Mellows taking the lead in coaching revolution

Talking Sport with Stephen Glennon

It is hugely positive to see the coaching work being done in many GAA clubs across the county but one that is certainly gaining momentum with its underage policy is Galway City outfit, Liam Mellows.

Two of the men currently at the coalface of the revolution are the club’s Chairman of Coaching & Development Gordon Crowley and Schools Head Coach Sean Morrissey, who, and this is open to contradiction, is the only full-time club coaching officer in the county.

Employed by Mellows, Morrissey is charged with building relationships between the club and local schools and their pupils, and throughout the week he will venture from one establishment to the next providing tuition on the skills of hurling.

“It is about giving the kids a fun and enjoyable experience and letting them know where Mellows is,” says Crowley, who highlights the current drive to reach out to children in the city is in response to a drop-off they noticed in numbers at U-8 and U-10 levels three years ago.

“The big things for us are the three Rs – Recruitment, Retention and Relationships,” he continues. “The schools have been fantastically supportive, the teachers, the pupils, the principals. They want to see their kids out; they want to see them active; they want to see them be healthy.

“There are nationwide surveys there about kids only getting 20% of their recommended activity level in the school. So, the schools are well motivated and if you are offering them a good product – and hurling is a good product – and if you are organised and professional, they will take it on board.”

Morrissey took over the role from Tipperary hurler Timmy Hammersley, who has gone travelling, and Crowley believes Morrissey, a former Galway minor and current Liam Mellows senior, has been the ideal replacement given his understanding of the game and being a qualified PE teacher.

“So, he is a good role model and a good ambassador for everything we are about. Then we have lads like Ryan Mangan as a schools coach and these lads would work with Sean. Ryan has a degree in sports and recreation management, is a fitness instructor and again is a very energetic guy,” praises Crowley.

John Elwood, also qualified as a primary school teacher and captain of the Mellows U-21 team last year, and GMIT student Tadgh Haran, an All-Ireland U-21 winner and Leinster senior championship winner who has massive experience in camps from Mellows to Brothers of Charity, are two others involved.

“We thought these were four great guys to go into the schools, with Sean to head it up and continue the work Timmy had done. Last year, we coached in nine schools. Six are currently active and we are expanding that as we go. We did 800 sessions in the schools last year and we would have run 19 days between blitzes and camps up in Ballyloughane.”

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.