Former Tipperary captain Brendan Maher has joined the Offaly senior hurling backroom team in the role of performance coach and is hoping to pass on some of the skills he has acquired in the corporate world.
Earlier this year, Maher announced his inter-county retirement. In 13 years, he won three Al-Ireland senior titles with the Premier, skippering them to the ultimate prize in 2016.
And while he will still line out with his club Boris-Ileigh, the 33-year-old is now set to link up with his brother Martin and former club manager Johnny Kelly, as Offaly look to progress from Division 2A of the Allianz League and the Joe McDonagh Cup in 2023.
Speaking on the latest edition of the RTÉ GAA Podcast, Maher spoke about his performance coach role, adding that he will still have the time to give his all for Boris-Ileigh.
"It's an area I have always had a huge interest in," he said at the outset. "I have a bit of study done in it and it’s something I am doing day to day in a work capacity, in the corporate world.
"So it’s not new to me as such, it’s just that I’m applying it now in a sporting arena.
"The context of it is that I’m still playing club hurling with Borris-Ileigh and I want to be able to give that my full commitment.
"A role like this is appealing because it doesn’t require you to be there on the pitch every night. So in terms of the time commitment, it’s more flexible.
"A lot of my role will be around one-to-one support, which will be done over phone calls, virtually and whatnot.
"Obviously you will have some team stuff and I will be making as many trainings as I can, to observe the group and interact with the lads.
"Johnny Kelly being manager, I have a really good relationship with him. He was with Borris-Ileigh for five years and his head coach is my older brother Martin.
"I would have done a bit of this stuff with Johnny in the club."
Maher did stress, however, that his new role will simply try to get the best out of each member of the Faithful squad.
"I think the term 'psychologist’ is probably painting it with a certain brush," he said.
"You’ll notice that a lot of people now are ‘performance coaches’ not sports psychologists.
"I’m not a psychologist. But I have a lot of study done in different areas: in leadership, in emotional intelligence, in coaching.
"It’s more of a holistic approach to performance rather than purely looking very deep at psychology.
"You’re dealing with players who might not have much exposure to it - or interest in it - but you’re not trying to force psychology on the player.
"You’re just trying to support and help them get the best out of themselves. That’s it in simplistic terms.
"The role of a manager, hurling coach and selectors are so demanding, it’s the same reason why S&Cs and nutritionists were brought in, it’s all becoming part of the game and a manager cannot do it all himself or herself.
"It’s the whole idea of surrounding yourself with good people and delegating.
"I don’t have to think about all of these things now, I can focus on managing people and the team.
"My role is to support Johnny Kelly as a manager and the coaching team as coaches. With that, the scope is to try and help the players get the best out of themselves as individuals and collectively as a team."
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