Below, MSc in Performance Coaching student Seán Quinn outlines his journey as a strength and conditioning coach. Seán’s background includes running his own business Quinn Performance Training, alongside roles with Ulster Rugby, Derry GAA and St Canice GAC Dungiven. 

Background

Seán’s interest in Strength and Conditioning came from a realisation that his own training wasn’t complementing his on-field performance. “I returned to Gaelic football after a few years out of the sport and quickly realised that the training I was doing didn’t have much of a transfer onto the pitch,” he recalls. “I started looking into the research myself and got hooked. I fell in love with the process, retrained as an S&C coach, and that kickstarted my journey into doing this for a living.” 

From here, Seán set up Quinn Performance Training, which he describes as offering “a range of services from 1-2-1 and small group training, to athletic development consultation with club sports teams in supporting them creating player pathways to develop their young athletes.”

Working with Ulster Rugby & Derry GAA

Alongside his own coaching business, Seán works as Regional Pathways Athletic Development Coach at Ulster Rugby. “This role includes me being the Lead Athletic Development coach for the Ulster U18 Clubs team throughout their spring and summer programmes, preparing them for the age-grade inter-provincial series,” he outlines. “It’s a challenging role that incorporates everything from gym, speed, max velocity, return to play, and match day support.”

“I’ve been very lucky to be involved as an Athletic Performance Coach with Derry GAA for the last 3 years and this has included being the lead for the U20 football squad, as well as supporting the senior team through the relatively successful last few years with 2 Ulster Titles and 1 National League in that time.”

“The role as Head of Performance for Dungiven came about in November 2023 so is relatively new but have been enjoying the challenge at senior club football in a very competitive division in Derry.

One of the major differences you are hit with working at club is the range of skills, ability and reasons for playing the game – club people in Derry are very passionate about their football and you can feel a real buzz about the place when their team are performing well on the pitch.

With the likes of Derry at intercounty level you are working with some of the best athletes in Ireland – when I was first brought in I was blown away by the level or work and commitment at that level. It is an elite group of athletes to have the pleasure of working with.”

Adapting Coaching Styles Across Sports and Levels

With Seán’s varied roles, it’s not surprising that his weekly schedule is a busy one! 

“It’s a pretty packed schedule thankfully – right now I would be with Ulster Rugby at their Newforge training complex 2-3 times a week, Dungiven 2 evenings and then championship game at the weekend, one evening a week working on the QPT Athletic Development consultation programme with new coaches. And then worked around this would be the individual athlete work like return to play, training top-ups etc.”

Working with athletes in different sports, across different levels and age groups brings its own challenges. Seán outlines how he adapts to this. 

“Some of the principles across the board have to remain the same in terms of honesty with the athlete, respect, hard work etc, but it does require some subtle changes in training setup and delivery. An example being the positional demands in Rugby tend to differ to a greater degree than they do in the likes of GAA – I can’t expect a forward to run the same speed of tempo as a back, etc.

Younger athletes as well often require additional support and considerations such as their training age, level of experience and whether they are playing multiple sports – it is important to me to create the best environment we can in order to support the development of the athlete at their level, and not just simply expect them to be somewhere else.”

He also outlines how his own coaching style has developed. 

“My training philosophy has grown and developed over the last few years but I would say it would would be summed up as the following – To engage and empower athletes to perform to the best of their ability, through high support and appropriate challenge, in the greatest possible environment.”

 

Studying with Setanta

Sean outlines his reasons for studying with Setanta and experiences on the course. 

“A coach that I was very lucky to be mentored by early on in my career, Peter Hughes, had undertaken the same MSc with Setanta and highly recommended the course and content which was enough for me. The flexible nature of the course has been ideal for me with such a busy schedule. The modules have been well laid out and make it very easy to pick things out and implement straight away with the athletes you are working with in the real world. Lastly, the in-person residentials have been a huge highlight – getting to network and bounce ideas off like minded coaches that just want to push the industry forward.”

He provides the below advice for coaches at the beginning of their career. 

“Get out and coach, make mistakes and embrace the failures along the way as those experiences will make you a better coach. Develop and grow your network with as many people as you can, and never stop trying to learn knew things or challenge your own thoughts and beliefs. Also, overall make sure you enjoy the process and have fun along the way!”