The Dublin County Board launched their coaching guidelines and player characteristic coaching booklet entitled ‘Planning for Success: Young Gaelic Player Pathway’ in Parnell Park on Friday.
The purpose of the player pathway initiative is to help guide club coaches, managers, teachers and parents who play an active role in the development of young Gaelic footballers and hurlers.
Among those who contributed were Paudie Butler, Niall Cooper, Eimer Dignam, Roger Keenan, Philip Kerry, Brian Ladden, Ger Lyons, Terence McWilliams, Noel O’Sullivan, Brian Ryan and John Williams as well as the Coaching and Games Development staff in the Dublin County Board.
It should be noted that the guidelines and recommendations in the booklet may be used with a degree of flexibility. They are not written in stone, as players grow, develop and learn at different rates through their lives. This is a general guide to bear in mind when working with players.
The document should be viewed as a route map which sets out the key characteristics and identifies the age appropriate content that should be coached or practised at a particular age and stage of a player’s career.
It is intended, at its most basic form, to give young players the best opportunity to succeed at whatever level they may play and reach their full potential doing the right thing, at the right time and in the right way.
The player pathway is a systematic approach adopted by Dublin GAA to maximise player potential and increase the enjoyment of all our players.
It provides a framework for the development of skills, physical focus and game-sense capacities that coaches can follow stage by stage.
The player pathway is subdivided into five key age groups (from nursery all the way to minor) which details the player characteristics and describes the practical elements that must be coached during these ages.
All clubs in the county will be provide with five complementary copies – for extra copies emailaileen@dublingaa.ie in the Dublin County Board Coaching and Games Development Department
