News
Demands on young sports stars simply not sustainable
The Galway man who is head of athletic development at Arsenal’s youth academy has said that physical demands on many young Irish players are simply not sustainable.
Speaking at the weekend ‘Developing & Maximising Youth Potential’ conference, Ballinasloe-born Des Ryan, Head of Sport Medicine & Athletic Development at the academy, said that every single club – GAA or otherwise – in the country appoint a Strength & Conditioning coach to address the ‘workload issue’.
And also addressing the same conference, the leading Strength & Conditioning coach at US high-schools said that the Irish student workload described to him was “shocking”.
The critiques were made as background evidence – outlined at the weekend conference held at the LIT/Setanta College Sportslab in Thurles – suggests that second level students, at a sensitive stage of their physical development, could be playing three times the amount of games that fully formed adults are playing in any given year.
“Between school, club and, in some young GAA players’ cases, county, the workload for many players is not sustainable as every manager wants 100%. But if there’s a consolation it is that people are beginning to know it’s not right,” said Des Ryan, who is also the former strength and conditioning coach with Connacht Rugby.
“Eventually, through the principal of long-term player development, system alignment and integration, proper planning will be put in place that is player-centric and not centred ono the individual needs or desires of each manager that the young player is working under.
“This will ensure that these young players are not over-played, they will stay longer in sport and there will be less chance of getting injured,” he added.
Des Ryan’s programmes have seen the amount of muscle injuries picked up by players at the Arsenal academy cut in half over the last three years – and he said that parents have a key role to play in managing player workload.
“Given that young players here will be play for so many different teams and two or more codes, then parents have a key role to play in their son or daughter’s wellbeing. Every coach will want 100% involvement but there’s no way this can happen or else burn out is an inevitability. That’s where the parents have stepped in.
“Every club should invest in a strength and conditioner and he should have a meeting with the player and outline what’s good and what’s not. The player, together with his parents and coaches, then can make an informed decision based on what he or she can do, not what is wanted of him or her,” he added.
Gary Schofield, a US expert in youth athletic development who is current National Strength & Conditioning Association High-school Coach of the Year, said he was shocked when he learned of the workload.
“That’s horrific. The reality is the coach keeps his job by winning and he wants to have the player at the best of their ability. From my perspective, I don’t want the athlete to be as good as he or she can be.
“It’s not how great you are at 15 because that can result in the body being abused. What we want is allow our athletes to progress. Success at this age group should be based on the development of that athlete. Coaches need to be reviewed on the development of the athlete rather than wins and losses.
“There was a recent article in in England in which they asked why England youth players are injured at a higher rate. The simple reason was they are playing way too much and based on the figures I am hearing about Ireland the same might be the case here. The youth athlete doesn’t have the body to handle the physical loads we are putting on them,” he said.
Schofield also revealed some of the key injury influences on young players at development stage, with research showing that if young athletes get less than 7.5 hours sleep at night it increases the likelihood of injury by 1.7times, while the injury rate during the high academic period is 2.1 times the average rate.
Conference organiser and founder of Setanta College, Liam Hennessy described the debate as ‘timely’.
“The workload on some young players is far too much and counterproductive. They have to be put at the centre of any programme and not the coach’s needs.
“There needs to be alignment, cooperation and compromise on the part of all the stakeholders and without that a lot of young players are never going to reach their potential and could even be lost to sport altogether,” he concluded.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
