Ireland’s Liam Moggan to speak at Para Athletics Coaching Conference

The long-time high performance coach will be one of the keynote speakers at the inaugural conference this December in Colorado Springs, USA. 04 Sep 2015
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Upper body of man who is giving a speech

Vice President of Paralympics Ireland Liam Moggan will be one of four keynote speakers at the first-ever Para Athletics Coaching Conference.

ⒸLiam Moggan
By IPC

IPC Athletics has confirmed that Vice President of Paralympics Ireland Liam Moggan will be one of four keynote speakers at the first-ever Para Athletics Coaching Conference, which will take place 12-13 December in Colorado Springs, USA.

Moggan will join a stellar line-up of speakers from the world of high performance para-athletics who will all present on the theme "Destination Rio 2016 - preparing for prime performance."

Also currently serving as a coach education developer at Coaching Ireland, a unit within the Irish Sports Council, Moggan will speak on psychology, and its effects and importance to para-athletes.

“Liam is a highly regarded member of the para-athletics world, and I cannot express how excited I am to have him speak at our first coaching conference,” Head of IPC Athletics Ryan Montgomery said.

“Liam has been working in high performance all his life, and I am confident our attendees will gain a lot from the wealth of information, knowledge and experience Liam will share. He is someone who approaches his work in a holistic manner and is especially a major advocate in education as tool for athletes’ success.”

As a performance manager, Moggan has assisted teams and individuals in a range of sports, including athletics during the Athens Olympic/Paralympic Cycle. He has helped them plan, implement and practice programmes that in turn would help to produce their best performances, even in the midst of top-class competition.

Outside of coaching, Moggan has commentated at live track and field, and road racing events, including the Morton Games, a large international athletics competition in Ireland.

“I am looking forward immensely to attending the Para Athletics Coaching Conference and to have to opportunity to present,” Moggan said. “I see it as a great honour. I look forward to sharing in a conference setting some practical tools which I have applied with players and athletes overtime.”

Moggan plans to deliver four key messages in his presentation: when athletes compete in the belief that there are more important things than results, good results follow; athletes meet a challenge best when it is their own challenge; the easiest hard work is physical; all athletes can learn and all athletes can improve, but not on the same day and not in the same way.

The Para Athletics Coaching Conference is targeted at high performance directors, national coaches, classifiers and team support staff including strength and conditioners, nutritionists and physiotherapists.

Featuring a mixture of keynote speeches and panel discussions, attendees will also have the option of attending a number of workshops during the conference.

Joining Moggan as a keynote speaker is five-time Paralympian Chantel Petitclerc, a winner of 14 Paralympic gold medals and who will be Team Canada's Chef de Mission at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

Petitclerc, who in March was awarded the IPC International Women's Day Recognition Award, will speak about athlete perspectives in advances in training and coaching.

Also confirmed to speak at the event are:

- Guido Bonsen (NED) - Head coach of the Dutch para-athletics team since 2009 who will talk about the key factors in running and jumping with prosthesis.

- Lawrence W. Judge (USA) - National Chairman of the USA Track and Field for Coaches Education who will give a lecture on developing training methodology for seated and standing throws.

- Ciro Winckler (BRA) - Professor of physical education at the Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. He will speak about the right training environment for visually impaired athletes.

More speakers will be announced in due course.

Registration for the event is now open via the IPC Athletics website and anyone booking before 1 October 2015 can benefit from an early bird registration fee of EUR 300.