) of the Clubs and 44 (8
  of 18) of the Schools say yes they would like
  to see Handball promoted in their Club or School.
  Also, 43 of Clubs and 44 of Schools responded
  with maybe in the future they would like to see
  it promoted.

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7.3 7.7 Handball Issues and Content Needs

• The active juvenile members are between 16 and 23
  coaches, of which roughly 10 are males and 10 are
  females for clubs.
• For schools the active juvenile members average
  between 13 and 31, of which roughly 15 are males
  and 10 are females.
• The active playing adult members for clubs are an
  average between 10 and 18, of which roughly 8 are
  male and 13 are female.
• The active playing adult members for Schools are
  an average of 4 with the majority being male. No
  data was submitted on numbers of females playing
  Handball for Schools.
• The Clubs estimate that nearly 4 adults per club
  would be interested in undertaking a coaching
  course for handball coaches. The schools reported
  an interest of one per responding school. Nine
  clubs responded to this question and 7 schools
  responded.
• In terms of facilities available, both Clubs and
  Schools says they either have no facilities (52
  and 56 respectively) or that they do not have a
  handball alley or suitable indoor or outdoor
  walls. An average of 97 of Clubs and 94 of
  Schools indicated that these facilities were not
  available at their Clubs or Schools.

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Additional Comments
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County Players comments

• Q.2 What you remember most about best underage
  coach
• No.1 Good at skills and drills
• No.2 Always encouraged
• No.3 Good instruction
• No.4 Treated everyone the same
• No.5 Passion for game
• No.6 Organised and well prepared
• Q.3 What you remember most about least effective
  coach
• No.1 Bad language/ Shouting
• No.2 Poor drills
• No.3 Too much physical
• No.4 Bad organisation
• No.5 Bad communication

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Additional Comments

• The lack of juvenile coaches is something the GAA
  is going to have to address in a big way -
  retired players are no longer willing to coach
  young players to the same degree as in the past
  and this void will have to be filled if the GAA
  is to thrive in the future.
• Need more support from local club. There is ZERO
  assistance to our Club from Dublin Coaching and
  Games Development, nor do they show any interest
  in changing that situation. Such a policy of
  writing off a Club in barren GAA territory should
  be unacceptable, but unfortunately isn't.
• Future surveys should be arrange around time that
  is most conducive to arranging / convening
  meeting to complete.
• Would like to see a greater emphasis on
  importance of warm up exercises to help avoid
  injuries. Some of stretching
• exercises being done by some I would consider
  harmful. Also weight exercises are being carried
  out by coaches with no knowledge of the harmful
  effects if not done properly.
• All courses should include more emphasises on the
  basics Overhead catching, scoring out of hand
  and off ground blocking. and in hurling the skill
  of long distance pucking and slicing. Anything
  that would help make players more aware of the
  rules of the game
• Concerning handball, it is our aim to introduce
  it if we had the facilities, interested players,
  coaching, etc. in place.
• Clubs do not need professional and highly
  qualified coaches. Rather, we need the parents
  and voluntary mentors be given the necessary
  tools to support and help in managing and
  training teams. Are we creating a another layer
  within the GAA who will look down of the
  voluntary worker.
• Concerning keeping track of numbers completing
  the courses, perhaps have registration required
  to show who has taken courses and this should be
  available.
• To clubs, I would like to commend the Leinster
  Council for undertaking this survey. Best of Luck
  with the results.

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Key Findings Going Forward
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10 Key Issues

• 1. Ensuring that all coaches have undertaken the
  Code of Best Practice and that all Foundation
  tutors can deliver this module.
• 2. The need to design and implement an
  Introductory course on coaching aimed at parents,
  would be mentors and coaches.
• 3. Providing an opportunity for Foundation
  participants to see an actual Coaching Session in
  Action
• 4. The need to support Foundation participants to
  implement initial sessions at Club level.
• 5. The need to improve support to local schools
  by Clubs.

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!0 Key Issues

• 6.The need to implement a Level 1 course for
  Juvenile coaches only.
• 7.How to improve the coaching of key skills in
  Hurling and football. (Tackling/Evasion/Scoring)
• 8. How to address the Rules of the Game at
  Introductory, Foundation and Level 1
• 9. How to put in place the necessary resources
  for coach Tutors to deliver their courses
• 10. How to maintain and improve the Tutoring
  skills of Tutors

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Thank You!