Roger KeenanTalent ID – Profiling Players, Progressing Talent, Producing Stars

14-18 Years

Outcomes• Where are we now?

• What are we looking for in “talented players”?

• Why & what should we measuring?

• What is an exceptional development environment?

• Assessment/Profiling – What & How?

• The Mental Profile – coach-ability “the 80% in the mind”

Where are we now?GAA Performance Ladder

Sports InstituteSports Institute

Provincial Strategy………………Provincial Strategy………………

Under 10 / 12

Under 14 / 16

Under 18/21

Senior

Development Squads

Ulster Under 17

Minor

Under 21

Sigerson

Senior

Provincial

Ireland

School & ClubSchool & Club

Regional Squads International / Provincial Regional Squads International / Provincial

County,County,

Higher Education & Development SquadsHigher Education & Development Squads

PARTICIPATIONPARTICIPATION

PERFORMANCEPERFORMANCE

EXCELLENCEEXCELLENCE

FOUNDATIONFOUNDATIONNursery/Participation

Talent ID

Talent ID

Nature verses Nurture?

ResearchRecent Studies of Track & Field Sports have shown that many

athletes identified at 14-16 are not making it through! Why?• Poor Talent ID Systems – incorrect criteria – no confirmation

criteria!

• Biological Development (Relative Age Theory) – Physical (Don’t look for what is but what might be)

• Lifestyle Choices – Priorities

• Poor Talent Confirmation System – no progression/feedback

• Hunger – Some believe that they have “arrived”

Relative Age Theory• Gaelic Relative Elite Age Theory - some Gaelic players may miss out on a spot at the top level. This is

simply due to the month that they are born on. Development difference greatest at U14/U16.• Even when groupings are limited to 1 year categories, e.g. U15; U16; U17; U18, development

differences can be great. In such cases players born in January and December will have almost a year difference in their age.

• Ulster Elite Squads U16 – 7 times more people born in first 3 months than last 3• 3 out of 4 born in first half of the year

Age factored performance

• Taking the elite squad and testing their performance in several areas the result was that the older players outweighed the younger always proving age is a factor.

• Question: Do we take a short term view of what is rather than what might be???

Current Methods for Talent IDThe Process of Identifying Talent:Scouting/observationTrialsBlitzClub GamesReferral/Clubs, Schools, CoachesTraining CampsCurrent FormProfiling/ Benchmarking (IRFU)

Task 1 - Why Profile ?• To establish a baseline for team/individuals• To inform our training programme for team/individual• To establish the critical success factors• To monitor the effectiveness of our training programme• To motivate players & team• To establish norms for physical, technical, and psychological

development• To develop a pathway for success – What should a talented

24 year old look like?• To embrace best practice

Reasons for Assessments• A Functional screen can be used to assess competence in general dynamic

movements.

• A Fitness assessment can identify general capacities of agility, endurance, flexibility, speed, strength and power, and relate these to body composition.

• A Skills assessment can identify technical proficiency and bi-lateral transfer in developing players

• Assessments are therefore used to;– Establish each player’s strengths, weaknesses and priorities for development– Help maximize the sports potential of each player– Monitor team/player fitness progress– Determine the effectiveness of the training programme– Monitor individual player response to training/playing– Ensure that a player is ‘fit to play’

Task 2 – Talent ID Criteria (Sheet 1)

• What we are looking for in talented players?

• Can it be accurately measured?

• How can it be measured?

• How do we check for progress?

What to benchmark? (Assessment)

Physical Based AssessmentPhysical Based AssessmentWhy?Why?

Skills Based AssessmentSkills Based AssessmentWhy?Why?

Functional Based AssessmentFunctional Based AssessmentWhy?Why?

Characteristics of WinnersCharacteristics of WinnersWhy?Why?

Training Load & Social DiaryTraining Load & Social DiaryWhy?Why?Record KeepingRecord Keeping

Talent Player Profile

Functional Movement• Used to scan general posture & review of

previous injury

• Exercises used to identify flexibility, mobility and / or stability issues

• Exercises include overhead squat, in-line lunge, double hurdle-hops and active straight leg raise

Typical range of movement from other disciplines (prior to entry to The Institute)

The GAA Player – poor flexibility and mobility due to over use and poor programme structure (prior to entry to The

Institute)

Interpretation & Talent Confirmation

• Meaningful changes should be highlighted• Compare percentage differences• Comparisons within positions may be useful• Compare results with benchmark data• Provide individual feedback to players in the

form of a hard copy of their results• Realistic individual targets should be set for each

player using their scores

Eg. Team Summary Football U16

Eg. Team Summary Hurling U16

Summary• The initial assessment is used to establish the strengths, weaknesses, and

priorities for development for each player, allowing an individualized programme to be prescribed.

• This represents a baseline level and further evaluations allow the effectiveness of the individualized training programme to be determined.

• Although sports performance is multifaceted, improvements in functional movement and physical fitness should facilitate enhanced performance during competition.

• For any structured yearly training, the coach and sports physiologist should decide on and plan all testing dates in advance. Generally appropriate testing times are at the beginning and end of each training phase, allowing assessment of the effectiveness of each phase. The coach can then use this information to plan the next training phase at both the team and individual level.

Skills Profiling

Agility Ball Control

Speed and Ball Control

Moving Punt Pass

First Touch - Fielding

Kicking for Scores

Task 3 (Sheet 2)

• What are the key aspects of a good training environment?

• Are they evident in your club/county?

• Which ones are missing?

‘Player centred, coach driven’

Lifestyle Management

Technical Development

Mental Toughness

Tactical Development

Coach

Performance Analysis

Personal Support

(family / friends)

Core StrengthSports Science

Athlete

The key areas of athlete preparation

Psychological preparation

Physical Preparation

Technical preparation

Tactical preparation

Lifestyle Management

Profile model (coach-ability)

Constructive Evaluation

Mental Toughness

Mindset

Motivational &Working Traits

Learning Style

Coach

Player/Athlete(Coachability)

Talent that fails

To maximise your potential you need to have the mental capabilities to deal with setbacks and successes

“The mind messes up more performances than the body”

Jimmy Bolt

Constructive evaluation

“one of the characteristics of a top player is that they are able to deliver a genuinely honest assessment of their own performance and ability”

Arsene Wenger

Constructive Evaluation

Self-Awareness

Simply put, it means having an understanding not only of your own strengths & limitations, but also of psychological functions

‘People with a strong self awareness are realistic, neither overly self critical nor naively hopeful. Rather they are honest with themselves’

Talent Profile

PhysicalMental Toughness

4 C'sMindset

Technical

ConstructiveSelf-Evaluation

Tactical

Mindset

“I want to win all tournaments, but being the best me – that’s a little more important”Tiger Woods

Mindset

Mindsets

A Mindset is a belief

Fixed Mindset (FMS)

Growth Mindset (GMS)

Fixed Mindset

Commonly found in talented individuals

Symptoms of a FMS:LabellingLow effort syndrome

This is the path of stagnation!

Growth MindsetAware that talents can be developed

Abilities are build over time

“Coach-ability”

Above average but not always the most genetically talented

This is the path of opportunity & success

Mental Toughness

Without addressing the mental deficiencies we are limiting the chances of producing professional footballers”

Jose Mourinho

Mental Toughness

The 5 Internal C’s

Inner Competitiveness, Inner Commitment

Control (Emotion & Life)

Challenge

Confidence (Abilities & Interpersonal)

Inner Competitiveness, Inner Commitment

“The body should never tell the mind it is tired, the mind has the strength to out will and

Push the body”General George Patton

Confidence & Commitment

Motivational & Working Traits

“it’s important that I am able to establish the right level of communication, this is very important for successful management”

Arsene Wenger

M&W Traits

Language & Behaviour (LAB)

Purpose is to help coaches gain a higher level of performance in your players

Through

Understanding the individual by identifying their motivational and working traits through the

players language

Learning Styles

Both players & coaches need to be aware

Ultimately we are teaching players to play football, if we are not aware of learning styles can we effectively maximize their learning

“Coaching should enhance learning not get in the way of it”

Learning Style

How styles of Coaching can affect learning

Data from many research projects

Told Told & ShownTold, shown & with your input

70% 72% 85%

10% 32% 65%

Recall after 3 weeks

Recall after 3 months

Individual Mental Skills Training

Athletes report, during competition mental attitudes account for 80% of their success. Few training programs train their athletes to control their mental

attitudesMindmapping

T-CUP/Thought stoppingPositive Reflection

Mental imageryInfluencing language

Team Talks/Training sessionsBio-dermal feedback training

Turning a Skill into Skill Resilience

The brain is like a muscle, the more you work on the inside the more it shows on the outside

Constructive Evaluation

Mental Toughness

Mindset

Language & Behaviour

Learning Style

Coach

Player/Athlete

The Role of the CoachTHE EFFECTIVE DEVELOPMENT COACHImproving players’performance throughhigh quality coachingKey outcomes of a player centeredapproach:1. Increased self awareness2. Increased self reflection3. Increased responsibility and understandingof their own performance& developmentThe coach has a clearresponsibility to the players and theDevelopment programme to help create acoaching and learning climate thatmust be of a higher standard than theplayer receives back in their own clubor school environment.Effort and commitment are obviousprerequisites to success. However,they are not enough on their own; theplayers’ development will largelydepend upon your coachingmethodology and the effectivedelivery of game related knowledgeand skills.

Guiding Philosophy

“When winning is kept inperspective sport produces children

who enjoy being skillful, who strive forexcellence, who dare to risk error tolearn and who develop with practice

and constructive feedback.When winning is kept in perspectivethere is room for fun in the pursuit ofvictory – the pursuit of victory is fun”

Geoff Gleeson - The growing childin competitive sport: Hodder Staughton

(1987)