Handball legend Paul Brady was among the star attractions at the O’Neill’s Ulster GAA Coaching and Games Development Conference which took place on Saturday last at the Ulster University, Jordanstown.
The Cavanman’s 45-minute long address, titled ‘Taking on the World: How to foster an elite mindset among club and county players’ earned excellent reviews from the 50 attendees who were drawn from the coaching community across the province and beyond.
The theme of this year’s conference was ‘Playing Your Part in Player Development’.
The conference featured a host of practical workshops delivered by coaches from across the family of Gaelic Games with plenty of interesting takeaways for all involved.
The event was bookended by keynote addresses from Martin Kennedy, National Head of Coach & Player Development, and Liam Sheedy, former All-Ireland winning manager with Tipperary hurlers.
In his presentation, Brady, who holds a Masters degree in Sport and Exercise Psychology from UUJ, touched on areas such as burn-out, motivation and creating a healthy environment. He relayed his own sporting story, having played senior football for Cavan for a decade as well as winning five Open Singles titles at the World Championships, displaying snippets from his training diaries in what was a fascinating insight into elite performance.
Brady’s address was followed by a presentation by GAA Handball’s Darragh Daly and newly-appointed Ulster Development Officer Fiona Shannon.
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