Be Ready to Play programme now open for registration
The GAA's Be Ready to Play coaching and sports science programme – in association with UPMC, official healthcare partner of the GAA and GPA – is now open for registration at https://learning.gaa.ie/bereadytoplay.
The programme is a holistic coaching and performance plan that will be of great benefit to all club coaches and players, male, female, adult and youth alike, and will be delivered via webinars, website programmes, instructional videos and live online sessions.
The aim is to help everyone return to training post-Covid in a way that will hopefully increase enjoyment, performance and participation while simultaneously reducing the risk of injury.
Initially tailored to help people be active in lockdown, the programme will progress towards a development phase and a prepare to play phase before culminating in a prepare to perform phase, which will help players be at their peak for important matches.
Areas covered include games-based coaching, athletic development, psychology and wellbeing, nutrition, performance analysis, skill acquisition and biomechanics, physiotherapy, and injury prevention.
This multi-disciplinary programme will be delivered by fortnightly athletic development programmes (instructional video and live sessions), monthly coach education webinars (Gaelic games coaching experts and guests), and monthly sports science support webinars (every sports science discipline covered).
The Be Ready to Play webinars taking place in March include the following:
- 'Preparing to train and play. How to decrease your injury risk?' with Helen McElroy (lead physio with Tyrone GAA Academy) on March 16 at 7 p.m.
- 'Technical Coaching for Hurling, Camogie and Football' with Fiona McHale (Mayo All-Star footballer and PE and biology teacher), John Doyle (former Kildare footballer and director of developmental football with the Kildare GAA development squad), Niall Corcoran (former Dublin hurler and current coach with Wexford senior hurlers), and Eileen Gleeson (Clare minor camogie coach) on March 30 at 7 p.m.