The Athlete's Advantage

Today’s Solo Podcast covers the topic of mentors and mentorship’s.  I’ve had multiple different mentors and mentorships, all which have been a positive experience for me. While some people believe it’s advantageous to have one mentor for life, I believe it’s optimal to learn from a range of different people.  Each of my mentors have taught me what I needed at that time. I believe mentorships to be...

Today’s Solo Podcast marks the 100th episode of the Petey Performance Podcast!  Today’s topic is coaching feuds, communication, relationships and credibility within the industry.  I speak about the role our egos and insecurities play in the negative opinions we sometimes hold of other people.  Often, we disagree with a person’s opinion and confuse this with a dislike for that person. It’s importan...

Today’s episode is with the one and only David Grey of David Grey Rehab (DGR). David’s company has had a whirlwind of growth and success in recent times.  We discussed the business side of things, the importance of providing an authentic service to clients, and the mission of DGR.  We touched on skill development, including what people may be doing wrong with regard to developing their basic skill...

More work is not better, better work is better.  This is the topic of today’s solo podcast. While some coaches throw high volume at their athletes, I feel it’s crucial to find a balance between load and quality. While increased load may be beneficial in certain cases, it’s important to not let increased load hinder the quality of execution.  Increasing the load on one skill may have a negative imp...

Today’s Solo Podcast addresses the topic of online vs in-person coaching. Like most things, each have their pros and cons to consider. With differences in terms of flexibility, effectiveness, communication, and financial considerations, there’s no one-size-fits-all. Different coaching styles work differently for different coaches and athletes depending on their goals, values and priorities. Hopefu...

This week's episode is with Irish international athlete Sarah Quinn. Sarah is currently coming back from a recent stress fracture, which led us to speaking about her ongoing rehabilitation and recovery processes. We spoke about Sarah’s coaches, past and present and how they’ve each helped her in the sport. We then went on to talk about the impact your circle has on you, in particular her training...

Todays podcast is a conversation with Sami Dowling, who has recently taken on two new roles as the head S&C coach with Dublin Ladies football team and Dundalk FC.  With previous experience working with the Irish hockey team and Leinster rugby as well as other GAA teams, Sami has an abundance of information and insightful lessons to share, which he has gained throughout his ongoing career....

Today’s podcast is a conversation with Aisling McCarthy. The former Tipperary GAA football captain is now plying her trade in the AFLW with the West Coast Eagles.  Aisling shared her thoughts and goals on the upcoming season and gave us an insight into her role in the leadership group. We then went on to discuss the contrast between the GAA and the AFLW match schedule.  Aisling shared he...

In this episode I give my take on individualising GAA S&C programmes.  It may seem tough to give your athletes an individualised approach without creating 30 different programmes, but this episode explains some simple ways to cater for the different types of athletes.  Firstly, I provide some really simple and effective ways to give your athletes more autonomy in their training, to b...

Today‘s solo podcast attempts to answer the question; “Is it possible to be an effective and elite level dual-code GAA athlete at club level?” First, I break down the hectic match/training schedule dual-sport athletes are faced with, and address the reality of fulfilling all events involved.  I then touch on the principle of cumulative fatigue and the training approach that I would use as a w...

Welcome back to The Petey Performance Podcast! This much requested episode focuses on pre-season S&C.  In this episode, I explain my pre-season coaching process. I discuss how long the pre-season should be, how I pool my athletes in order to give them an individualised plan based on their strengths and weakness’s, testing protocols and session-splits. Every environment is different, but y...

Our final episode of the season is with former international high jumper and expert in plyometric training methods, Matt McInnes Watson. Matt is a researcher and is currently studying for his PhD in Sports Science. He also has experience working as a PE teacher in the UAE.  Matt has been coaching multi-events in jumps for many years now and is known as The Plyo Guy on social media. He has a g...

This short episode wraps up season 2 by reflecting on my podcasting journey so far. I reflect on why I began this podcast in the first place, and where it’s at today. I’ve had loads of fantastic conversations with well-respected, intelligent and influential leaders in the industry, through which I’ve formed solid connections. The podcast has been a vehicle that I've used for personal growth and se...

Today’s solo podcast covers my process for coaching change of direction and agility.  After posting a lot of content relating to speed, agility & gamespeed in recent months, I've been receiving an influx of messages from coaches & athletes alike, in relation to how I go about integrating COD & agility coaching/training. Before I go any further I must give special mention to some c...

This week’s episode is with Kevin Feely of Kildare Senior Football team.  Kevin finds himself in a unique position given that he also has experience playing professional soccer in England with Charlton Athletic and Newport County. Kevin pursued a career in Athletic Training and Therapy and now runs his own therapy clinic in Tallaght, Kevin Feely Athletic Therapy. Kevin also has a Masters in S...

This episode is with former Leinster rugby player, Conor O’Brien.  Conor was unfortunately forced to retire last season due to recurring injuries.  We went into detail on the trials and tribulations involved in being a Leinster rugby player on the peripheries of the favoured playing squad. Conor spoke candidly about dealing with injuries and his own personal growth as a result of going t...

This episode of the podcast is with Irish international athlete, and now horizontal-jumps coach at a collegiate-level, Colm Bourke.  Colm also hosts his own podcast, the Track and Field Performance Podcast. This led us to the conversation about the experience of podcasting and the benefits of it, as well as the aspects of self development and self-discovery that comes from that process. Colm...

This episode of the podcast is a conversation around practitioner well-being with Owner of Career Blueprint, Josh Fletcher. Josh has extensive experience within the S&C industry, working with the likes of Exos, English Institute of Sport & Hintsa Performance (F2). However, through his years in the industry he has been through some tough times, experiencing intense burnout and as a result i...

This episode of the podcast is with Kilkenny-man & Rouen Normandie Rugby star, Peter Lydon. Peter has been playing professional rugby abroad for almost 10 years now and has become accustomed to many of the cultural differences out in France, as he plies his trade in the Pro D2. However, one thing that he has not been able to accept is the differences in approach to home vs away games from fans...

This episode of the podcast is with Head S&C with the Cork Senior Hurling team, Stephen Casey. Stephen brings a wealth of knowledge to this conversation, which went in many different directions, as all good conversations do. We spoke about some of Stephen's more unorthodox approaches to player monitoring, his abilities to converse with players on complex topics and his abilities to negotiate w...

This episode of the podcast is a full breakdown of my recommendations for GAA athletes entering their off-season. I speak about the importance of focusing on performance over outcomes during the season, before then going into detail on how long athletes should take off, when they should return to training and what they should focus on upon their return. From gym-based training to speed & agili...

This episode of the podcast is a full breakdown of how I approach in-season S&C for Gaelic Games. I talk about how I structure the weeks & months of training, how I decide upon what will be done on each day and how I communicate that with the coaches so that they know what drills, games & exercises are appropriate for each session. I explain how we integrate our speed & change of d...

This one was an incredibly tough one to record, but ultimately an important topic to talk about. After my recent newsletter being extremely well received, I struck up the courage to talk about something that I haven't been comfortable talking about in the past. Mental illness, stress and mental health disorders are a bit of a taboo subject in the coaching world. We can be reluctant to show weaknes...

This episode of the podcast is with Australian S&C Coach and founder of Metric VBT, Jacob Tober. Jacob is an expert in velocity-based training and has spent the last couple of years developing his own VBT tracking tool in the form of a smartphone application, Metric VBT. He is constantly putting out quality insights into the benefits and utility of VBT on his Instagram and YouTube channels, wh...

I am delighted to be joined by Irish 7s captain, Lucy Mulhall, on this episode of the podcast. Lucy and the Irish team are currently preparing for the Rugby World Cup of 7s in Cape Town next month. We chatted about the team's intense preparations for the competition, as well as how important it was for them to qualify in order to put Irish women's rugby 7s on the biggest stage of all. We spoke abo...