Dividing young GAA players by ability can be ‘very beneficial’, research finds

The approach to divide young GAA players into teams based on their ability can be “very beneficial” if done correctly, a study has found.

PhD researcher Dr David Moran, who was formerly a games promotion officer at various Dublin clubs, said the issue of GAA “streaming” is an emotive one for parents and their children.

The process involves separating young players into different teams based on their ability, and is a topical issue as coaches put plans in place for the year ahead.

“During my time as a games promotion officer, the question about streaming was the one that I was asked about more than any other topic,” Dr Moore told the Press Association.

“This question was brought to me on at least a weekly basis for eight years, and I never really had an answer to give them, because there was no research, and there was nothing there for coaches.”

Mr Moore said his qualitative research paper, entitled Grouping By Ability In Youth Sport: Streaming In Gaelic Games, is the first of its kind to examine sentiments and experiences of streaming.

It was carried out as part of a wider project in collaboration with the GAA Insights and the Coaching and Expertise Lab (CoEx Lab) at Dublin City University.

Over the course of two months, Mr Moore interviewed 85 players, parents and coaches on the side of pitches at various clubs, both urban and rural, across Ireland.

“One of the issues with streaming is teams do it differently within a club, clubs do it differently from club to club, counties do it differently. There’s no real code, it’s not a coherent landscape.

“So for example, in Dublin, some codes promote streaming from under 11 and other codes don’t promote streaming to under 13.”

He said that he expected “a lot of push back”