The Mike Quirke Podcast

Episode 15 – A road less travelled with performance coach Tony Griffin   Long before he made a name as a Performance Coach with the All Ireland champion Kerry footballers this year and previously the Dublin hurlers, Tony Griffin carved out an impressive All-Star hurling career of his own with his native Clare. In this episode, Tony shares his considerable experience of hurling at the top level in Ireland while studying in Nova Scotia; cycling across Canada and raising 1.1 million for charity in the process. He’s recently wrote a book entitled “The Teenager’s Book of Life” which gives young people the tools they need to take their first steps in a grown-up world that expects a lot of them. Tony is a strong advocate for focusing on the person before the player, he shares his steps towards developing a positive culture with any age group and why the use of questioning can be a coaching superpower. Similar to season 1, I've set up this podcast with a dual purpose in mind, firstly to provide some thoughtful debate for coaches, but I've also linked up with Recovery Haven in Tralee, who provide free cancer support services for the people of Kerry and beyond. If you found some value in the podcast, it would be great if you could donate any amount, no matter how small to Recovery Haven through the link here: https://bit.ly/3tfsxWw  If you enjoyed this episode, click on the like button, share, leave a review and follow the podcast. My thanks also to PST Sport for their support with this project. Go to pstsport.com for world class delivery of all your artificial grass pitch needs. Thanks for listening.

This is episode number 14 and my final one for the fundraiser for Temple Street Childrens Hospital. Over the past few weeks, I've been asking people to submit any coaching questions they may have and in this 30 minutes or so I've tried to answer some of those queries. While this is the final episode, I'll be giving the fundraiser another two weeks before I wrap it up to allow people the time to contribute if they would like to. To that end, I'd be very grateful if people would share this or any episode they particularly enjoyed to spread the word on social media or WhatsApp to people who may as yet be unaware of the podcast or fundraiser. I want to say a big thanks to every contributor over the past number of weeks, its fair to say the quality of guest was of a very high standard and they shared some brilliant insights. I also want to thank everybody who has listened, shared and in particular, donated to the cause. I want to wish every coach who'll be getting back into their sport over the next few weeks all the very best for the year ahead, hopefully you've picked up a few nuggets from some of the contributors that will help you in your role. Thanks again for listening.  

Patrick Harding is the Irish man working as performance coach to the likes of Formula one driver Alex Albon from team Red Bull, professional Irish boxer Michael Conlan as well as various others.   If you've watched the "Drive to survive" documentary on Netflix over the rolling lockdowns, you might have caught a glimpse of Patrick putting in work with Alex in one of the many engaging episodes.   In this hour, he gives us a brilliant insight into his role working with some of the top level athletes that world sport has to offer, but he also provides hugely valuable take-aways for parents, coaches and anybody else with even a passing interest in sport.    As the inter-county season fast approaches, I'm looking at getting in one more episode before I park the podcast for a while. In the last few months, I've had many coaches contact me with various coaching queries, so to that end, I'm looking to finish with a questions and answers episode if coaches have any queries they would like to have tackled ahead of a return to underage sport in a few weeks time. If you'd like to submit a question or have any coaching issue you'd like to raise, send me an email to; themikequirkepodcast@gmail.com Also, I've set up this podcast with a dual purpose in mind, firstly to provide some thoughtful debate for coaches, but I've also linked up with Temple Street Children's Hospital in Dublin, to try and help raise much needed money for them. Covid 19 continues to have a hugely negative impact on their ability to raise funds in the ways they normally do, so if you found some value in the podcast, it would be great if you could donate anything, no matter how small to Temple Street Children's Foundation through the link here: https://bit.ly/39857sS   If you enjoyed this episode, click on the like button, share, leave a review and follow the podcast. Thanks for listening.

Ray Boyne started his involvement with Dublin GAA when Mickey Whelan brought him in with the minor county football team back in 2003. He has worked with the various senior football set-up's since then, as well as helping the county hurlers and camogie teams before joining the Tipperary hurling team and continuing his run of winning All Ireland titles as part of the back room team.   He does a great job here of explaining some simple ways that coaches can use basic analysis to help kids continue to improve in whatever sport they are playing.  There are plenty of practical take-aways for coaches of all sports and all age groups in this.    As the inter-county season fast approaches, I'm looking at getting in another two episodes before I shelve the podcast for a while. In the last few months, I've had many coaches contact me with various coaching queries, so to that end, I'm looking to finish with a questions and answers episode if coaches have any queries they would like to have tackled ahead of a return to underage sport in a few weeks time. If you'd like to submit a question or have any coaching issue you'd like to raise, send me an email to; themikequirkepodcast@gmail.com Also, I've set up this podcast with a dual purpose in mind, firstly to provide some thoughtful debate for coaches, but I've also linked up with Temple Street Children's Hospital in Dublin, to try and help raise much needed money for them. Covid 19 continues to have a hugely negative impact on their ability to raise funds in the ways they normally do, so if you found some value in the podcast, it would be great if you could donate anything, no matter how small to Temple Street Children's Foundation through the link here: https://bit.ly/39857sS   If you enjoyed this episode, click on the like button, share, leave a review and follow the podcast. Thanks for listening.

Barry Solan is a Mayo man from Ballaghaderreen in the west of Ireland who has found his home as strength and conditioning coach with Arsenal FC's first team for the past 6 years.   He's previously worked in rugby and GAA over here, most recently with Mayo.   In this episode, Barry shares his vast experience from the various top level coaching environments he's been a part of and gives us a great behind the scenes look at how they operate at the Arsenal training ground.   This is a must-listen for coaches of any sport or any age group - there's something in it for everybody.   Also, I've set up this podcast with a dual purpose in mind, firstly to provide some thoughtful debate for coaches, but I've also linked up with Temple Street Children's Hospital in Dublin, to try and help raise much needed money for them. Covid 19 continues to have a hugely negative impact on their ability to raise funds in the ways they normally do, so if you found some value in the podcast, it would be great if you could donate anything, no matter how small to Temple Street Children's Foundation through the link here: https://bit.ly/39857sS   If you enjoyed this episode, click on the like button, share, leave a review and follow the podcast. Thanks for listening.        

Jonny McMurtry is originally from Northern Ireland but living in Brisbane for the past 16 years, and has been involved for the best part of 10 years working in high performance age grade rugby programs across Australia.  He's also currently putting together research in conjunction with University of Queensland and Rugby Australia, looking at players' engagement and understanding what motivates, engages and drives players' participation in sport and he shares those findings with us in this episode. Jonny also puts out some very insightful content for coaches that are definitely worth checking out through his website; coachingthecoaches.net and twitter account; @coachingcoach_  I've set up this podcast with a dual purpose in mind, firstly to provide some thoughtful debate for coaches, but I've also linked up with Temple Street Children's Hospital in Dublin, to try and help raise much needed money for them. Covid 19 continues to have a hugely negative impact on their ability to raise funds in the ways they normally do, so if you found some value in the podcast, it would be great if you could donate anything, no matter how small to Temple Street Children's Foundation through the link here: https://bit.ly/39857sS   If you enjoyed this episode, click on the like button, share, leave a review and follow the podcast. Thanks for listening.  

Ann Downey is a Kilkenny camogie legend having won 12 All Ireland inter-county titles as well as 7 club All Ireland's as a player before adding to that collection in 2016 as manager to her own county.   Ann talks us through her journey from player to coach and manager, how her philosophies like complete honesty and 'happy person, happy player' guided her coaching journey, and why girls need more role models and her desire to see more former female players take up roles managing and coaching their own club and county teams.    Also, I've set up this podcast with a dual purpose in mind, firstly to provide some thoughtful debate for coaches, but I've also linked up with Temple Street Children's Hospital in Dublin, to try and help raise much needed money for them. Covid 19 continues to have a hugely negative impact on their ability to raise funds in the ways they normally do, so if you found some value in the podcast, it would be great if you could donate anything, no matter how small to Temple Street Children's Foundation through the link here: https://bit.ly/39857sS   If you enjoyed this episode, click on the like button, share, leave a review and follow the podcast. Thanks for listening.  

Alan Ringland is a lecturer of sport psychology in the Munster Technological University and is an accredited practitioner who has worked in amateur and professional sport (everything from Sigerson GAA football success to Warrington rugby league football) for more than 20 years. He has spent the last 14 years working as team psychologist for Paralympics Ireland and helped them prepare for countless European and World championships as well as the London and Bejing games. Here, Alan takes us through his desire for coaches to engage in more deliberate play as opposed to deliberate practice, he breaks down the different priorities for coaches working in the participation and performance strands of sport. He gives some great insights and actionable ideas into developing connection and self-talk amongst your team and plenty more thought provoking concepts. I've set up this podcast with a dual purpose in mind, firstly to provide some thoughtful debate for coaches, but I've also linked up with Temple Street Children's Hospital in Dublin, to try and help raise much needed money for them. Covid 19 continues to have a hugely negative impact on their ability to raise funds in the ways they normally do, so if you found some value in the podcast, it would be great if you could donate anything, no matter how small to Temple Street Children's Foundation through the link here: https://bit.ly/39857sS   If you enjoyed this episode, click on the like button, share, leave a review and follow the podcast. Thanks for listening.  

Joe O'Connor is a lecturer in health and leisure in MTU Tralee and has been the S & C coach for All Ireland winning hurling sides Clare in 2013 and more recently Limerick in 2018 as well as working with other inter-county GAA teams along the way. As well as his athletics background, Joe is currently working with golfers as well as elite Irish equestrian sport and people will probably be familiar with him from his role as referee on the popular RTE show 'Ireland's Fittest Families' for 5 years. He chats here about his concept of 'over-sciencing' - a term he coined for coaches who make things more complicated than they need to be. He talks about the priorities for under age coaches and lessons he's learned along the way. I've set up this podcast with a dual purpose in mind, firstly to provide some thoughtful debate for coaches, but I've also linked up with Temple Street Children's Hospital in Dublin, to try and help raise much needed money for them. Covid 19 continues to have a hugely negative impact on their ability to raise funds in the ways they normally do, so if you found some value in the podcast, it would be great if you could donate anything, no matter how small to Temple Street Children's Foundation through the link here: https://bit.ly/39857sS   If you enjoyed this episode, click on the like button, share, leave a review and follow the podcast. Thanks for listening.  

Nick Potter is the director of High Performance and Sports Science at Duke university men's basketball.  His role involves monitoring player health, performance, recovery, and wellness with key team personnel to ensure optimal athlete individualization and holistic development.  Nick works hand and glove with one of the most legendary coaches in all of basketball in coach K - Mike Krzyzewski and has put countless players through is hands, many of which like Zion Williamson, Jason Tatum and Kyrie Irving to name but a few, have gone on to become NBA superstars. Here, Nick gives us a look behind the curtain of one of the most impressive coaching and performance environments in college sports in the States. Also, I've set up this podcast with a dual purpose in mind, firstly to provide some thoughtful debate for coaches, but I've also linked up with Temple Street Children's Hospital in Dublin, to try and help raise much needed money for them. Covid 19 continues to have a hugely negative impact on their ability to raise funds in the ways they normally do, so if you found some value in the podcast, it would be great if you could donate anything, no matter how small to Temple Street Children's Foundation through the link here: https://bit.ly/39857sS   If you enjoyed this episode, click on the like button, share, leave a review and follow the podcast. Thanks for listening.