Coaches set for unique insights at Air Dome coaching conference

Attendees at Saturday's GAA Games Development Conference will be reminded of what is important in their respective roles, particularly when it comes to the basic needs of a young player.

Liam Moggan, one of Ireland's foremost coaching experts, will stress a new way for sporting organisations to help their coaches by removing as many distractions as possible.

Moggan has worked with a range of high-profile managers, including the likes of Billy Walsh and Brian Kerr, and is one of the keynote speakers at the event.

The conference takes place in the NUI Galway Connacht GAA Air Dome on Saturday and features a host of other well-known names and speakers.

These include former Clare star Jamesie O’Connor, former Dublin footballer Cliodhna O’Connor and Dr Áine McNamara, Associate Professor in Elite Performance at Dublin City University.

The theme of this year’s event is the youth player, with a specific focus on children still in school and playing with their clubs.

"There will be presentations and practical demonstrations for coaches as to how best coach a youth player, but the conference is also about us coming together as coaches and helping each other with the challenges," Moggan says.

"Those challenges are the same for most coaches. At any time, people are evolving and constantly changing and for a coach at this level there is more at stake, and they have more responsibilities.

"Coaches should be kind and friendly, they should love what they are doing, and those traits are very much in our nature and that’s the way it has always been.

"But everything seems to have upped a notch. There are distractions for the coach at that level, they must plan well, observe and analyse.

"Maybe there is too much of a distraction from the person who is