The Irish Hockey Association has announced plans to reform the domestic structure of the game, in both genders of the sport, across Ireland. These include

- Creation of Northern and Southern Regional Conferences to replace the existing top division of hockey in each of the provinces

- Creation of a National Superleague which would follow on from the Northern and Southern Regional conferences with the top sides qualifying for this league and those missing out entering a National Plate

- Having the winners of the senior interprovincial championships represent Ireland in the European Club Championships

The recommendations replace two previous models discussed in March 2005 and are primarily aimed at addressing the level of hockey regularly played by the leading club sides - it consistently concluded that the current playing structures, particularly in Munster, do not best serve the continuing development and preparation of current and future international players.

Ulster clubs are less affected by the proposals than their southern counterparts. While Ulster top 8 clubs in each gender would predominantly play in Irish competitions throughout the season this would include participation in what may still be termed an Ulster league, under the title of the Northern Regional Conference, in terms of the fixtures undertaken. This contrasts with top division club sides in each of the other provinces where their provincial leagues would cease to exist and be replaced by, what could be termed, a Republic of Ireland league, under the title of Southern Regional Conference.

The creation of both Conferences immediately raises questions concerning the relationship of the Conference clubs with their provincial governing bodies who traditionally have managed their participation in the sport.

The plan to have the senior interprovincial champions represent Ireland in European club competition is also likely to present a major talking point. At present the winners of the Club Championships and Irish Senior Cup qualify for European Club competition. However, while the Club winning the National Superleague (the new club championship) will continue to do so, the winners of the Irish Senior Cup, the glamour competition within the sport, will no longer have that reward.

While the reform proposals stress a desire to retain club hockey at the centre of its plans the reality is that the plans will see only one club side represent Ireland, in each gender, in European club hockey in future years. The potential down grading of the Irish Senior Cup may also affect its profile within the sport.

Over the next number of weeks workshops will take place in each of the provinces to advise further on the plans and gauge reaction. It is anticipated one of the key talking points will be the financing of the proposed restructuring with the reform plans not documenting were the additional revenue it is reasonable to conclude will be required of participating clubs will come from. Indeed while previous proposals have intimated additional costs for, most probably, a maximum of 8 clubs of each gender across Ireland the new proposals suggest it will require additional income to be found by 33 clubs. There are also financial implications for the provincial governing bodies in terms of financing the preparation and participation of senior interprovincial squads in European competition and obtaining, or retaining, sponsorship of provincial competitions bereft of leading clubs and international players whose club hockey may be restricted to Irish competitions.

Stephen Watt
Hockey High Performance Manager

Appreciating the views of others is an important part of reaching a shared understanding of what needs to be done to make progress in any difficult situation. Collaboration is often possible but only if the interested parties communicate effectively and look constructively for the best solution. In this example Peter McCabe relates these principles to a common problem facing athletes in Higher Education and challenges athletes to act in a manner that promotes communication with their academic course teams.

Many students who are also high performance athletes are trying to integrate their academic and sporting commitments. Inevitably there will be scheduling conflicts and occasionally governing bodies will require these student/athletes to participate in or prepare for major sporting events during term time. Participation in such events could require absence for periods longer than is normally considered acceptable by a University and these periods (without teaching staff contact) may have an impact on the student/athlete’s capacity to progress academically.

Student / athletes need to recognise that the University has a duty to operate within a framework which establishes clear regulations and maintains academic standards. The academic team’s capacity to support an athlete by agreeing to the athlete engaging in a short term independent study programme may be limited and is often dependant on the course support available via managed learning environments such as WebCT. Student/athletes should also be aware that adopting an independent study approach to manage absence is a challenging task. It may not be appropriate for those students who are not in good academic standing (i.e. are already faced with re-sit examinations), or who are struggling to demonstrate an understanding of the work. For now let us assume that a student has good academic standing and wishes to get permission from their academic tutors to develop an independent study programme which they will adhere to while absent due to sporting commitments. How should they go about organising such a programme? Have a look at the table below.

As the table indicates there is a lot to do and to perform efficiently the student / athlete needs to adopt a proactive approach, communicate effectively and demonstrate negotiation skills. Finally and most importantly, the student / athlete must commit. They must do exactly what they said they were going to. It is no different than stepping into the competitive arena. Many can formulate a plan in the security of a changing room – only the ‘real deal’ go on to implement the plan under pressure.

Peter McCabe
Athlete Services Manager

Irish Rugby has put in place a high performance program with the aim to produce skilled and talented players for the World Cup in 2011. Many of these players will already be in the system within the 4 provincial academies, while some will still be in their final years at school.

Irish Rugby’s High Performance template involves selecting 3 national squads below the senior Irish team namely;

1. Talent Select – (15-17 years) 30 players in total.
2. Academy Select - (18-21 years) 15 players in total.
3. High Performance Unit - 15 players in total.

The selection of these squads will be based on short term and long term positional needs.
The 15 players in the High Performance Unit have been selected by Irish coach Eddie O’Sullivan and will receive specialist coaching in order to accelerate their progress. The other 2 squads will be selected by a panel made up of the 4 Academy managers together with schools and age grade representatives.

One of the key objectives of the program is to convert 50% of National Under 21 age grade players to the professional ranks. Currently this percentage sits at 36% nationally but within Ulster it’s 81%, which is indicative of how effective SINI has been in nurturing young talent.

This year six players, Niall Conlon, Stuart Philpott, Chris Henry, Paul Marshall, Paul McKenzie and Mark Kettyle have graduated from SINI into the Ulster professional set up. All six have been contracted because over the course of the last 2 seasons they have shown they have the ability to play for Ulster. Full time rugby will benefit them further and they in turn will help to freshen up the squad.

Ulster coaches Mark McCall and Allen Clarke have been tremendous at investing in young players and the progress of players like Stephen Ferris and Andrew Trimble have shown them to be astute judges of talent.

Gary Longwell
Rugby High Performance Manager

Unfortunetly Sigerson 2006 proved fruitless for the Ulster Universities and in particular for SINI’s Gaelic athletes. Bearing in mind that both UUJ and QUB came through tough draws to reach the traditional weekend it was a pity they both had to meet in Friday’s semi-final. With never more than a couple of points between them the game was a tense hard fought battle. With literally minutes left on the clock and UUJ two points up thanks to a goal courtesy of a defensive mix up by QUB it looked like UUJ would gain revenge for their defeat at the same stage the previous year. However some wayward shooting by UUJ gave QUB a glimmer of hope and with time up they had drawn level .As in any tense championship battle it was a combination of the team that made the least mistakes and wanted to win that bit more that went on to secure victory. And so it was in this encounter as a misdirected kick out fell to Micheal O’Rourke who promptly laid it off to Michael Ward and QUB qualified for their third Sigerson Final in as many years.

So it was jubilation all around for QUB and their supporters while for UUJ it was a heart breaking defeat coming as it did in the final moments of the game. However when the dust has settled they will come to realise the game was lost in the breaks over the hour and hunger for victory when the game was in the melting pot.

And so QUB went on to meet DCU appearing in their first ever final and laced with a host of inter county stars from all over Ireland. The match was played under floodlights at Parnell Park on Saturday night at 7.00pm. With slight wind advantage in the first half it was apparent from early on that QUB were at a disadvantage in the physical stages. DCU’s marauding wing backs were causing Queens all sorts of problems with their frequent raids up field. However there was no doubting Queen’s determination to make up for their two previous final defeats as time and time again the put their bodies on the line to prevent scores and put in tackles. With exchanges tough and fair it was little surprise that the teams went in at half time all square. In hindsight Queens will be disappointed not to have been a few points to the good at this stage as they failed to convert a number of convertible frees.

However DCU were quickly into their stride in the second half and raced into a three point lead with Queens dropping deeper and deeper against a growing breeze. A rare attack saw Eoin McCartan pulled down in the small square and Kevin McGourty converted the resultant spot kick. With the teams all square the next score was always going to be vital. Unfortunately Queens suffered a double blow in the space of the next five minutes with Eoin McCartan denied a goal by an alert DCU keeper and their midfielder Conan O’Brien receiving a second yellow for a rather innocuous challenge on a DCU player. Thereafter it was all down hill for Queens as they couldn’t cope with DCU’s numerical advantage aided by the growing breeze. DCU eventually broke Queen’s stranglehold on proceedings and Mortimer revelling in his newfound freedom tagged on a series of points. Queens battled to the end but eventually fell to their third successive Sigerson final defeat on a score line of 0-11 to 1-4.

All the SINI athletes acquitted themselves well over all of the Sigerson campaign. However it would be folly not to take note of the physic and power of some of the DCU players.

With the disappointment of Sigerson now fading fast Sini’s Gaelic athletes are looking forward to the Ulster U-21 and senior championship with optimism. Armagh successfully overcame Cavan in the prelimary round of the Ulster U-21 Championship last Saturday with an injury time winner from Peadar Toal. SINI’s Michael O’Rourke contributed four points to his team’s total in a good all round performance. This Saturday will see an array of Sini athletes in action in the first round proper where Tyrone travel to Donegal, Monaghan meet Derry, Armagh meet Down, and Antrim play Fermanagh.

Congratulations to James Colgan who recently was invited to a trial for Aussie Rules team Collingwood. Also best wishes to Andrew McLean who looks set to recover from injury to line out at full back for St Galls in the All-Ireland Senior Club final on St Patrick’s Day. Finally well done to our SINI athletes who are currently tasting action for their senior county teams in the National League.

Roger Keenan
Gaelic Football High Performance Manager

As over elaborate as it seems. I see peak performance (PP) as a product of the following formula:

PP = C – I

That is your peak performance is a product of your capacity (i.e your technical, physical and tactical ability) minus your mental interference (i.e the self-defeating mental chatter and imagery that can contaminate performance). It follows, therefore, that the greater your ‘C’ factor, and the smaller your ‘I’ factor, the tendency towards peak performance is increased.

Pre competition preparation is all about getting ready psychologically as well as physically. Most elite performers remark that while they are confident that physically they are well prepared (i.e their ‘C’ factor is robust), they often feel that there are deficits, gaps if you will, in their mental and emotional preparedness (i.e their ‘I’ factor is high).

Successful sport participants don’t spend game day worrying about when to eat, what to eat and with whom. They don’t dwell on what time to get to the sporting arena, and things to think about.

Elite athletes typically develop, to the point of automatic, a game day mental procedure. Of course, it has to be emphasised that mental preparation (eg. visualisation, constructive self talk) begins well before competition day; indeed, your mental preparation for competition should begin within hours of your last competition encounter.

However if you believe that your own pre-game/comp preparation is too adhoc, too open to distraction, and therefore needs refining, then consider the following suggested elements to guide you towards reducing the impact of your very own personal ‘I’ factor thereby developing a sound plan.

1. Create a positive, optimistic mood

1.1 Concentrate on doing what is right for your role, rather than what is wrong.
1.2 Focus on performing at your best.
1.3 Dismiss the status of other competitions, or teams, the league standings or leader board, or issues to do with outcome.
1.4 Talk about your sport as a process, and activity that is pleasurable, worth doing and extremely valuable in your life.

2. Positive Self-talk

2.1 Psychologists and neuroscientists have shown that every one of us carries and ongoing internal dialogue (self-talk) of around 50,000 thoughts per day!

2.2 Now, most of these are harmless, mundane thoughts that serve our daily activities (I must get the groceries; get the car serviced..etc), but the danger is when our self talk becomes negative.
2.3 Every thought entering your conscious mind is accepted as truth and is sent by your brain through the rest of your body (eg. muscles, motor movement) and to be brought forth into your world (including your sporting world) as reality.

2.4 So, monitor what you are saying to yourself. Ask yourself, “Would I accept this form a friend/colleague?” If the answer is “No”, then why plant it into your own mind. If you become negative with your self talk (and leave it unchallenged) it will lead to negative outcomes.

2.5 Challenge negative thoughts and replace them with positive, constructive, helpful, self-promoting thoughts.

3. Visualisation

3.1 It is to your advantage to ‘play’ the game/your role in your mind’s eye during the days leading up to the competitive encounter. While I use mind’s eye, it is important to use as many of your senses as possible during visualisation. Set aside 10-20 minutes to visualise your role in the forthcoming competition. It should also include the visualisation of feeling good about yourself and confident in your performance. Future articles will more fully delineate the elements and nuances of productive visualisation.

4. Final Preparation

4.1 Once finished dressing for the game/competition, be clam, confident and ready to rumble. Use positive, affirmations, constructive breathing, but ultimately prepare at this time in a way that works best for you.

4.2 At this stage there should be no surprises because in your visualisation you have ‘travelled’ here before.

4.3 Around 20-45 minutes before the event begins, you are reaching for the optimal level of positive energy and positive arousal. All the butterflies in the stomach are there, but you are now taking control of this anxiety and converting it into positive and productive competition energy in anticipation of the encounter.

4.4 Every individual performer is different. You may well use breathing techniques to reduce anxiety at this point, or you may be the type of athlete who moves towards greater arousal and energy levels (high level psyching-up)

4.5 Some athlete need more energy just before competition, some need less. So know your own limits within yourself and become comfortable with the perfect timing and energy zone. This is a crucial time, and each person attends to the pre-competition, fine-tuning in his or her own way.

4.6 Whatever your routine is, in a team sport you also need to be sensitive and respectful towards your team-mates own rituals. Allow fellow athletes/players to have their own unique experience prior to a game/competition.

4.7 In this way each member of the team using their own means of preparation is able to take control of their environment and filter out any negative distractions that might interfere with their game.

5. Warm Up – Use it constructively

5.1 At the warm up make sure your particular skill execution is sharp, strong and accurate and that you get the feel for the environment.

5.2 Make sure your mind is totally focused on the task-at-hand.

5.3 Your mind should be positive, immersed in the present, and you should feel proud to be you and/or to represent your team.

5.4 Remember who you are, ready to compete and to be the best that you can be, it’s what you work hard for after all.

Mark Elliot
Sports Psychologist