Ideally it's not either/or. Developing the game is vital.bracknaghboy wrote: ↑Mon Oct 10, 2022 5:10 pmOK, so say you had 50,000 Euro to spend. I'll give you 2 options.Bord na Mona man wrote: ↑Mon Oct 10, 2022 10:09 am In any sport, technical ability alone doesn't necessarily deliver results. There is the mental aspect to it. Skills and decision making need to stand up under pressure.
The people who dismiss this part of preparation are quite often the ones who brand certain teams/players as being soft or flaky. Without a hint of irony.
Option 1
2 x intercounty High Performance coach for the season (1 for football and 1 for hurling)
2 x intercounty Psychologist for the season (1 for football and 1 for hurling)
They'll gobble up your 50k fairly quickly I can tell you.
Option 2
According to the 2016 census there are 600 boys aged 6 and 600 aged 7 in county Offaly.
Go into each school and offer each 6 and 7 year old a free hurl, free helmet and 3 free balls.
Cost of hurl 20 euro. Cost of helmet 40 euro. Cost of 3 balls is 15 euro = 75 euro per head.
So our 50k would allow us purchase a hurl, helmet and 3 balls for just over 650 school kids.
A lot of the 6/7 years olds would avail of the free offer.
I've been in Kilkenny recently and again nearly every young lad I seen walking through the town down there with his school bag was carrying a hurl. It's ingrained in them.
We need to have something similar up here, giving out free equipment will sow the seeds for the future.
The county board could have a program whereby they hand the stuff out to every primary school child at the start of say 3rd class.
Look I'm trying to think outside the box here.
Using valuable resources on the intercounty backroom vultures is a complete waste of time......theres nothing to be shown for it.
Fella's chancing their arm with Zoom calls and phone calls to players for a few bob and a line for the CV.....rubbish is all it is.
Right I'm backing option 2 as the best use of our hypothetical 50k every year. I'd be interested in hearing which option ye'd all go for out there and maybe a couple of lines explanation to go with it.
Remember you only have 50k and it's either option 1 or 2 before the "lets do both" lads start!
I don't think giving away free stuff is a necessarily the winning strategy though. Cost is rarely the biggest barrier in my experience. Lack of interest (parents and child), poor coaching, poor organisation, lack of matches are bigger factors.
Back to Maher, the people closer to the panel will have a better insight than us on where the improvement can be found.
Looking across the 2022 Joe McDonagh campaign; a one-point loss to Antrim, not running up a cricket score against Meath and getting pistol whipped by Carlow. Perhaps the conclusion was that there are improvements to be made outside of the confines training field which could push Offaly to promotion.