Long Term Athletic Development Programme
Blarney GAA launch Long-Term Athletic Development programme for young players.
Blarney GAA and Camogie club are delighted to have recently launched a Long-Term Athletic Development (LTAD) programme under the tutelage of our own Kieran Sheffron, who brings huge expertise as a highly experienced professional in the areas of Strength and Conditioning, Excercise and Nutritional Science.
LTAD is the planned, systematic and progressive development of individual athletes, to enable all participants to reach their full potential, whatever that may be.
The LTAD model is a seven-stage framework. It guides the participation, training, competition and recovery pathways in sport and physical activity. This is used from infancy through all stages of adulthood. The seven stages are:
Active Start
FUNdamentals
Learn to Train
Train to Train
Train to Compete
Train to Win
Active for Life
30 coaches from our Underage, Club na nÓg and Camogie sections are undertaking workshops, theory and practical sessions under Kieran’s guidance, and are in the early stages of rolling out the programme to a large number of our teams from U6 up to Minor level.
Studies have shown that children are less physically active in their day to day lives than even the recent past. This has implications for physical development and fitness, the risk of injury into adolescence and adulthood, and even for the likelihood of continuing with sports as they get older.
With this in mind, the goal of this programme is that, over time, all players in our club are given the best possible chance of enjoying sport and/or physical activity in the long term, at the best level they can and want to get to. The programme is highly tailored by age, and includes a mix of exercises, fun games and activities appropriate to the age and ability of all our kids. It is a continuous programme, and as players progress, each stage builds on the training done in the previous stage.
This is a long-term initiative in the club, and will be rolled out slowly, and in a relaxed fashion with the focus on developing beneficial activities that are fun and enjoyable for the kids according to their age. If any coaches, volunteers or parents are interested in getting involved in this programme, or if you have any questions around it, feel free to reach out to any coach or officer in the club who will point you in the right direction.
