Coach Ross balances county and work commitments to find next crop of GAA stars
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Full details can be found on the website www. sligogaa. ie/ ClubSligo ROSS Donovan is well known for his role on the Sligo senior panel for many years but another element he is strongly involved with is underage coaching.
The Eastern Harps man has been a coach for more than two years and says he’s relishing the role.
“I’m just over two years coaching and I had also gone back to college in IT Sligo, doing Sport and Recreation.
“I found the course very good and it was a change getting back into the books! I had done a bit of coaching before that with the cúl camps, that was around five years ago. I have all the qualifications now from the course, it’s a good course as it’s open to other sports so you can get a feel for it.”
He said coaching has evolved significantly in the last number of years, becoming much more professional in its set- up.
“When you look back 15 years ago or so, it was so traditional, now it has evolved greatly, for example there’s regular conferences for coaches helping them with promoting games and how they are approaching skills.”
Ross said that everyday offers something different as a coach.
“You’re going to different schools, working with players who have different abilities and levels, so it’s important to work around that.
“It’s about helping these young players learn different skills and also pushing it into the clubs where that work can continue,” he added.
Ross said immense work is being done throughout the county by Sligo Coaching and Games.
“There is a lot of work being done which is great to see.
“Players should be getting enjoyment out of football from an earlier age, it’s important because if they do that and they get a feel for football, then they might stay with it,” he pointed out.
It’s about keeping the players involved, working on their skills and abilities and always looking at ways to improve these areas.
Being a coach means a lot of travel every day across the county.
“The schools area varies it comes in blocks all over the county.
“I’m also working with the U17s, it’s great to see them coming through the development squads, seeing them progress as footballers.”
Ross said having a hectic schedule not only with the county but also his coaching means it’s important to have a good balance.
“When the county kicks off you have to have a balance there and schedule it around aspects of life. The weekends are structured to suit myself.”
He said he couldn’t imagine his life with sport, be it working in the area or of course being a player. “I have always been around sport and I often wonder what I’d be doing without it.” With the likes of the underage development squads the one agenda shared among everyone involved is promoting football. “Having the input there is great,” Ross said.
“The numbers are there in the development squads and I think the main understanding is to drive ambition from a young age.
“These development squads are being pushed to improve football in Sligo.
The interest from younger players which is expanding is another vital element to those working with Sligo Coaching and Games. “The cúl camps have massive numbers, last summer there was in the region of two thousands participants, which is excellent.
“Promoting amigo skills is a great thing to see in schools and the children are working in teams, giving a child the chance to display skills.
“There are loads of blitzes being organised too and the feedback from them is very good, we’re delighted with that.”
The aim for visiting schools and coaching players for an eight- week block is that when the coach leaves, the teachers can then continue training the children.
“The way we look at it is that when we’re gone, the teachers can follow the set- up we’ve used and put together their own lessons, so in a way the teacher takes on board what we’ve been doing.
“There’s more and more numbers getting involve and that can only bode well for GAA in the county,” Ross added.