Support Team
The team behind your pathway
Queen’s Sport has developed a strong and dynamic support network for those athletes who are willing to challenge themselves to reach their academic and sporting goals.
Coaches – Academy + Club
- Head GAA Coach – James McCartan
- Head Rugby Coach – Bob Young
- Head Hockey Coach – Simon Bell / Brian McQueen
- Head Rowing Coach – Mick Desmond
- Head Soccer Coach – Peter Thompson
Academic + Sports Mentoring
- Individualised support for athletes designed to ensure dual academic and sporting careers can exist at equally high standards.
Conditioning Staff
Nutritional Support
Performance Analysis through the School of Psychology
Sports Medicine
Academy Development Officers/Head Coaches
- GAA – Aidan O’Rourke
- Rowing – Mick Desmond
- Hockey – Simon Bell
- Soccer – Denis Clarke
- Rugby – Darryl Callaghan
Physiotherapists
- Athletes are supported by a range of physiotherapists connected to the Queen’s Sport Clinic and sporting academies.
Careers at Queen’s
Degree Plus
- University Accreditation - www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/degreeplus
Alumni Associations
Recruitment
Featured
Mike McGurn
Sports + Conditioning Coach
International Strength and Conditioning coach Mike McGurn has the prestigious honour of training three National Senior Irish Teams in different codes and winning two World Titles in two different sports.
2002 saw him make the move back to Ireland after being head-hunted by Eddie O’Sullivan to join the Irish Rugby Union team as Head of Strength and Conditioning. In his tenure of 8 years he totally revolutionised the training structures and systems of the squad laying the foundations for what has become the most successful Irish Team ever.
McGurn consults teams and individuals and is currently lead Strength and Conditioning Coach at Queen’s University Belfast, responsible for all of the Strength and Conditioning for Rugby, Gaelic Football, Hurling, Camogie, Rowing and Elite Athletes at the University. In 2010 and 2011 McGurn became National Fitness Coach to the Irish International Rules Team who played against their Australian counterparts in the AFL. Mike is a member of the Australian Strength and Conditioning Association (ASCA) and International Youth Conditioning Association (IYCA).
Some of his previous clients have included:
- Paul O’Connell - British and Irish Lions Captain
- Brian O’Driscoll - Irish Rugby Captain
- Bernard Dunne - World Super Bantamweight Champion
- Gavin Henson - Wales and British Lion
- Shane Williams - Wales and British Lion
- Sean Cavanagh - Ireland GAA Captain
- David Humphreys - Ulster and Ireland
- Ronan O’Gara - Munster and Ireland
- Tommy Bowe - Ospreys and Ireland