During my research internship with PESS, I examined how Gaelic Football coaches were structuring their training sessions and analysed how these sessions fitted in with various themes such as a Games Based Approach (GBA), Simple to Complex (StC), Complex to Simple (CtS) or an entirely different theme.
Data was taken from coaches operating at senior club level, underage inter-county underage and senior inter-county level. Coaches submitted sessions from both early season and peak season and a seperate analysis was completed for each period of the season.
I completed my internship under the supervision of Dr.Philip Kearney who was on hand to answer any questions that arose over the course of the 8 weeks. He also helped provide a fresh perspective on the data and was an excellent sounding board to discuss how the responses we received might look in a practical sense.
Our early season data indicated 62.1% of coaches were using a StC sequence, which is a more traditional approach. 22.7% were using a GBA while 5.6% were using a Simple-Complex-Simple (SCS) approach. However, there was a notable change in the peak season data. StC was still the most prevalent sequence with 54% of coaches using it. There was an increase in number of coaches using GBA with 40.9% while 3.6% used SCS.
I found the internship to be extremely useful to my own practice as both a coach and as a PE teacher. I gained an insight into how other coaches sequence their sessions and have made adjustments to my own session sequencing at senior club and u20 inter-county level, based on the data analysed. The internship has also helped me in preparation for starting on the MSc Applied Sports Coaching.
I would strongly encourage anyone who is interested to apply for a PESS internship. It is a fantastic opportunity to improve your knowledge, gain an insight into an area of interest and get a greater understanding of the research process.
Conor McNally is a intern in the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, UL.
Contact: 20235674@studentmail.ul.ie , Follow on X: @Conormcnally01
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