Health & Human Performance

Biographical Details:

David has moved to DCU following 13 years in elite sport working first with British and then Irish Hockey where he had coached at all levels achieving success at European (U21 Silver and U18 Gold) level. He was Head Coach to the Irish Senior Men's team for four years leading them from 25th to 18th in the world rankings. Since 2008 David was High Performance Director of Irish Hockey whilst also overseeing the development of a new Player Development model and Coach Education system. David also worked as teacher for seven years and recently been a consultant with The Irish Institute of Sport on their Elite Coach Education program and the International Rugby Board in their development of high performance systems. Since his initial degree and Postgraduate Certificate in Education, David has completed an MSc in Sports Coaching at Loughborough University and is currently completing a doctorate through UClan in Elite Performance.

Research Interests:

David's primary research interests have focused on the Coaching process and coach-athlete interaction and effective coaching practice. Recent research investigated the development pathways of elite coaches working at Olympic level. He has also completed work based research in to talent Identification and Player Development pathways.