John McGrath is a former GAA player, an international rower, a circus strong man, a world record holder and so on...

The 6'6" Irish man lives in Paarl, South Africa and has earned renown as a strength and conditioning coach working with rugby players, the South African women’s tug-of-war team, and, most famously, Olympic silver medal and World Athletics Championship gold medal long jumper, Luvo Manyonga. 

Luvo came from a poverty stricken local township, and John tells of the incredible story how the pair struck up a strong bond that saw the young South African athlete kick an addiction to crystal meth and go on to achieve athletic greatness in both the Olympics and World Championships.

This is an interesting listen about a fascinating journey.

I want to say a big thank you to PST Sport for their continued support as title sponsor for this project. Go to pstsport.com for world class delivery of all your artificial grass pitch needs. Similar to both of the previous two seasons, I've set up this podcast with a dual purpose in mind, firstly to provide some thoughtful debate for coaches, but I've also linked up with the Lily Daly Foundation, who are a new charity raising funds for the heart ward in Crumlin children's hospital and Ronald McDonald house. For more info, listen to the podcast about the Lily Daly Foundation.

If you found some value in the podcast, it would be great if you could donate any amount, no matter how small to the Lily Daly Foundation through the link here: https://bit.ly/3t9EtfI 

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You can also check out Game Sense Coaching who run an online GAA coaching platform that advocates for a games-based approach that is suitable for teams of all ages. www.gamesensecoaching.com

Thanks for listening.