Liam O'Meara: From Internships to full-time Roles
Background: I completed a BSc and an MSc in Sports Exercise & Performance and Sports Performance Practice at the Atlantic Technological University (Donegal). I began my Strength and Conditioning coaching journey while studying in the final year of my BSc by volunteering with the Donegal U18 ladies’ team, and, during my MSc studies, I managed to add volunteer roles with Finn Harps U17 and local GAA football clubs. After completing my MSc, I completed internships with Crawley Town FC First Team and Malmö FF Academy. My time in Sweden helped to secure my first full-time role in the Cambridge United Academy and now with Barnet FC First Team.
Volunteering/Interning: My time spent volunteering in Ireland gave me opportunities to lead sessions, make mistakes, learn, and grow as a practitioner, which in turn gave me the grounding to move to the UK and Sweden and be comfortable enough to go into elite settings and continue my development. For me, my time in Sweden has had the most impact on my development up until now. Although I was an intern, I was given the responsibility and, where possible, had the opportunity to lead squad S&C provision at an elite level while also being supported in developing through individualised CPD that worked for me. In my opinion, the time spent interning was crucial in my development, but I would advise early career practitioners that it is important to find the right internship for you.
Moving to Full Time: My first full-time role was with Cambridge United as a Lead Sports Scientist for the academy (U9-U16) squads. Even though I was performing similar responsibilities while at Malmo FF, this role was significantly different as it was about adapting from an academy in Sweden to an academy in England with different cultures and ways of working but again, it was a massive opportunity to learn from other practitioners and different clubs' way of working. I then moved to Barnet FC in the National League, where, after my first season with the club, we secured promotion to League Two as Champions.
My Current Role: My current role as Lead Strength & Conditioning Coach for Barnet FC involves leading all things Physical Performance along with the Lead Physiotherapist. At this level in the football pyramid, although you may have one title like Strength and Conditioning Coach, your role will likely fall into other areas of performance, such as nutrition and sports science, which was the case for me here. Day to day, my focus is on the physical and athletic development of the players, along with ensuring load management and recovery are also covered. I typically get three opportunities per day to work with the players, with the duration of the opportunities varying depending on the day, so we must make the most of this time to get the most out of the players, either athletically or recovery-wise.
The first of those sessions is prehab/pre-activation which will last between 15-25 mins and will have a physical focus that will match the focus of the session and acts prep/primer work the athletic development session (“warm up”) and movements that they will act out during the technical/tactical work. It will include mainly gym-based movements around the focus (accelerations, decelerations, change of direction, or Max velocity running) through mobility, power, and strength-based work.
During the second of those sessions, the focus is to warm up the players before the training session, which is approximately 10-15 minutes. These sessions aim to work on athletic development through movements and mechanical models that can improve athletic ability and decrease injury risk through exposure to intense movements that match the physical focus of that session (small or large area sizes). The third of those sessions is a gym session that follows training and will focus on strength/hypertrophy or power, depending on each player's needs/requirements during that period.
A lot of the work we do post-game is to maximise players’ recovery. The first day back post-game will typically be a main recovery day for those who played 60+ minutes on the previous match day. During this day, they have essential criteria to meet (e.g., nutrition and hydration) while also reaching 100 points on our in-club recovery system, which will include methods like ice baths, compression boots, treatment from physios, etc.
