Coaches Corner

I prepared the following presentation back in 2015 highlighting what I saw as a coaching deficit and the effects it would have on the performances of Irish athletes in Global Championships. Some caveats up front. I am not a world class coach. I am not an elite coach. I am not an expert in this area. I see myself as a development coach, a hobby coach. I see short comings in the coaching landscape from my perspective as a development coach and also from my time as an average athlete. This is my opinion and may not be correct, it's just an opinion. However, what I feared would happen in 2015 has materialised in both Rio '16 and London '17. Two athletes have achieved Top 16 finishes in those Championships - Robert Heffernan and Thomas Barr. Ten years ago in the 2007 World Championships we had 8 athletes who finished in a Top 16 place. Depending on what statistics you use, the 2017 Worlds is our worst championship in 12 years (2005) and 2nd worst in 26 years (1991). ...

Some very interesting splits from the women's 400m at last weeks Irish Nationals. The race was won by Cliodhna Manning in a storming finish. Her first 200 to second 200 split was an extraordinary 0.67 seconds. The other top four were in a more standard range of 2.5-2.8 secs. Also, in comparison was the athlete's first 200m versus their 200m PB. Manning was 2.59 outside her 200m PB at 200m. Denny (0.88) and Moynihan (1.07) were probably more typical while an under par Healy was slower through 200m than normal. Christine Ohuruogu, renowned for her storming finishes, had a 1.80 split when she won World's in 2013. TV footage would only allow analysis  of the top 4.