Reflections from the Irish S&C Network Conference
James O’Sullivan is a young Strength & Conditioning coach currently on a placement year at the Sport Ireland Institute, as well as being a athletic development assistant at a local college. James took part in a competition to win a free ticket to the inaugural Irish S&C Network Conference in May, and was lucky enough to win. He did a great job of explaining how the opportunity would benefit him, and in return for the opportunity, he has written his summary of the day below! James has, since his attendance, also decided to sign up to the Collaborate Sports Group Mentorship programme, so I look forward to seeing him grow further in the early stages of his career!
“I was lucky enough to get to the inaugural Irish S&C conference this weekend past and it was a great learning and networking experience. Below I have given a summary of the day’s talks but before venturing on, I’d like to extend my thanks to Dan Howells for the opportunity to attend the event. The practitioner’s fund is a great resource and I would recommend any budding sport scientist to give it a look if you’re looking to better yourself professionally. Without further ado, here is my summary of the day’s events:”
Speaker: Ian Jones
Topic: “Athletic Development at Grassroots Level”
Content: Ian’s talk covered his athletic development philosophy and some of the issues he has encountered working at the grassroots level. One of the foundations of his program which resonated with me was “health, wellbeing and performance” as I think it nails the holistic approach that I aim to deliver to my developmental athletes. Further on in his talk, he covered the interesting issue of a selection bias towards early developer’s in grassroots sport and the broad scope of issues that may attribute to this – an area that definitely warrants further research.
Speaker: Mark Kilgallon
Topic: “Have Boots, Will Travel”
Content: This presentation gave the attendee’s an insight into the global opportunities there are within the strength and conditioning world, from Qatar to Australia and back to Limerick. Mark gave a “big lesson” at the end of each section of his globe-trotting career talk and the lesson that stood to me was that your destiny was in your own hands. Mark, similarly to Ian, gave us a refreshing reality check in regard to the harsh, cut-throat nature of elite sport and what it takes to get there, and the approach we need to take to make a success of our careers.
Speaker: Hugh Gilmore
Topic: “Story or Truth, Which is Better in Multidisciplinary Teams?”
Content: I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was my favourite talk of the day as I had made the safe assumption beforehand that a presentation geared towards an aspect of strength and conditioning would be my pick of the lot. Hugh used practical examples from his career as a sport psychologist to illustrate the ideas of constructive conflict, groupthink situations, and the common cultural issues that pervade multidisciplinary team’s. Hugh discussed his dissatisfaction with the concept of an athlete being held up as an ever-perfect, flawless role model, which sparked a really interesting discussion with Des Ryan on the topic.
Speaker: John Kiely
Topic: Prediction: “Embracing the One Simple Truth to Enhance Your S&C Practice”
Content: John’s talk ran Hugh’s close in terms of being my favourite as I think it’s safe to say it’s a presentation that blew the audience’s mind a little! John discussed the shortcoming’s of Selye’s GAS model, which was built on his work with lab rats, and provided an alternative that is more relevant to us as human’s. This alternative viewpoint took into account the role of the coaches demeanour, emotions and persona in an athlete’s adaptation’s to a program and looked at the adaptation’s to exercise from an evolutionary point of view.
“I would like to conclude this blog piece by thanking the Irish S&C Network for organizing both engaging presentations and practical sessions. I was delighted to meet some new faces from around the country and look forward to next year’s edition."
