The GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association have joined forces to conduct the largest ever coach development survey undertaken in Irish sport.

The findings of Coaching and Coach Education in Gaelic games report has been published today, with assistance from numerous institutions including IT Sligo.

Based on the responses from more than 10,400 participants, a clear picture of the volume of work being undertaken by the associations’ volunteer coaches has been established.

The most prominent issue was ‘Balancing Coaching with Other Demands’, while approximately one third of respondents mentioned either Poor Games Opportunities/Structures or Scheduling of Competitions as challenges facing coaching.

It should be noted these responses were made before the GAA’s move towards a defined split season between inter-county and club activity.

An overwhelming majority of the respondents consider future learning to be important to their coaching, with 71.2% of respondents ‘Quite Likely’ or ‘Extremely Likely’ to undertake some form of coach education in the next 12 months.

The coaches that participated in this survey were predominantly male, aged between 25 – 54, with 89.8% having more than 5 years coaching experience.

The aim of this research was to collect population data about the coaching workforce across all levels of Gaelic games participation to inform coach development policy, implementation, and management at National, Provincial, County, School and Club levels