Des is one of the leading youth coaches and performance managers in sport and a world-renowned practitioner and speaker in the field of youth athletic development. In joining Setanta College, Des contributes to the College’s mission to deliver industry defining Education, application and insight to communities at a local and global level.

Des joined Setanta as Director of Coaching & Athletic Development, from his position as Head of Sport Medicine & Athletic Development at Arsenal Football Club Academy, which he has held for over 8 years and where he has re-shaped the concept of player development within the world of football. He has previously served as Head of S&C at Connacht Rugby, S&C to Ireland and as Fitness Education Manager within the IRFU, where he spent over 13 years developing the IRFU’s coach and player development system. u Over the years Des has presented at the UKSCA, ASCA and the NSCA conferences as well as many other conferences around the world.

He also has worked as a consultant to World Rugby and the National Cricket academy in India. Des has a Masters in Strength and Conditioning and is also an Accredited Strength and Conditioning coach with the UKSCA. He also has achieved the High Performance Sports Accreditation from the British Association of Sports and Exercise Science and is a chartered scientist.

QUOTES

“What brings it all together is the performance plan and if I step into any environment, it should be apparent”

“That language (of your performance pillars) should live and breathe in all the different departments”

“We always get caught up in the negatives but we should also focus on what is good?!”

“In a meeting, it is important to ask what does the group feel and is this a journey we are going to go on together?”

“Apparently the science behind it is flawed, but I saw benefits from personality profiling with our players and staff”

SHOWNOTES

1) Des’ journey in brief and update since our last episode including his latest work with Setanta College

2) How to approach management structures for performance teams including setting up your Vision, Mission, Objectives and Strategy (VMOS) and Performance Pillars

3) Refining the VMOS & making it as effective and efficient as possible

4) Maximising inter-disciplinary staff meetings and interventions with players

5) The power of staff ownership in department projects

6) Making performance development reviews/plans useful for staff and are you as good as Nic Gill?

7) Managing staff members that might disrupt group dynamic or are troublesome

8) The benefits of personality profiling for staff and player interaction, especially around communication preferences

9) The cornerstones of Des' management philosophy

PEOPLE MENTIONED

Liam Hennessy

Nic Gill

Dan Baker

Philip Morrow

Aled Walters

Steve Nabo

Bob Tisdall