Si Nainby’s Deep Dive with Johnny O’Connor

“If you can’t connect with people don’t expect to make a change”

WARNING: This podcast does include swearing.

Johnny O’Connor is a strength and conditioning coach with Connacht Rugby. He previously played for the province as well as Wasps and Ireland. In this podcast he chats about:

Part 1

His background from playing rugby with Connacht & Ireland to S&C soach as the world’s oldest intern at Arsenal.
Johnny’s key takeaways from working with coaches such as Liam Hennessy, Craig White and Warren Gatland.
The three key aspects for developing young players – discipline, work ethic and the ability to accept failure and how important it is to set that standard as the coach.

Part 2 – The Deep Dive

The importance of creating connections with players but needing to understand yourself to be able to do that.
Cultural differences between soccer and rugby.
The influence of Shane McDonald
The environment at Wasps in the early 2000’s
The psychological and emotional toll that builds over a rugby career
What rugby can learn from football