Developing two-footed footballers: 'What we're currently doing is not working'

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

• What the research actually showed when Karol ran a three-month intervention - and why the result wasn't what he expected

• How dominant-foot kicking shapes team tactics across every division, male and female

• Why left-footed players are worth their weight in gold and are undervalued

• What David Clifford, Shane Walsh, Tomas Ó Sé and James O'Donoghue have in common that most coaches miss

• Why the games-based approach is what teenage players themselves say works best

• The role of parents in developing the non-dominant side - and why they matter more than the coach

• How S&C coaches can bring this into training

• How GAA's own 13-week coaching webinar only dedicates one week to skill - and what that tells us

• Why we're playing with half a pitch and what would change if this improved by 25% over 30 years

  You can follow Karol on X: https://x.com/KarolDillon8