Opinion: performance coaches have become part of the backroom set-up in many sports but there is still some confusion over their role
By Ciarán Kearney, St Mary's University College, Belfast
'BELIEVE' is scrawled in capital letters on paper and taped onto the wall of the dressing room. It’s the first thing Ted Lasso does as the unlikely manager of fictional football team AFC Richmond. As seasons pass and the series evolves, Ted seeks expert input and asks a sport psychologist to consult with his team, but shies away from support himself.
In the coming months, words will be taped onto dressing room walls across the country. Who else the manager invites in to support the team is another question. For some, the answer will be to appoint a performance coach.
So who or what is a performance coach? For Leinster rugby head coach Leo Cullen, "what a performance coach is depends sometimes on the individual and the skillset they have". When new Waterford hurling manager Davy Fitzgerald brought in his TV co-host, RTÉ 2fm breakfast DJ, rugby analyst and former Irish international Donncha O'Callaghan as performance coach, the role wasn’t publicly defined.
Speaking to the RTÉ GAA podcast about his role as performance coach with the Offaly hurling team, former Tipperary hurler Brendan Maher insisted that psychology isn't part of his job. For Maher, "even the term psychologist is painting it with a certain brush", perhaps hinting that players might be deterred by a sport psychologist. "It’s more of a holistic approach than purely looking very deep in psychology", he said, "because you’re dealing with players who might have not much exposure to it and interest in it. But you’re not trying to force psychology on the player".
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From RTÉ GAA podcast, Brendan Maher talks to hosts Mikey Stafford and Rory O'Neill about joining the Offaly set-up as a performance coach
Adding intrigue to the ambiguity is the definition offered by former Dublin Gaelic footballer, and two-time GAA all-star, Philly McMahon: "a performance coach is like a CIA agent. You try to make sure that the information you’re gathering up is protected because it’s not yours." McMahon is now a performance coach with Dublin soccer team Bohemians.
Outside Ireland, a performance coach is clearly defined in sport science. The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) equip coaches with "the skills needed to become an effective, athlete-focused performance coach". Emphasis is on becoming expert in sports nutrition, sports science, training methods and technology. The AIS's programme ensures qualifying performance coaches gain formal accreditation, while sport psychologist is a separate, recognised pathway.
In England, Reading FC advertised a job for a qualified performance coach "to take the lead on the coaching of individual and group S&C sessions". Similar positions are often advertised in the United States of America.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Brendan O'Connor Show, performance coach Gerry Hussey and sports broadcaster Jacqui Hurley discuss mental health and elite sport on the back of last year's Olympic Games
Of course, a good performance coach, like a good manager, will develop sound, intuitive psychological skills. Megan Young is performance coach for Seattle Sounders FC, who were 2022 Continental Champions (Concacaf). Her life struggles and interpersonal skills enable her to engage with team players, but her principal role as performance coach is to help players physically prepare to perform.
So, does it matter what someone’s called? Consider this scenario. A performance coach is asked by managers to help an intercounty hurling team prepare for championship. Moments before the game, the performance coach asked them to circle and close their eyes. He walks around, hurley in hand, angling the heel towards the sternum of each player. "Mind over matter" he chanted, as he struck each one in turn. One starting player sustained a rib injury and had to be replaced.
That was not sport psychology and we should mind because it matters. Performance coach is not slang for sport psychologist. To be a sport psychologist is - at least in Northern Ireland - a legally regulated title, just like a solicitor or a doctor. A performance coach is not. Would teams seek expert legal or medical advice from unregulated persons?
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From RTÉ 2fm's Dave Fanning Show, interview with Irish Formula 1 performance coach Patrick Harding
There’s more to do create a professional register of sport psychologists and upwards harmonisation of accreditation and regulations across Ireland, north and south. But qualified, accredited, talented practitioners across the island are unified around that goal. It takes many years of academic study, clinical and professional training and supervised practice to become a licensed sport psychologist, so how fair is it to expect a performance coach to discharge these duties?
Hopes were high in 2019 that Irish rugby could make a historic breakthrough. After Ireland’s untimely exit from the last rugby world cup, a review concluded that coaching staff, backroom team and players were psychologically ill-prepared. As a result, the IRFU advertised a new post of Head of (Sport) Psychology and the ad specified they were seeking a fully qualified, accredited and legally licensed practitioner. This is the right approach. Lessons learned? Ireland’s autumn season may tell.
Research shows increasing interest in accessing qualified and expert sport psychology support and this has grown over the last decade, along with opportunities for former players. Some, with help from the GPA, are studying their Masters in Sport Psychology. Other students of sport science around the country are commencing that long, educative journey. With attention on the abuse of referees and increasing demand for counselling and mental health support, improved access to expert support is required.
The tide is going out for "celebrity psychology"
World champion boxer Carl Frampton recently remarked that "it used to be if you said you were speaking to a sport psychologist, you’d be asked what was wrong with you. It was seen as a weakness. But now, all the top athletes in the world will be speaking to one."
Sport psychology has major, untapped potential across Ireland and the tide is going out for "celebrity psychology", a phrase coined by a successful national coach and former intercounty star. Now, it’s time for national governing bodies and professional bodies to embed standards of regulated, expert, sport psychology practice and support across the island.
Dr. Ciarán J. Kearney is a Senior Lecturer in Human Development Studies at St Mary's University College, Belfast. He is also a High Performance Psychologist, with extensive experience in sport, business and public affairs and the co-author of Pure Sport : Sport Psychology In Action.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
