Testimonials

Here you can find some of my testimonials / book reviews.

Leinster Rugby

Paul Kilgannon has consulted with us in our Leinster Rugby Coach Development department over the past two years at a number of levels. He has presented to and developed our Community Coaching Officers and Coach Development Staff as well as delivering key note talks in all our five regions across the province of Leinster.

Indeed, many of our club coaches and volunteers that attended Leinster’s workshops, which were delivered superbly by Paul, have in turn arranged for him to deliver a tailored workshop in their own
local clubs, such was the quality and authenticity of this work. We have also embraced his book Coaching Children in Sport-The CARVER Framework as an excellent tool for any youth coach and we
supply all coaches who complete our coaching courses with a copy of the book. We feel it aligns with our coaching ethos and gives a comprehensive yet simple overview of the expanse of coaching, skills and tools involved. Our purpose here in Leinster is to effect and support sustainable rugby environments by encouraging, promoting, growing and organising the participation in and playing of rugby in the 12 counties of Leinster.

Paul has gone above and beyond in his preparation and dedication to engage with our programmes and is a true advocate for coach development. We would recommend Paul to deliver thoroughly on his word and he would be of value to any learning environment. I don’t know if I have ever met a person so keen to develop and get better at his craft.

~Declan O’Brien – Coach Development Manager

Nemo Rangers GAA Club

Paul delivered an exceptional coaching seminar for us in Nemo Rangers. It was a real pleasure to listen to him talk passionately and articulately about coaching.

Practical, insightful and innovative is how I would describe his book ‘The Carver Framework’. There is a clear focus on child development which can be applied to life and sport. The book also gives the tools to help the coach create better self-awareness within the child. A must-read.

Cuala GAA

Paul delivered a super coaching workshop for us in Cuala GAA. It was a really enjoyable and rich learning experience for our coaches, many who had already read his book.

His book is a must-read for anyone who is involved in coaching children. A framework which owes much to that old fashioned virtue “common sense”, which tends to be forgotten as coaches seek to impose adult coaching methods on children. A learning competition indeed.

~Ken FitzGerald

Scottish Rugby

Paul came across to visit Scottish Rugby and deliver a few workshops to our club coaches and development staff. The sessions were excellently received. The content of the CARVER Framework is very apt for every coach in our community game regardless of age or stage. There will be something in the framework that resonates with every coach, the testament to this is looking at the engagement and notetaking around the audience!

Paul’s delivery style is excellent and engaging always humanizing the art of coaching with examples, anecdotes and some humour along the way. Our coaches left the room enthused and recharged, with lots of positive comments and feedback in the days that followed.

The CARVER Framework itself breaks down the art of coaching into a simple model that allows a coach to self-reflect on several areas of their practice. This model, I believe, is an excellent tool for all aspiring coaches out there and one that we will refer to a lot at Scottish Rugby.

We also had a day with Paul and our Training & Education team at Scottish Rugby. We wanted to match up some of our new T&E pathways for coaches to the themes of the CARVER Framework. Paul provided some great insight and knowledge from his past experiences working with many different organisations in sport and business. His ability to check and challenge us created some great conversations and deeper thinking. Again this was all done with Paul’s excellent delivery style making sessions with him productive and enjoyable.

I can honestly say that this has been one of the best and most relevant CPDs of my time at Scottish Rugby.

~Gordon Lyon

Vern Gambetta

Coaching Children in Sport by Paul Kilgannon is a great resource for anyone working with developmental athletes.

Even though it is written from the perspective of working with youngsters preparing for invasion sports I think it goes far beyond that. The principles transcend specific sports.

In my opinion, it is a must-have for every coach’s library.

~Vern Gambetta

The Irish Times

This book takes an in-depth holistic approach to a vital building block of modern society.

~Malachy Clerkin

Irish Daily Mail

Superb! Some many nuggets of wisdom laid out on a page. Every school and club in the country should get their hands on a copy.

~Philip Lanigan

Paudie Butler (Former National Director or Hurling)

This is the best tool in the world, of any sport of any time, ever written..this is the finest thing.

Termon GAA Club

Firstly Paul is an excellent communicator, has an easy manner, and his concepts are not confined to Gaelic Games and are transferrable to all sports. He went through the concepts of the Carver Framework which is a common-sense approach to coaching. He is extremely knowledgeable and held the audience’s attention for two hours and the feedback from our coaches was extremely positive.

~Kevin McGettigan

Portlaoise AFC

He has a clear passion for, and knowledge of positive coaching skills that will be effective in any sport, with players of any age group. He gave us lots of applicable ideas on how to engage and involve our players in the club environment.

~Sylvia Gee

Ballaghderreen GAA

His presentation was an expertly mixed theory with practical coaching examples & stories, humour and challenging thoughts. His excellent book the Craver Framework is forming the basis of our club coaching review and plan in the year ahead.

~Dermott Dillon

Maynooth GAA

There was a brilliant response from our own coaches to his workshop. He has such a broad range of knowledge and experience that he can draw from in order to challenge and assist coaches of all levels and abilities.

~Aidan Minnock

Ballyboden St Endas GAA

Paul is obviously very passionate and engaged on his topic and as a fellow GAA man, his experience and observations resonated with the audience.

~Tom O’Donoghue

Monaleen GAA Club

Paul came to our club and delivered a thought-provoking presentation on how we coach our children and youth. The CARVER Framework has become a part of every coach’s thinking and ultimately will benefit every youth playing Gaelic Games in our club.

~Richie Murray

Tullow RFC

His presentation shows his love of Coaching and his incredible knowledge of how to motivate players and how important respect is in sport. Paul’s enthusiasm in his presentation and in answering questions both during and after is really admirable.

~Eddie Thornton

Carryduff CLG, Co. Antrim

It was a pleasure and honour to have Paul present his thoughts and insights into coaching culture to our club Carryduff CLG in December 2019. An experienced coach and administrator, his passion for coaching, his passion to read, research and expand his own knowledge in coaching and share his insights into how to be a better coach for those he coaches was obvious to all. Excellent as his book, Coaching children in Sport-The Carver Framework is, to have him in person, deliver the key principles of his book, with humility, warmth and humour was enlightening, thought provoking and an absolute honour. The feedback from the other coaches that listened to him speak was remarkable. Many experienced coaches, told me they had learned more in that couple of hours than they had in the last ten years in the field of coaching.

An insightful thinker, teacher and communicator, Paul is in my opinion an inspirational leader in the ever developing field of Coaching. His passion to pass on his knowledge will help countless coaches create the environment for those they coach to become better players, people and indeed future coaches.

~Noel Napier