The next Dan Martin and Nicolas Roche (in the foreground) will emerge if we get enough riders like (left to right in the background) Mark Downey, Eddie Dunbar (partially obscured) and Dylan Foley on their bikes and keep them there through school exams and the tricky progression from youth to junior, U23 and elite ranks (Photo: Sean Rowe)
The next Nicolas Roche, Dan Martin, Philip Deignan or Matt Brammeier won't be found by looking for them. They will be thrown up automatically once we get enough kids on their bikes and keep them there, writes former Cycling Ireland head of coaching development Paddy Doran, now of www.peakendurancecoaching.com
Many of us spend our time wondering where the next Nicolas Roche or Dan Martin is going to come from, trying to unearth another great Irish talent.
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In truth, the next superstar of Irish cycling is of peripheral importance. The real goal is to provide the right environment for everyone’s talent - big or small - to develop.
The much trumpeted ESRI report into sports participation published recently certainly grabbed a lot of headlines. It made for uncomfortable reading for a lot of activities where the drop-out and retention rates plotted on a graph look like Alpine descents.
Cycling comes out of the report looking relatively good. But even our house needs a little attention, not least on the thorny issue of getting and keeping younger riders on their bikes.
With almost 20,000 members and a bumper crop of juniors scaring the life out of all the A3s, Cycling Ireland has clearly never had it so good. But the average age of members is still above 39 years and rising. What to do?
In my time as Head of Coaching Development with Cycling Ireland, we developed a plan for managing young riders’ time so they would not abandon their bikes completely as important exams approached.
It proved effective with the kids on the Cycling Ireland high performance coaching development programmes in keeping them in the sport. And now the challenge is to broaden the base so more riders are coming into the sport at a younger age, and staying in it.
It was this very topic that exercised Minister of State Michael Ring TD and his department in producing their study, Keeping Them in the Game: Taking Up and Dropping Out of Sport and Exercise in Ireland, a report commissioned by the Irish Sports Council and compiled by ESRI researchers.
It stated: “The largest study of participation in sport and exercise ever conducted in Ireland… provides evidence for policy from three large nationally representative surveys of activity, covering everyone from primary school children to older adults.”
Some Key findings include
- Participation in cycling and, in particular, swimming, are most likely to persist into later adulthood; Gaelic games meanwhile have a high drop-out rate.
- Almost all primary schoolchildren engage in regular sporting activity – it’s what happens after that stage that is a cause for concern.
- Students who play sport get, on average, better Leaving Certificate results.
- Many children drop out of regular activity during the second-level years, especially girls.
- School exams have a strong negative impact: students participate less in exam years and this has a lasting effect on whether they are active in later years.
So it seems that cycling is often a lifelong activity and exercise and sport does help with study in some way. It also shows, as we already know, that exams are demanding. And combining exams with sport is quite challenging, especially an endurance sport like cycling.
However, in my experience, with a correct approach this is not as big a problem as it appears.
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I have coached riders who achieved very good academic results at second and third level, along with very good race results in the same year.
Some of these riders have gone on to be good senior elite riders and still enjoy riding their bikes. These were usually dedicated, disciplined riders with very good time management skills.
For a number of years the fashion was for a lot of Irish junior cyclists to take a year out from competition and training to concentrate on study and exams. As the ESRI report highlights, this is likely to result in a lot of the athletes never returning to the sport.
I have never been able to understand the rationale behind taking a year off for study as there are 168 hours in the week and as little as 4-6 hrs per week will successfully maintain fitness during exams and study periods.
Then there are lots of school/college holiday periods throughout the year where there is less emphasis on study and when training volume can be increased to improve fitness without any adverse effect on academic preparation.
So, how can successfully combining academia and sport be achieved?
By the coach and rider working together to develop a plan based around peaking at certain times and reducing demands around exams and study time.
Students should ideally get guidance on planning studies timetable and goal setting.
The Cycling Ireland High Performance development squads changed this approach for juniors in the last few years during my tenure as head coach of the programme. Peaks were planned for the summer after exams were completed.
And riders were able to study well and still produce impressive performances on the bike. Importantly, rider retention from those on that development squad system seems to be staying high so far.
Also, a number of them have ascended to a very high level in the sport thanks to their talent and an ability to work hard and be disciplined at their sport and education.
The support and guidance of the talent team coaches and junior coach was, and is, another important factor in this.
So what’s the message here?
My contention is that there is no need for second or third level students to stop their sport completely during exam years. And by the looks of the findings in this report, keeping at their sport in a balanced way will more than likely produce better academic and sporting results and retention in the sport in the long term.
And just as importantly, keeping sport and study in balanced perspective will keep them in a healthy enjoyable lifelong activity that will enhance their quality of life.
Let’s get kids on bikes and show them how to make it a sport for life. Do that, and the next Kelly or Roche won’t be far behind.
Resources: There are a number of excellent study resources available for students (and athletes) at the links below by (Prof) Aidan Moran, Sports Psychologist to World class Sports men and women and Professor of Cognitive Psychology at the School of Psychology, University College, Dublin,
A book called “Managing Your Own Learning at University” (see http://www.ucdpress.ie/display.asp?K=9781900621588&aub=Aidan%20P%20Moran&m=1&dc=1
An ebook/CD called “Learn to Study” – see http://www.mindcool.com/Learn-to-Study.html
Another ebook/CD called “Learn to Concentrate” (MindCool Productions – see http://www.mindcool.com/Learn-to-Concentrate.html
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