Sean works with Sligo’s top sportspeople at his Rathcormac gym
ONE OF THE welcome results of the pandemic has been the value many people have placed on their health. Walking, running and cycling took off in a big way in 2020. For some it simply passed the time, for others it was the catalyst for a new long-term outlook on how they looked after themselves.
One gym which has welcomed some of these new faces is SFX Sports and Fitness in Rathcormac.
The north Sligo premises is operated by Sean Flannery, a former Sligo Rovers striker who also represented Sligo and Drumcliffe-Rosses Point in Gaelic football.
Sean specialises in strength and conditioning. This is an aspect of the game which was largely unheard of during his playing days, but is now commonplace at all levels of sport. He said: “This was something I was always keenly interested in. I was in my late teens when I was first introduced to strength and conditioning, throughout my playing days there was no emphasis on it but I knew it was something I wanted to learn about because the biggest mistake I was making was assuming I was doing the right things.”
Sean hung up his boots in the late 2000s and entered coaching at a time when sport was on the cusp of a shift in how fitness is maintained and improved at various levels.
He said: “I started coaching properly in 2008, I had just finished playing myself and I understood the growing demand for endurance-based training. “I focused on general fitness in Oxfield and then in 2014 I got involved in working with individuals and team sports because it was suited to my own background.”
Sean’s work ranges from general keep-fit classes to working with groups and teams who have big ambitions. His clients have included Olympic swimmer Mona McSharry and the Sligo inter-county hurling team.
The needs of a swimmer and a hurler seem broadly different, but the areas that Sean focuses on are adaptable to the fitness needs of all sports people regardless of their code.
“The requirements of coaching means you have to wear many different hats, but you also don’t have to be an elite coach or player in a specific sport to understand how the body works.
“Eighty per cent of training is very similar across all sports. There is 20 per cent of training that is unique to different sports and I have seen the range of that from working with Mona McSharry to working with the Sligo hurlers.”
Working with an Olympian came as no surprise to Sean. It was evident from an early stage he was working with a teenager in Mona McSharry who has the ability and potential to go far.
Sean said: “We started working together in 2015. You won’t meet as many people dedicated to their training the way Mona is, so it was important that everything we did benefitted her and kept her moving in the right direction.
“Nothing happens by chance, everything she does, whether it is with me, with Grace Meade or her coaches in America, is done methodically. “Everyone sees the results of her work, but nobody sees the work that goes into getting there and achieving the things people like her want to achieve.”
The pandemic forced Sean to adjust to an online format in 2020. While it was not a decision he was easy with, it provided a valuable way for him, his regulars and even some new faces to stay active.
When his gym re-opened, that loyal base of clients returned along with those new people who wanted to take their newfound fitness regime beyond being just a pandemic hobby.
“It was difficult to close at that time, I had come off the back of two very strong years in 2018 and 2019.
“I didn’t try to overthink things too much, I just went about adapting as quickly as possible.
“I was skeptical about how well gym sessions would work over Zoom but I was glad I did it, it worked out really well.
He continued: “It provided a muchneeded sense of routine for everyone and I was also fortunate that there was a lot of familiar faces from the gym who wanted to do it.
“It has been great since to not only see those faces in the gym again since, but also some new ones. People realised the value of being active.” On eventually moving into a postCovid world, Sean said: “I never like to say anything is guaranteed, all you can do is hope and take things as they come.”
SFX Sports and Fitness can be contacted about joining at 087 9784628 or seanflannery09@gmail.com.