Lead Age Grade / Pathway Athletic Development Coach @connachtrugby

Dublin, Ireland
Joined May 2022
Hop, hop, and away! A 🧵 on extensive jumps.
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James O'Sullivan retweeted
A great day of sharing, learning and discussing at the @uniofgalway Biological Maturation Symposium. Thanks to all who took part. @UniofBath @DanskBoldspil @ScottishFA @IrelandFootball @officialgaa @connachtrugby @GalwayUnitedFC @Galway_GAA @OfficialCorkGAA @GaaClare @GalwayLgfa
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Another productive week of testing @SportIreCampus on our study looking at effects of super spikes on sprinting perf & biomechanics 🏃‍➡️👟⚡️ @carragher_paul Thanks @JOSullivan__ @Rodn3yK3nn3dy & @roones77 & @sportireland for the continued funding support
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This was a really enjoyable piece to put together and hopefully provides some value to practitioners and athletes alike. Thanks again to @SportsmithHQ for the opportunity!
Now on Sportsmith Premium... Extensive plyometrics: A practical and effective option for team sports @JOSullivan__ "Extensive plyometrics prioritize rhythm and technique over raw performance, setting a solid technical foundation" sportsmith.co/articles/exten…
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A bite size 🧵on the physiologic adaptations to plyometric training 🤾‍♀️
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6️⃣ Pre-activation Plyometric training may lead to increased activity in lower limb musculature prior to ground contact, ⬇️ injury risk.
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7️⃣Neural drive Jumps and plyometrics may improve neural drive, which can improve motor unit recruitment 🔢 and firing frequency 📈. However, akin to the other posited adaptations, more research is required and studies including trained individuals would be beneficial 📝
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James O'Sullivan retweeted
🚨The reason your players get stronger but not faster - Part 3🚨 ⚽️ 🏉 🏈 🫣Lack of Confidence in your Coaching eye😥 🏋🏽‍♂️You coach to a specific standard in the gym because you feel competent. 🦘 Maybe you coach to a standard in plyometrics too❓@McInnesWatson 😰🫣😥Yet when it comes to coaching game actions there is a lot of hesitation, miseducation and fear. 💡We all know player success is based on how they utilise maximal qualities “Game Actions” at submaximal and contextual “Game Speeds”. @Tony_Villani_ 📝We look at Game Actions the way @leetaft describes the “7 🔑 movements patterns”; Acceleration Max velocity Lateral shuffle Lateral runs Hip turn Back pedal Jump 🥶“Note” “I think he should call it 8 patterns as I would add deceleration, but whenever @leetaft coaches lateral work, he takes into consideration decel within the technical model. 🤚🏽I digress …🧐😵 😩There is a lot of lying to yourselves to avoid facing responsibilities. We know game speed is critical yet ignore the importance of intensifying and creating efficiency in game actions to allow the athletes the reserves to explore game speed. @CoachSanAndreas ❌“He is to old, too young, not strong enough, coaching cues don’t work, create a task for him to solve is enough, it doesn’t transfer to game actions, the way they move is funky but it works for them blah blah blah”🤬 ❓Yet when they are hurt, you think this is the time to analyse and coach efficient movement❓ 🤣It’s bizarre😫 💆Football staff who care about how their players move, create more robust players who accidentally get faster☺️ @hailutheodros @RuthWaghorn 🤕The biggest barrier for players health and performance is the wear and tear they receive from repeated game actions. 💪🏾The biggest benefit of analysing and coaching towards an efficient model is reducing the relative stress of repeating these game actions. @292Performance ✅When your players can repeat game actions with more efficiency, density and with a lower decrement in output… this is perhaps a bigger win then getting faster. @TommyTomble ✅It keeps them on the pitch. @coachrgrubbs What else matters? 🤙Join my newsletter to find out what the best football clubs do to develop robust players! 🤓 🗞️Www.speedworks.training Happy New Year!
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Within my own programming, I have programmed 80-100 extensive jump contacts per session. I use lots of variety in order to minimise overuse injury risk and also would like to think this also assists in expanding an athlete’s movement vocabulary. Here’s an example to finish👇🏻
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Thanks for reading. If interested in delving further into this topic, be sure to check out @McInnesWatson and @EamonnFlanagan as these musings have been heavily influenced by their work. Discussion is welcomed 🗣!
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