The GAA has long celebrated its dual players, versatile athletes that excel in both Gaelic football and hurling. In the traditional view, participation in both codes promotes more well-rounded athletic development, but this perspective is now questioned due to the reality that modern training and competition, supported by sports science, have magnified the demands on athletes. This surge in intensity has created a paradox, as the perceived benefits of dual participation are increasingly overshadowed by heightened risks of burnout, injury, and a significant drop in performance. This has led to a decline in dual players, sparking debate on how best to support these athletes in contemporary Gaelic games. This case study details my experience in the physical preparation of a GAA Intermediate male team comprising dual players, compounded by many of these players also participating in soccer. To approach the goal of physical readiness for high-level performance and injury prevention across all three sports, we strategically reframed the problem of diverse and frequent sporting demands as a positive: a regular schedule of sessions and games, when managed correctly, inherently drives fitness and resilience, provided the underlying physical capacities and foundations are sufficiently robust. This approach was driven by the philosophies of consistent load management (Gabbett, 2016) and improved physical capacities acting as an ‘injury vaccine’ (Malone et al., 2018), drawing on my MSc dissertation that addressed how workload–injury relationships can be moderated by enhanced physical resilience in elite Gaelic footballers. Crucially, the success of this framework hinged on building deep-seated trust, open communication, and genuine connection among all stakeholders – players, coaching staff, and support personnel. These must be formed through consistent positive actions, transparent behaviour, and strong leadership, beyond mere words (Jowett & Ntoumanis, 2004).
The Challenge: Navigating Multi-Sport Demands
The primary challenge was managing the varied and cumulative physical loads from Gaelic football, hurling, and soccer, which, if not managed properly, could pose a significant risk of overtraining, fatigue, and injury.
Our Approach
Consistency, Resilience & Accountability Our strategy focused on consistent, progressive physical preparation, moving away from ‘peaks and troughs’ in training load to foster player-led accountability through:
- Consistent Training Structure: A predictable schedule of three physical preparation sessions per week was maintained to ensure steady adaptation and avoid sudden load changes.
- Purposeful Athletic Development Warmups & Cooldowns: Each session began with warmups (10–15 min), including fundamental agility movements (which isolate deceleration, backpedalling, turning, stepping, shuffling and jockeying), foundational power movements (hop, skip, bound, jump, rebound) and fundamental strength movements (squat, hinge, lunge, single-leg control, core work). These elements were chosen to activate the nervous system, improve power and elastic qualities, and prepare the musculature for high-velocity demands, thereby reducing strain on commonly injured areas. Ten minutes per session were dedicated to cooldowns, involving strength resilience exercises that target common injury areas (hips, knees, hamstrings, calves, and the achilles). These exercises included long lever hamstring bridges, nordic curls, copenhagen side planks, and split squat stance holds with a heel raise.
- Robustness & Strength Development: During the off-season, we focused on building strength and introducing plyometrics to enhance explosiveness (2–3 sessions/week). In-season, we shifted to maintaining strength and integrating sport-specific power exercises, with regular sprinting and continued injury prevention work (1–2 sessions/week).
- Data-Driven Load Management: During all sessions (and games), GPS was used to monitor high-speed running, sprint distance, speed, and overall player load, complemented by subjective session rating of perceived exertion (RPE). The acute:chronic workload ratio was used to track load (Gabbett, 2016).
- Player-Led Accountability: Empowering players was key to fostering a culture of shared ownership and consistent effort. A player leadership group drove standards, ensured adherence to warmup/cooldown protocols and gym sessions, and provided a vital feedback loop to coaches.
- In-Season High-Intensity Level & Top-Ups: Detraining was prevented by ensuring a consistent weekly level of high-intensity and biomechanical exposure. Short, targeted ‘top-up’ blocks (10–15 min post-training) provided necessary high-intensity stimuli for players with lower match loads.
Outcomes: Performance, Resilience, Culture
Our integrated and player-centric approach led to:
- Significantly Reduced Injury Incidence: Achieved through proactive load management and enhanced physical capacities.
- Improved Performance Consistency: Athletes were better equipped to tolerate multi-sport demands, maintaining high performance levels and decision-making throughout the season. Enhanced Athlete Robustness: A strong, resilient playing group emerged, capable of withstanding the rigours of multi-sport participation as a direct result of consistent, targeted physical preparation.
- Stronger Team Culture: Player-led accountability cultivated shared responsibility, high intent, and collective commitment to physical excellence and injury prevention.
- Data-Informed Decisions: Precise, proactive adjustments to training were enabled by objective data collection combined with player feedback.
Key Takeaways
- From Paradox to Positive: When managed strategically, the intense demands of contemporary multi-sport participation can be leveraged to drive fitness and resilience, rather than leading to burnout.
- Physical Capacity is an ‘Injury Vaccine’: Proactive development of robust physical capacities through consistent, targeted strength and conditioning crucially moderates the workload–injury relationship.
- Consistency is King: A predictable training structure, avoiding drastic load fluctuations, is fundamental for sustained adaptation and performance.
- Targeted Resilience Work: Dedicated strength resilience exercises during cooldowns may significantly contribute to injury prevention in demanding team sports.
- Data-Driven Decisions: By utilising objective (GPS) and subjective (sRPE) load monitoring, and particularly the ACWR, coaches are empowered to make precise, evidence-based adjustments.
- Player-Led Accountability is Transformative: Empowering athletes through leadership groups promotes shared ownership, enhances training intent, improves adherence and cultivates a strong, resilient team culture.
- Trust and Communication are Foundational: The success of any high-performance framework depends on building strong relationships, open dialogue and consistent positive behaviour across all stakeholders.
References
- Gabbett, T. J. (2016). The training–injury prevention paradox: Should athletes be training smarter and harder? British Journal of Sports Medicine, 50(5), 273–280. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2015-095788
- Jowett, S., & Ntoumanis, N. (2004). The Coach–Athlete Relationship Questionnaire (CART-Q): Development and initial validation. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 14(4), 245–257. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0838.2003.00338.x
- Malone, S., Hughes, B., Doran, D. A., Collins, K., & Gabbett, T. J. (2019). Can the workload–injury relationship be moderated by improved strength, speed and repeated-sprint qualities? Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 22(1), 29–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2018.01.010
Biography
Fionn O’Shea is an experienced sports scientist and athletic performance coach with over 12 years’ experience across elite and non-elite sport in Ireland, the UK, and Australia. Fionn holds a BSc in Physical Education with Science, PGDip in Leadership and Management, and an MSc in Strength and Conditioning from St Mary’s University, Twickenham. His research interests include optimising athlete resilience, load management, and performance, and he is pursuing a PhD in Elite Performance at the University of Central Lancashire, investigating field-based intermittent running protocols for Gaelic football.
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