Guest Coaching Session

It is often useful to engage other coaches from within or outside of your club to take “guest” sessions throughout the season to freshen things up. Players learn a great deal from having a fresh set of eyes and new voice everyone in a while. It is important that this ‘guest’ coach has the appropriate experience and coaching credentials.

Who to ask?

• Coaches from other age grades inside your club
• Coaches from other age grades outside of your club
• Senior players from your club
• Coaches from outside of the GAA (soccer, rugby, basketball etc) to give a new perspective

Before the Guest session

• Check player availability. To get the most out of the session make sure you have the maximum number of players attending the training.
• Have a chat or a phone call with your guest trainer, what do you want them to focus on? What does your team need to improve upon, what are their weaknesses?
• Make sure you have all the equipment your guest needs including footballs, sliotars, bibs, cones, goals, poles etc.

What to ask them to do?
Coaches know and understand their own players and the areas that the team are strong at and weak in. However, have a think about what you want your guest coach to focus on, it will make their job at planning the session a lot easier;

• Tackling and defending
• Forward play and shooting for points and goals
• Movement and spatial awareness
• Decision making and demonstrating skills under pressure

After the ‘Guest’ session?
Make sure to thank your ‘guest’ for their time and effort delivering the session. Taking a picture with them for social media, getting them a voucher is a nice way to say thank you.

It may be worthwhile to take notes throughout the session for your own learning. Also consider asking your guest back in a few weeks/ months down the line to see the improvement of your players. It may be easier for them to notice after being away from the team for a long period of time.