Hand in hand with the coaching side of the game is the mental preparation. Mental skills coach Gareth Fox takes a look at some key aspects of the championship arena. Michael McMullan picked his brain… A COMMON theme of the curtain coming down on Premier League football at Goodison Park was the fortress it became. […]
FEATURE: A winning mindset
February 1, 2024
By Shaun Casey AN unexpected phone call from Glen manager Malachy O’Rourke was just the start of a rollercoaster ride for Gareth Fox. In the past two seasons, he helped the Watty Graham’s men collect back-to-back Ulster titles along with that much sought after All-Ireland crown. Fox, a mental skills and culture coach from Armagh, […]
GARETH FOX Work-rate: Lost in translation
July 5, 2023
By Gareth Fox LISTEN in on any pre-match talk and you’ll hear the words “work rate.” The single most demanded or expected attribute of any player about to go out and perform. Yet in today’s world of GPS and distance covered, perhaps a faux amis. The recent introduction of stats has been extremely interesting in […]
GARETH FOX: No winning or losing? Or just no silly parents?
June 4, 2023
By Gareth Fox CROKE Park plan to clamp down on competitiveness for underage players up to 12 years of age. As it stands, all games played at u-12 level and below will fall under the restriction of Go Games, intended to be ‘non-competitive’. No score-keeping, no knockouts, no finals, no winners, no losers. Why? To […]
GARETH FOX: Become an infinite player
May 9, 2023
IN sports, the concept of winning and losing is central to the game. However, focusing solely on winning can lead to short-term thinking and a lack of sustainability. Instead, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were all able (coaches especially) to adopt an “infinite game” mindset, where the goal is not to win but to […]
Gareth Fox – The balance between the programmed robot and the AI
March 5, 2023
SOMETIMES, not all the time, but sometimes GAA can look and feel a bit robotic. Whether that’s a good thing or bad thing, who knows? But one thing is for certain, Autonomy plays a vital role in player improvement and enjoyment, so it’s important not to remove it completely. It’s finding the right balance between […]
GARETH FOX: Motivation, not hunger
February 7, 2023
WHEN asked by Gaelic Life’s Michael McMullan what he learnt from last year’s National League, Rory Gallagher replied “I learnt that we weren’t prepared enough for it. We weren’t focused well enough and we weren’t hungry enough.” A normal, standard response from a GAA manager – preparation, focus, hunger. For the first two (preparation and […]
Gareth Fox: Perfect your soft skills
January 6, 2023
AS I sit writing this, Michael Smith and Michael van Gerwen have just qualified for the PDC World Championship final. Both men with something very interesting in common – besides the name Michael. The World Cup ended, the darts started – a more than adequate replacement in my view. I #luvthedarts. It is fascinating, it […]
GARETH FOX: The dark arts
December 5, 2022
I WAS first made aware of the term ‘The Dark Arts’ in sport in a post-game interview given by Paul O’Connell. I was in my teens and was fascinated by his summation of an international defeat being down to Ireland’s inability to match the opposition in the dark arts. And from then, I’ve watched sport […]
GARETH FOX: The importance of feedback
November 5, 2022
THERE is nothing more important in performance and learning than feedback loops. A two-way dialogue between coach and player (or player and player), with the joint objective of getting better. All my clients give me performance and mindset feedback after every game – it’s mandatory. Why? Because it creates improvement; it creates growth. Highlighting gaps […]