Professor Pat Duffy - A Tribute


by Paddy Doran


Pat Duffy was laid to rest in Birdhill Co Tipperary yesterday. Surrounded by his family and people from the coaching and sporting world who had travelled from near and far to pay their respects to this Giant in the World of Coach Education


When all the new enthusiastic  coaches in most sports in Ireland turn up for their introduction to Coaching course or level 1, 2 or 3 coaching courses that are now presented by their NGBs they probably will not be aware of the debt that they owe to Pat Duffy.


Pat served an 11 year term as the Director of Ireland's National Coaching and Training Centre in Limerick , where he led the establishment of the National Coaching Development Programme and the creation of the national carding scheme for the support of international athletes.


How important was Pat Duffy to coaching in Ireland? Before Pat Duffy became Director of NCTC there was little or none coordinated, or well accredited coaching courses in many sports in Ireland.


There was very little visible routes into coaching and a lot of coaches like myself paddled their own boats getting coaching information and knowledge wherever we could and if we were lucky as I was to meet some people who were great mentors along the way.


Pat Duffy and his small group of inspired people in the NCTC changed all that, he developed the Tutor system where Tutors from all sports were trained to train coaches. The tutors were given skills to further empower coaches and facilitate learning about the principles and practice of coaching.


Suddenly there was a system that worked for everyone. If a person now wants to become a Cycling coach there is a course and level to suit them.


Pat was a visionary who brought groups together, empowered people, and helped develop confidence and belief that Ireland could produce a world class training system for Coaches and world class coaches.


Hundreds of Tutors were trained who went on to train thousands of coaches.  And the system is still based on the original system that Pat Developed.


Going to Limerick for Tutor courses or conferences organized by the NCTC (now coaching Ireland) was always exciting, challenging and fun. Coaches and Tutors from all sports mixed and learned from each other.


Someone like Pat and the work he was doing was not going to pass under the radar and he went from the National Coaching and Training Centre to one of the most prestigious positions in World coaching when he became Chief Executive of sports coach UK, where he led the development of the UK Coaching Framework which received the widespread support of governing bodies; funding partners; higher education and the wider sport coaching industry. 


Well organized Coach Education in Ireland really began with Pat Duffy becoming Director of the National Coaching and Training Centre and thanks to him the opportunity is now there for anyone to avail of a well-structured coaching training system which has a clear Pathway from the introductory level to high performance level.


So if you are thinking of attending coaching courses spare a quick thought For Pat Duffy as its most likely that his vision and ideas have a major impact on everything you will learn on the Course.


RIP

Paddy Doran

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