Football hero Walsh shares his coaching philosophies

GALWAY great Kevin Walsh, who has released his autobiography called The Invisible Game, says he would love to see more information shared between GAA clubs and counties in order to improve Gaelic games.

Walsh, a double All-Ireland winner and three-time All-Star, has been managing and coaching since the mid 1990s. This has included two spells with his native Killannin senior men’s team, a season with Galway senior ladies footballers and five-year inter-county stints with Sligo and Galway men’s footballers.

In his new book, penned by Daragh Ó Conchúir, Walsh devotes a significant portion to sharing his philosophies and methods in the hope that it may encourage others to do likewise. He believes that there is no point hoarding this information.

“I’m 51 now and I don’t want to be dying with it left in the drawer,” he quips. “So, I am quite happy to let it out there. Like, what does sharing information lead to? It leads to better players, it leads to better understanding of skills, it leads to better analysis countrywide and it leads to better reporting.”

While all other elements of the game has improved in recent years – such as fitness training, strength and conditioning, rest and recovery and nutrition – he believes that key areas such as skills and tactical “could be moved on further”.

He admits that the tactical side of Gaelic football “has moved on to a degree”, but, largely, this is due to a specific game-plan becoming a fad – one team secures success with a specific style of play and every other team from underage to senior around the country endeavour to replicate it. Yet, as he says in his book, one size does not fit all.

It’s why Walsh and his former Galway selectors Sean Conlon and Brian Silke, have developed the online platform GrowCoach (www.growcoach.ie), which he says the book is running “in tandem” with.

“We have a lot of GAA clubs that spend a lot of money to bring people in to give a talk and, then, after the talk, they (the players) are looking to burst down the door on the way out. Yet, two weeks on, they have learned nothing, not really. That is why GrowCoach is there.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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