ROWING:IRELAND'S INCOMING performance director Martin McElroy may not officially take up his position until next month, but already he must be given full marks for ambition.
Rowing Ireland, the new brand name for the Irish Amateur Rowing Union, has advertised no less than five coaching posts, which McElroy says would be full-time jobs. The advertisement, which has been posted on worldrowing.com, is for lead coaches for the senior, under-23 and junior performance programmes, along with talent development coaches to be based in Belfast and Dublin.
The Sports Council has, according to Garth Young of the IARU, been in amicable discussions with the union, but funding has yet to be allocated. The final shape and size of McElroy's team will depend on the figure which emerges. Sport NI in Belfast may also provide funding.
The closing date for applications is January 9th and McElroy hopes to have his coaching staff in place "as soon as we can complete all the arrangements".
The months since the departure of Harald Jahrling has seen some grumbling on the lack of a structure for aspiring internationals. While McElroy notes it is a necessary quality of any elite athlete that they be able to motivate themselves, he hopes to get coaches in place quickly and disseminate a training programme. He expect some of the successful applicants will be from outside the country but the eventual aim is to create an Irish coaching system.
Coaches will work with athletes, but also with other coaches, to "upskill" them. McElroy says he hopes to integrate the coach development officer, Pat McInerney, into his system. The club structure, which in some countries runs parallel to the international scene, should be connected more closely to it here, he opines. "It makes sense in a country like Ireland that there is a relationship."
For the wider public the measure of success will be results in big events. McElroy, who is a good man to turn a phrase, puts it thus: "It's about the right athletes sitting at the start line in the shape of their lives."
One of those athletes in decades gone by was Paddy Dooley, who died last week. The highlight of his international career was stroking an Ireland eight at the Olympic Games in 1948, but he was active behind the scenes in rowing, with UCD and Castleconnell, until a short time before his death.
Recent Ireland international Gearóid Towey has organised a benefit event for Stuart Mangan, who was paralysed in a rugby game. Details of the hiking and endurance event on January 9th can be found on artoneillchallenge.com.
