Fitness for Gaelic Games

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FitnessforGaelic Games

• Jim Kilty

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Philosophy

• Coaching is an art based on scientific principles
• Outside of Skill, Speed is a most important
  component of fitness for Gaelic Game
• Ability to apply/use speed depends on
• Power
• Movement skills
• Functional agility
• They play a significant role in developing speed
• (improving intra- and inter-muscular
  co-ordination)

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Developing Players

• Standard of achievement in Gaelic Games in the
  last decade has depended on fitness and skill
  development.
• Fitness power
• Skill ability to repeat game and movement
  skills for duration of a game.
• Ability of coaches/managers to develop the
  players as individuals and as a team will
  determine success in the next decade.

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Performance Arena

• Only the players on the pitch can make a
  statement during a game.
• Quality of the statement depends on whether they
  has been afforded the right climate for
  achievement.
• The coach creates the right climate
• Is created on the training ground or in the
  training environment.

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Role of the Coach/Trainer

• Knowledge of the needs of the Players
• Knowledge of demands of the Hurling, Football or
  Camogie
• Ability to plan programme

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Coaching Philosophy

• Clubs/Counties need to develop the LTP
  development philosophy
• Presently we plan 1, 2, 3 years at a time
• We need to have consistency in developing players
• Game Skills
• Movement Skills
• Fitness Development
• Managerial Appointments can change approach
  dramatically
• We must separate Management Fitness

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Demands of Football

• Multi-skilled
• Multi-speed
• Multi-directional
• Physically challenging
• Stop/Start/Stop consistently

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All Ireland Senior Football 05 06
From Activity bout analysis. LH 2005, 2006.
See notes for Reliability.
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Physical Activities and Skills

• Indirect activities
• Walk, Turn,
• Jog, Side Step,
• Backpeddle,
• Side shuffle,
• Accelerate into free space,
• Decelerate,
• Jostle,
• Push,
• Shoulder,
• Shadow.

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Physical Activities and Skills

• Direct Activities
• Block, Lunge forwards
• Lunge sideways
• Forced lunge
• Accelerate from standing,
• Accelerate on the move
• Turn at pace,
• Side step,
• Decelerate,
• Crouch to on coming ball,
• Jump one/two leg to catch,
• Shoulder,
• Jostle,
• Barge,
• Solo, Toe tap, Fein, Weave, Spin
• Handpass, Kick, Punt..

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Implications for Conditioning of Gaelic Football
players

• Know demands of game position specific
  dependent on type of game played
• Foundation for
• Repeated Acceleration Deceleration,
• Speed and Agility lies in
• Strength, Stability Mobility and Movement
  efficiency
• Individualised Prehab a key requirement
• Conditioned games for game related (energy
  capacity) fitness
• Aerobic contribution to play ?

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What type of Activity is Hurling?

• Hurling can be described as a
• 1. Multi-Movement activity
• 2. Multi-Skilled
• 3. Stop-Start-Stop sport

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Hurling
Rochford 2003.
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Play Activity Time Analysis for 2003
All-Ireland Hurling Final
Young D. WIT 2003
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Physical Activity analysis- All-Ireland Club
(Average of 5 players)

• Direction Change
• Turn to left 10.6
• Turn to right 12.2
• Backwards 7.4
• Total 30.2
• Accelerations (in steps)
• lt 5 8
• 5-10 3
• 10-15 2
• 15-20 1
• 20 1
• Total 15

30 changes of direction in 5 minutes 70 of
Accelerations under 10 steps (i.e.lt15m approx)
Young. D Kilty. J, 2004
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Indirect play off the ball play

• Activities off the ball
• Standing, Walking, Jogging,
• Moving sideways/backwards
• Turning
• Shoving/Blocking a player
• Jostling

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Direct play attempting to gain possession

• Catching
• Rising
• Striking
• Blocking
• Hooking Being hooked
• Acceleration from stationary
• Rolling acceleration
• Turning and Twisting
• Lunging
• Side stepping, weaving
• Deceleration
• Stopping and turning

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Rugby Back row
Adapted from Deutsch et all 1998
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Rugby Backs
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Soccer
Neweham 2002.
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Needs of the player

• Physically, players need to be
• quick,
• sharp and
• fast
• to cover situations as they arise in a game.
• They need to train ability to
• re-act,
• initiate movement and
• accelerate as well as
• developing their maximum effective speed
• Change movement patterns quickly.

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Needs of the Player 2

• Powerful
• Strong
• Functional strength
• Skills
• Repeat skill and effort over the duration of the
  game

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Conditioning Training

• Fitness is a status
• Conditioning is a process
• The method used to get people fit for their sport
• Our training must be SPECIFIC to the demands of
  each game

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Recent Trends

• Stamina is the Key
• Running / Speed Endurance / Circuit training
• One size (or system) fits all approach
• Strength Conditioning approach
• Lift and train / Stronger is better
• The approach of the Future
• Movement / Skills / Speed / Power (the rounded
  approach)

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Observation

• Deceleration training must be done
• Coaching players to stop quickly
• Turning
• Tackling
• Controlling the ball
• The fastest team is the team whose players can
  slow down quickly

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Principles 1

• Warm-up must be dynamic
• Movement skills should be coached
• Activate the nervous system
• Include Speed work early
• Linear
• Agility
• Acceleration / Quickness of the mark
• Deceleration
• Run-in speed

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Training

• Recent trends
• Skill work
• Fitness training
• Modern Thinking
• Skill
• Stamina / Functional strength / repeat skill
• Stamina / Functional strength / repeat skill
• Stamina / Functional strength / repeat skill
• Cool down

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Skill Fitness

• Skill - fresh
• Stamina / Functional strength
• Skill when a little tired
• Stamina / Functional strength
• Skill when under pressure
• Stamina / Functional strength
• Skill when really tired

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Importance of movement training

• Bloomfield et al 2003 showed how SAQ training
  added to general soccer training improved sprint
  acceleration over 20m.
• Using Cleans and Squats at 90 of 1Rm players
  improved 10 m acceleration time and when sprint
  mechanics were combined the improvement was
  greater
• (Hennessy IRFU data 2004).

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What is movement Training

• Starting - acceleration
• Stopping deceleration
• Turning / Twisting
• Side Stepping / Dodging
• Tackling / Blocking

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Long term player development

• Movement is a key element in the long term player
  development process
• Developing balanced bodies that can adjust to the
  plays patterns of the game
• We need to develop all-round motor skills
• Involve movement game skills in practice

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The reward?