FORMER Donegal football star Karl Lacey has been appointed to a new coaching role in the county.
Lacey, who stepped down as a coach with the Donegal senior footballers just a few weeks ago, has been appointed as the Head of Academy Development.
The Four Masters clubman, a 2012 All-Ireland winner who is a four-time All-Star and was the 2012 Footballer of the Year, will now lead a programme design alongside Games Development Manager Aaron Kyles.
Lacey also works as a lecturer in Sport Coaching and Performance at Letterkenny Institute of Technology.
A new Academy Development Structure has been presented by Kyles, who says the aim is to nurture emerging talent in the county – directly with academy squads and indirectly by providing support to clubs.
“While designed for academy squads a key feature of the player development programme is that it can be integrated by clubs into their coaching frameworks and planning strategies,” the Donegal County Board said.
“County coaches will also liaise with clubs to upgrade their coaches, assist player development and to help with other objectives, such as minimising dropout.
“This will be achieved by providing a holistic and progressive long-term player development programme to coincide with the GAA’s new Player Pathway Model for sustained results both on and off the field, across all levels of development in the county.”
Donegal GAA have also enlisted the services of Dr Micheál Cahill, who will fill the role of Athletic Performance Consultant.
Originally from Limerick, Dr Cahill currently serves as vice president of performance and sports science at Athlete Training and Health, a sport performance company, in Texas.
A key feature of the new coaching structure is external partnerships with third level institutions and experts at the leading edge of coaching philosophies and technologies.
Donegal GAA have partnered with LyiT for some years now and the partnerships will now also include Athlete Training and Health in Texas, Auckland University of Technology (AUT) and Cardiff Metropolitan University (CMU).
Dr Cahill lectures in AUT and supervises postgraduate sports science research worldwide for CMU, while Kyles is a PhD researcher in CMU under the guidance of two renowned leaders in youth athletic development, Dr Jon Oliver and Dr Rhodri Lloyd.
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