By Cian O’Connell

Ultimately, the past number of weeks have been about finding ways to adapt and deal with the current scenario.

That is precisely what Longford GAA Games Manager Damien Sheridan has sought to do with his coaching team in the county.

Eager to absorb the recommendations made by local clubs Sheridan and his colleagues quickly devised a coaching plan for April.

On four Monday nights different topics will be discussed and a valuable service provided for volunteers eager and willing to learn through a webinar series.

“We conducted a survey with our coaches about the two or three things they needed support and help with,” Sheridan explains. “Off the back of that we came up with this programme for April. Four Monday nights to try to address some of the things that had come back from the survey.

“All of last week we were building the resource and testing out the webinar on teams. We hit a bit of a stumbling block on Monday, some people just couldn't access it.

“We had more than 30 people, unfortunately we had at least 10 or 15 that were trying to get in and couldn't get in. The good thing is the workshop we did on Monday night had a lot of pre record stuff and we recorded it.

“So we are definitely going to be able to put it out in its entirety again. Anyone that missed it will still get the full benefits only it won't be live and they won't be able to ask a question.”

It was only a minor blip, though, and Sheridan is delighted how the Longford Coaching and Games staff have reacted. “From the feedback we came up with four initial things, two for the youth/adult coach and two for the child coach,” Sheridan adds.

“The first one that really jumped out of the survey was the youth/adult coach wanted resources, they wanted more activities to freshen up their training. We in Leinster would be very big on the TURAS programme and being game based.

“So we decided what might work well on webinar and to make the logistics a bit easier was to have pre recorded content. So we have four footballing coaches working with us. Each of us designed our own favourite game, the game we like the most when we are running training sessions.

“We did a pre record of that explaining through the TURAS principles and all the alterations about how that game might work. Each video was about 10 minutes. We loaded all the videos on to a shared folder on our website.

“Then we got four external coaches, lads from Longford that had been involved in youth and adult teams, involved with the county Under 21s a few years ago.

“They all designed games as well, so you had eight videoed games with descriptors, fully designed out. We showed four of them on Monday night. Then we had two of our staff who were linking from one video to the other, going through the presentation.

“I was in the background showing people where they could get the resources and download an additional resource with more games. So all in all coaches were provided with about 22 games, eight of them in great detail, and 14 others where potentially we will run another workshop on the back of that.”

Such planning and plotting has enabled Longford to enjoy a productive stint overall during the past two decades. A respect for Longford exists with the midlanders’ approach earning praise from elsewhere Sheridan acknowledges.

“It would be said a lot, particularly by people outside and particularly by people from traditional counties, strong counties that would be used to doing well,” Sheridan says.

“It would be something that would be said about Longford, but maybe people within Longford wouldn't say it as much. A lot of it comes from the giant killings maybe. We had a minor team in the early noughties, a couple of Under 21 teams got to Leinster Finals.

“We hadn't the success at Under 21, we had at minor, and a lot of those lads were retained for 10 or 12 years. They were the backbone of teams. We managed to get ourselves to Division Two in 2013 we won a couple of Leagues and contested finals. So we would see ourselves as a team that is somewhere in between 20 to 12.

“On any given day you could take out somebody that is from eight down. Even someone from four to eight, the boys gave Tyrone a right good game. There was only four points in it. You've lots of those, pressing a strong team or taking out a Mayo or a Derry, those big wins back in the noughties.

“Regarding what we were doing on Monday, we do have some very motivated people working in Coaching & Games. We want to provide a service, to try to do the best we can for the people that are interested in the GAA. Not to just be sitting on our hands, we want to try to make the most of the current situation, to provide an offering for people to engage with.”

In recent times since, especially since the Covid19 crisis, Sheridan has found that coaches in Longford want to upskill. Clubs throughout the county will benefit. “For sure,” Sheridan responds. “The first two weeks everyone was trying to figure out where they were in this new world.

“They wanted to get on top of their work situation, financial situation, family where you might have small kids at home to ensure that they get schooled or kept entertained. Obviously then the older parents and grandparents, the disconnect we now have with those. There was a good bit of time where people were trying to find their place in this new world.

“If you want to wallow in that place it is not good for anybody so we decided to shake things up a little bit, to start being a lot more proactive, to start making contact with our clubs.

“This is a great opportunity to use some quiet time, whether it be an hour in the evening or an hour somewhere during the day where you sit down to engage in something that you wouldn't normally have the time to do.

“To give back to yourself a little bit, so that when sport does kick back again you will be in a better place to add more value to what you actually do. That was really the motivation for the whole thing.”

Sheridan has monitored how others are trying to come up with innovative methods and is encouraged about the future. “Hopefully in the next few weeks we will see that momentum building,” Sheridan adds. “Peter Horgan in Croke Park is running his own webinars on Tuesdays and Thursdays, he has been getting great responses from those.

“I think you have a load of coaches who can attend those and they can also attend anything we are running. That is the great thing about the online stuff, you don't actually have to go there.

So if there is something with value in Ulster, Connacht or Munster people should go to engage in that, to try to learn as much as they can. If the time suits them great. I know we were very open about ours, we put them out to all of the surrounding counties.

“We had somebody online from Na Piarsaigh in Cork. Word travels. People obviously see value and they want to learn which is great to be able to facilitate.”

Starved of matches and sport so many sporting enthusiasts are seeking methods to maintain fitness and interest.

“The biggest thing at the minute is that we don't have anything to watch,” Sheridan reflects. “Being able to go to matches is such an outlet for people, whether they are young or old.

“The League is exploding all of the time, it is a great precursor for the excitement of what Championship is, and those great days that can come to counties. They will come again.

“It is great to be able to see kids out and the engagement all counties are getting with kids and teenagers out trying the various skills challenges. Inter-county hurlers and footballers trying to do crazy things to get other people to replicate it.

“We see what TJ Reid is doing. Lots of people are just trying to live as normal a life as possible and to give back. It shows the wonderful organisation we are involved in. If we all play our little part like the amount of people doing community help.

“There is only one organisation that can facilitate all of that: the GAA. From our perspective we want to help coaches upskill a little bit, if they can do that, they can help in their community and encourage their child to engage in a bit of football.

“My young fella is six and a bit, over the last week and a half his left foot has come on no end. That wouldn't have happened as quickly if we weren't in this current situation.

“Great things can be achieved from where we are currently at. For people who want to engage in coach education we are here to facilitate them.”

Sheridan’s hard, but rewarding graft continues.