The Future For Athletics In Ireland: Establishing A Professional High Performance Coaching System

The following article by Drew and Hayley Harrison was first published by the UL Communications and Marketing Department in May 2017.

It is several months since Thomas Barr stunned the nation with his performances in Rio, coming 4^th in the Olympic 400mH final and breaking 48 seconds for the first time. Six months on and we are back to our normal routine working by day and coaching athletes on evenings and weekends as we have done for the last 22 years at the University of Limerick. In sport, the challenge to set the bar ever higher is always a priority. We believe that the key to success lies in optimising the total training environment for the athlete; this includes ensuring good facilities, equipment, proximity and quality of accommodation, quality of the training squad and the quality of the support structures around the athletes. A key element of the high performance environment is coaching. Coaches play a pivotal role in setting and monitoring all aspects of the training environment and ensuring optimal performance on demand.

Providing high performance coaches for athletes who have high performance potential is essential if our talented athletes are to have a realistic chance of reaching that potential. So what makes a high performance coach? The cynical, but most perceived view is that if a coach is working with a high performing athlete, then the coach must be a high performance coach. This should not be the case; instead high performance coaches should be distinguished from other coaches by their high level of technical knowledge and coaching skill acquired through specialised education, experience and continuous professional development. In our view, providing sustainable, on-going support for a truly high performance coaching system in Ireland is the first priority if we are to consistently deliver athletes capable of major championship finals and medals.

At present Irish athletics relies too heavily on volunteers to coach our Olympic and major championship athletes. Government funding for sport is directed through Sport Ireland and expenditure on coaching across all sports in the last 5 years shows zero investment in direct, i.e. face to face, coaching (Irish Sports Monitor Annual Report, 2015). National Governing Bodies can allocate some of their funding to coaching, but it is not a requirement and Athletics Ireland, at present does not directly allocate any of its funds to coaching.

Some high performance coaches in Ireland may have received formal coach education through their governing body but it is unlikely that this alone could adequately prepare them for working in high performance coaching. Others may assert coach education is best if ‘learned on the job’ but this is very time-consuming and the outcome is uncertain.  Alternatively a more formal professional level education with the goal of establishing high performance coaching as a profession would require extensive third level training. However, if third level institutions provided high level technical expertise and knowledge along with the opportunity to work in a high performance environment, overseen by some of the best coaches and academics, then Ireland could potentially establish the foundations of a true high performance coaching programme.  This is our vision for improving the level of athletics Ireland; train the coaches better, provide and support a high performance coaching programme through selected 3^rd level institutions with only the best practitioners as the leaders.  Create the very best environment for the coaches so that they can provide the very best environment for our athletes.  These professionally trained coaches could be mentors for aspiring high performance coaches (volunteers) and this workforce could really develop more athletes like Thomas Barr.