Show Notes
I’m joined by Jonny McGailey, a Louth native who has worked across elite rugby, GAA, basketball and high-performance sport in Australia, with the Sydney Kings in the NBL. I played under Jonny for a season at Clan na Gael Sydney in 2023, so it was great to catch-up with him. We discuss: • Coaching NBA-level talent and managing elite athletes • The realities of working in professional sport • What GAA can learn from elite Australian systems • GPS, load monitoring and the future of athlete tracking • The rise of ADI and why traditional GPS may miss key movements • Injury prevention, asymmetries and return-to-play monitoring • The differences between GAA, rugby, basketball and AFL environments • Building buy-in with athletes across different sports and cultures • The challenge of making a career as a professional S&C coach • The GAA scene in Sydney • Lessons from working with professional teams in Australia We also dive into Jonny’s incredible personal story of donating a kidney to a close friend, and how that experience changed his perspective on sport and life. A great listen for GAA players, coaches, S&C coaches and anyone interested in elite performance environments, sports science and the future of athlete monitoring. Join 6k+ athletes - Gaelic Games S&C, Performance and Coaching newsletter: https://portal.humansofgaelic.com/newsletter
More from Humans of Gaelic
Join 7k+ athletes - Gaelic Games S&C, Performance and Coaching newsletter: https://portal.humansofgaelic.com/newsletter
Join 7k+ athletes - Gaelic Games S&C, Performance and Coaching newsletter: https://portal.humansofgaelic.com/newsletter
Join 7k+ athletes - Gaelic Games S&C, Performance and Coaching newsletter: https://portal.humansofgaelic.com/newsletter Should you always go to bed at the same time? Is eight hours a myth? And why is your sleep tracker maybe doing more harm than good? With club championships now in full swing, I sat down with Emmett Lynch, a professional sleep coach trained in cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia, to break down what's actually happening when GAA players can't sleep before or after a big game. Emmett works with county players, club players and elite boxers through his practice in Derry, and he's blunt about the myths doing the rounds: the eight hour rule, mouth taping, magnesium tablets, obsessive sleep tracking. His whole approach flips the usual advice on its head. Instead of chasing sleep harder, he tells players to try easier. In this episode, we also cover: • The most common issues GAA players bring to him • Why "tired" and "sleepy" are two completely different things • The truth about bedtime routines, screens and phone scrolling before bed • A simple write-it-down method for a racing mind the night before a game • Controlled rest periods versus naps on match day • Getting to sleep after a night game full of adrenaline • Whether elite athletes actually need more sleep than everyone else • Sleep trackers - are they helping or hurting your recovery? • The truth about melatonin, magnesium and mouth taping Whether you're a player struggling to switch off before championship or a coach trying to help your squad recover better, this one is worth your time. You can follow or reach out to Emmett on his Instagram
Join 7k+ athletes - Gaelic Games S&C, Performance and Coaching newsletter: https://portal.humansofgaelic.com/newsletter
Join 7k+ athletes - Gaelic Games S&C, Performance and Coaching newsletter: https://portal.humansofgaelic.com/newsletter Why are GAA players being dictated to by their dominant foot without even knowing it? Why does dominant-side kicking shape a team's entire tactical shape? And why is what we're currently doing to develop the non-dominant side simply not working? Dr. Karol Dillon has just completed his PhD on bilaterality in Gaelic football - five years of research - and he's back on the podcast to break it all down. After our first conversation, Karol has spent the last year visiting clubs and counties across Ireland sharing his findings. What he found surprised even him. In this episode, we cover: Why skill development in GAA needs to be treated like a lifestyle, not a drill at training