New Style Vs Old School

[TheManFromFerbane]

Very interesting piece in the Indo today discussing how Mick O'Dwyer’s Old School ways gave Kieran McGeeney's New Style preparation a bit of a kicking at the weekend.

While I don't think any intelligent person would judge something like this over one game it does open up a very interesting discussion.

I for one would have been very into this new age of preparation, from the training, to the gym, to the nutritionists I've really bought into everything that seemed progressive.

However is there a danger that we've taken our eye off what's really important. Is there still a place for the forty laps around the pitch to see what a man is made of and is what's in your belly already more important than what you put into it everyday.

I have my own opinions but I think I'll leave it open to the forum for a while before I provide them.

Basically the question is: Are we trying to get those extra last few inches without getting the first many hard miles?

[azoffaly]

I think a lot of teams are looking at the 'critical non-essentials' as Clive Woodward called it, and adopting them, thinking that that constitutes preparation in and of itself. It is only part of it in my opinion. It's like trying to paint a wall before you sand it down.

Dieticians, Psychologists, Muscle Power, Core Strength, etc etc are all very good, but it should be supplementary to the key areas, in my opinion, which are stamina, desire, tactics and above all else, the skills of the games.

If you give me two teams, who are fit, hungry, committed to win the ball, and can use it when they have it, then you have a close game. If one of them uses psychology, dieticians, gymwork etc, and the other doesn't, then team A will win.

If you give me two teams, one of whom is all of the above, with no psychologists or whatever, and the other has all the new stuff, but forgets the fundementals, then the old fashioned team will win.

Those new ideas are what is referred to in business as 'key differentiators'. That means that assuming everyone is on equal or near equal footing in terms of ability, tactics, fitness, commitment, then the team who has the extras gains an advantage.

However having those things only, or with a lower level of the fundementals, means nothing only a new 'fad' to blame when you fail.

[TheManFromFerbane]

I think its fair to say that is the ideal but are teams focusing more on the new style rather than the old school? I have heard lads poopy talking running laps now adays but I'm starting to wonder maybe there is still benefit to this.

I suppose its impossible to say who is doing what unless you're in with the actual teams, does anyone know what direction our Offaly teams are taking?

[Lone Shark]

I think that while core fitness and character is crucial and laps are probably as good a guage of this as anything else, I'd say we're forgetting the basics in terms of working with a football as much as anything else.

A team who can catch a ball well, pass it to a team mate well, read a game and take a score will always do okay. In the rush to try and do everything we tend to have half backs who can't pass a ball, forwards who can't kick a score and keepers who are in there for their kickout rather than because of their ability to save shots or deal with a high ball.

There's a load of ways to get fit and I wouldn't presume to know which ways are good and which are bad, but the ability to kick a ball goes a long way and it can be surprisingly lacking. Certainly Kildare struggled to do it.

[Bord na Mona man]

A lot of it is down to getting players' heads right for the day.
Championship matches are played at an intensity several notches above anything in the league.

I'm sure Micko was happy to cruise in the league and spent his time priming his players to explode onto Croke Park last Sunday to give it 70 minutes of welly.
McGeeney probably went out to try and win most of Kildare's league games and might have overlooked the need to gradually build his players up for championship. Kildare played with the sort of urgency that was expected in the league, but certainly not for championship.

As has been mentioned, the more your employ supplementary aspects to preparation, the greater the danger of distraction from the core aspects required to win.

[manfromdelmonte]

Intensity in training is what gets you ready for championship games - playing and training

after concentrating on core fitness work and basic skills over a couple of months!!

if the team are deficient in any of the 'extra' areas you might try and address them as a manager. one at a time. first maybe nutrition.

there is place for the old school trainer in the GAA. with some more modern thinking in there