John Allen Mostly HurlingIt is over 15 years since the GAA started foundation courses for coaches in an effort to standardise what was being done by coaches on training fields. The present director of hurling, Paudie Butler - with Eamonn Ryan, Brian Lotty and others - spearheaded this initiative.
I was involved in presenting some of these courses. The initiative did much to help clubs attract new people and give them, at a minimum, survival skills in coaching and the confidence to take on underage teams and coach them. These new coaches, no matter how little expertise they had started with, would at least now have a basic knowledge of coaching.
There was a big emphasis on skill drills with a bit of theory thrown in for good measure.
One question always asked
as the theory sessions reached the Q and A section, was:
"What did so-and-so say in the dressingroom before games?"
So-and-so being Fr O'Brien, Fr Troy, Billy Morgan, Gerald McCarthy, Pat Lougheed, Christy Ring and Johnny Clifford, among others.
Everybody was looking for the secret formula, the magic words that turned mere mortals into heroes. The fact of the matter was I could remember very little that anybody said, ever.
I think it's the same with teachers we've all had. When you consider how much time most of us spent sitting in front of teachers it's amazing how little we remember of what they said.
We are much more likely to remember how somebody made us feel. One of the very few memories I have of what was said in a dressingroom comes from 1980 when I was playing (gross overstatement) on the Cork football team in the National League final. We were pitted against a great Kerry team, the greatest team I have ever seen playing Gaelic football.
I was full forward that day being marked by the prince of full backs of that period, John O'Keeffe. Billy Morgan (yep, the same Billy), the player/coach, called me aside earlier in the week to tell me how to play against O'Keeffe.
By the end of that conversation I believed I was a good footballer. I believed I was as good as the great Johnno. Of course, I know now this wasn't true. But I still remember that conversation and I know it's because of how it made me feel.There weren't any hysterics.
Is the day of breaking the hurley off the table during the pre-match pep talk gone? I think it is, but, of course, I don't know for definite what goes on in other teams' dressingrooms. I do know for definite it hasn't been part of Cork's tense pre-match talks over the past few years.
During my time with the Cork hurlers the book Sacred Hoops was mentioned to me a few times. I remember this because on one evening two different reporters told me I must be basing my management style on that of Phil Jackson, the author of Sacred Hoops.
I eventually read the book after last year's All-Ireland final, (too late, you might retort). Eamonn Murphy from the Cork Evening Echo called to my house one evening with a copy. I had no excuse now. I read it in two sittings. It impressed me hugely.
The blurb says, "Sacred Hoops is an inside look at the higher wisdom of teamwork from Chicago Bulls head coach Phil Jackson. At the heart of the book is Jackson's philosophy of mindful basketball and his lifelong quest to bring enlightenment to the competitive world of professional sport."
Zen Buddhism was at the core of Jackson's philosophy.
Buddhists are continually seeking enlightenment. Jackson sought to bring enlightenment to his teams. He was hugely successful.
He reveals how he directs his players to act with a clear mind, not thinking, just doing. His training would include repeating the same drills and plays at every session so that it just became second nature. It meant in games the players didn't need to think; it just came instinctively.
No ranting or raving needed.
This brings me back to the question of what is said in GAA dressingrooms.
There really isn't much need to say anything if the proper preparation has been done. If the players have decided the game plan, there is no need for ranting and raving. If the players are waiting for a coach to psyche them up I would suggest that, mentally, they aren't strong enough to perform at the level expected. Once the players cross the white lines on the big day they are on their own. The manager can't be heard anyway. He might as well be in the stand.
The clear-mindedness that Jackson speaks of is expected of everybody associated with the team. Routine on match day is extremely important. Every minute needs to be accounted for.
Once players know exactly what is happening every minute up to throw-in time they only have the job of making sure they are mentally strong and focused.
I'm sometimes asked to talk to teams preparing for finals. I very rarely do this because I don't believe it counts for anything in the greater scheme of things.
It's all the work that has been done during the year that counts. It's creating the conditions for players to prepare properly that counts. It's having an atmosphere within the group that allows players to feel wanted that counts.
The dressingroom should be a calm place, a place where players make their final mental preparation. The players should leave there at the correct level of stimulation. I'll sum up by borrowing some lines from Keith Duggan's excellent book The Lifelong Season.
"It's half-time in the All-Ireland senior hurling final of 1965. Tipperary are down 11 points against Kilkenny. Len Gaynor of Tipp returns to the dressingroom. He is in mortal fear of what will be said. But surprisingly the room is a haven of peace. As they get ready to go out Theo English gets up and says, 'right, lads, we better get down to business now and beat these fellas'.
"That was precisely what happened. It taught Len a lesson for life and he never forgot the unspoken confidence. He recognised it much later on as the certitude of champions. Only later in life did he realise how rare it was and how privileged he had been to share it."
I've been privileged too.
