A leading sports psychologist says that for inter-county GAA teams to get maximum benefit from the discipline, county boards could soon consider employing their own full-time practitioners.
Dr David McHugh states that the biggest return an inter-county GAA team can get from investment in sports psychology support is having a programme embedded at development squad level with a following-through to senior squads.
Dr McHugh, Director of the MSc in Applied Sport & Exercise Psychology programme at Setanta College, says he has noticed a big demand for sports psychologists at development squad level in recent years.
He thinks this is the best juncture to introduce younger players to the discipline.
"I think where there is a growing demand is the need for sports psychology support for the development squads in each county," he says.
"Not every player in the squad will go on to play senior inter-county.
"However, these squads provide an opportunity for players to develop psychological skills.
"I have seen and delivered sports psychology programmes with development squads, and this is the best time to introduce players to sports psychology.
"If they can develop the skills at this age group it will help them in life and in sport with their club or county. The key is for it to be a progressive programme throughout their time in the development squad, with a clear plan that is integrated with the coaches."
McHugh also feels that county boards could soon consider employing their own psychologists.
"The set-ups that make real gains with sports psychology are the ones where the sport psychologist is at every training session and match," he says.
"They are fully integrated and can support players in training and management in terms of integrating sports psychology within the training process.
"I think this is the next big step forward for teams in the GAA. Even for county boards when you look at the amount of teams representing a county, the underage teams and club teams there is huge scope for counties to employ their own sport psychologist to integrate all levels in the county."
Along with sport and performance psychology consultant, Anne-Marie Kennedy, Dr McHugh will speak at the upcoming 'High Performance Mindset' conference, a discussion event hosted by Setanta College on 20 April at Thomond Park.
The IRFU’s Dave Keane will host the event with champion golfer Padraig Harrington a red-letter speaker.
Kennedy has been working at the highest level in sport over the past decade, has toured worldwide with Irish teams and worked very closely with Jim Gavin’s historic five-in-a-row winning Dublin GAA senior football team.
"Jim Gavin knew that integrating sport psychology into the Dublin senior football team was going to be vital to develop the players, the team and the environment," she recalls.
"My role was to educate and train composure under pressure so that the players were competent and proficient in executing their expert skills and tactics under any conditions. The objective was to train the players to think clearly and have clarity of focus during performance.
"This was achieved through mental skills training such as performance imagery and through extensive mindfulness practice. These skills were discussed, integrated and consistently trained to ensure the players felt fully prepared, confident and in control when they went out to play.
"Jim was like the conductor of an orchestra. He afforded each sport science expert autonomy in their work and then guided synergy. He created a trusting family environment where everyone in the set-up was working very hard with and for each other. The end result was high performance."
This experience - and many other topics - will be recounted and discussed at the ‘High Performance Mindset’ event.
Kennedy says that modern GAA players are extremely clued in and mature in terms of knowing what it takes to be successful in sport.
"They have more access to and are watching more international sport such as NBA, NFL, AFL which shows them what high performance looks and sounds like. They want a piece of that pie," she states.
"They know the importance mindset and sport psychology has on their ability execute their skills and to be able to perform on demand. There is no GAA player that I know that doesn’t want to be part of a high-performance set-up that enables them to be the very best they can be.
"Players are also looking for support within the system. My experience has been that they really value the safe and confidential space the sport psychologist offers. This gives them a chance to explore challenges that they face in terms of performance anxiety, confidence, interpersonal and intrapersonal difficulties, personal, lifestyle and well-being issues."
