Eoghan McDermott explains how to prove you're right person for the team. You've got a match at the weekend a local derby clash, one you can't lose. Pressure's on. You have to win . . . losing is not an option.

For the last couple of weeks, you've been training and preparing like a demon. The shoulder has been to the wheel. If you lose, you won't be able to show your face in the clubhouse. This is serious. You need to succeed. We know just how important good preparation is in sport but a job interview is the same.

Dream big, work hard. For Clare hurler and charity activist Tony Griffin, the secret to success is no mystery

HELLO, my name is Tony Griffin. I have played senior inter-county hurling with Clare since 2000. In that time, team honours have eluded us. However, I have been fortunate enough to be three times nominated for an All Star, achieving a personal goal when I was awarded the No 15 spot in 2006. But that is not what this about - this about something much more important.

Colm Ó Riagáin looks at the thorny issue of how to deal with the merciless media pack. “Right Seanie, we need you to do an interview”. What’s your first reaction? “Who? Me? No way!” Most players worry about saying the wrong thing, appearing inarticulate or, the flipside, saying too much! Here are a few tips to keep on the straight and narrow when dealing with the media.

The Player's Colm Ó Riagáin gives some handy, easy to use hints on how to coax the best out of your team-mates or those you are coaching. HAVE you wondered how to get the best out of those around you - your team-mates, the kids you're coaching?  Making small, easy changes to your messages can make them vastly more persuasive - you don't need to be a mind control expert like Derren Brown to do so.

The Player's Colm Ó Riagáin looks at the captain's role in giving the team talk and how to inspire the troops properly. "A Leader is a dealer in hope. " Napoleon. You've just landed the captaincy - yeesss ! Next thought: Jaysus what do I say to the lads on Sunday afternoon. Maybe you've watched Robin Williams in Dead Poets' Society and fantasised about you're inspirational powers or maybe you remember the yawns when you did the best man speech last year!

Professor Aidan Moran of UCD, author of Pure Sport, Practical Sports Psychology,  looks at practical ways of preparing for the big day. Colm Ó Riagáin talks to Prof of Psychology Aidan Moran about the application of sports psychology in Gaelic games and discovers that success comes in ‘cans’ and not ‘can’ts’.

 

Q. Applying sport psychology in a group context is a difficult concept. How does it work?

Working with teams is definitely different from working ‘one-to-one’ with players but the basic psycholgical principles remain the same. I’ve advised lots of GAA teams, including Mayo in 2004, and the main message I try to get across to them is that the purpose of psychological training is to help players to do their best when it matters most.

Here’s an example. Anyone can kick a ball over the bar from 20 metres in training. But can they do it in Croke Park in front of 70,000 people when their heart is pounding and their team is a point behind with seconds to go?

The GAA season is a maze, like no other sport for the average player. Outspoken Australian conditioning expert WILL HEFFERNAN gives his controversial opinion on the peaks and troughs in training and argues that consistency is the key to successful preparation

IN coaching circles, one of the most highly debated topics is how to properly ‘peak’ an athlete and this conversation then extends to bringing teams to a peak.

There are several schools of thought on this, ranging from ‘mini-peaking’ athletes and teams throughout the season to ‘mega-peaking’ them for championships only.

Former Fermanagh player Colm Bradley is a journalist with the Fermanagh Herald. Now on the other side of the fence, he looks at the growing media responsibilities for today’s inter-county player and how best to cope

LET’S be honest, most people look at the sports reporter as a bit of a bluffer. We get in free to games, we get to chat to the big names and we get paid to rattle out a few hundred words of a match report or an interview. Hardly rocket science you say. Easy really.

Well, I won’t lie to you, there are harder jobs. In fact, when Scottish journalist, broadcaster and writer, AG MacDonnell said of a colleague, ‘he had no qualifications for any profession so he resolved himself to try his fortune in journalism,’ he could well have been talking about many of today’s press pack, myself included.