Liam Hennessy FRAMI is an Exercise Physiologist,

Strength and conditioning coach A strength and conditioning coach (also known as an S&C coach) is a physical performance professional who uses exercise prescription to improve the performance of competitive athletes or athletic teams. This is achieved through the combination of ...

and former international athlete from

Cappawhite Cappawhite, also Cappaghwhite (), is a village in County Tipperary, Ireland and is located on the R505 regional road from Cashel to County Limerick. Close major towns near the village include Tipperary Town which is 12 kilometres south of the v ...

Tipperary Tipperary is the name of: Places *County Tipperary, a county in Ireland **North Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Nenagh **South Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Clonmel *Tipperary (town), County Tipperary's na ...

, Ireland, who competed in the

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

, and has worked both with professional athletes and teams and as an academic researcher. He founded the distance learning institution Setanta College.

Career

Athletics

Hennessy is a retired international athlete, who competed and holds records at the

in international competition representing Ireland at more than 55 events, the first being at the age of 15. As of 2022 he is still listed amongst the best Irish performers in international competition. Hennessy broke his first Irish record in 1977. His Munster U-23 Men's Indoor record set in 1978 of 4.70 still stands as of 2022, with his career personal best at 4.96.

Coaching

Hennessy has worked with several GAA teams in nearly all codes of the game, including

Tipperary GAA The Tipperary County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Coiste Chontae Thiobraid Árann) or Tipperary GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in Cou ...

and its

All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship The GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship, known simply as the All-Ireland Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest inter-county hurling competition i ...

team of 1991. He was Director of Fitness with the

Irish Rugby Football Union The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) ( ga, Cumann Rugbaí na hÉireann) is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ...

(IRFU) for ten years, where he oversaw a number of

Triple Crown (rugby union) In rugby union, the Triple Crown is an honour contested annually by the "Home Nations" – i.e. Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales who compete within the larger Six Nations Championship. If any one of these teams defeat all three other teams ...

wins and the Grand Slam (rugby union)

Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions ar ...

win in 2009. Hennessy was involved with a number of football clubs in England, Germany and Italy, including

Blackburn Rovers F.C. Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...

S.S. Lazio Società Sportiva Lazio (; ; ''Lazio Sport Club''), commonly referred to as Lazio, is an Italian professional sports club based in Rome, most known for its football activity. The society, founded in 1900, plays in the Serie A and have spent ...

, and

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which play ...

. He became National Jumps Coach in Ireland after he finished competing and also acted as Irish team manager at the first IAAF World Junior Championships in Athletics in Athens in 1985. Also, Hennessy has worked with many Irish

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

Athletes throughout the years. At

Atlanta 1996 The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, he was the Chief Exercise Physiologist to the Irish Olympic Team. Hennessy was part of Pádraig Harrington's coaching staff for his

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

wins;

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

2007 & 2008 and

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

in 2008.

Academic

Hennessy is a published author and researcher in the fields of exercise physiology and strength and conditioning. He published in '' British Journal of Sports Medicine'', Sports Biomechanics, and The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research Hennessy has studied at University of Limerick, East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania, New Mexico State University, and

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

. He founded Setanta College, a distance learning college, which offers sport related courses from Higher Certificate to

Bachelor's Degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

level. All of the college's qualifications are accredited by Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI). The college provides courses in strength and conditioning for both beginner and experienced coaches for several sports. Hennessy worked in the

Cardiopulmonary The blood circulatory system is a system of organs that includes the heart, blood vessels, and blood which is circulated throughout the entire body of a human or other vertebrate. It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, tha ...

Department at the

Blackrock Clinic Blackrock Clinic ( ga, Clinic na Carraige Duibhe) is a private hospital in Blackrock, Dublin. It is associated with both the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and University College Dublin. History The hospital was founded by surgeons Jos ...

, Dublin and also was a P.E. teacher at St Columba's College, Dublin. In 2003, Hennessy developed Club Energise, an

isotonic drink The term isotonic may refer to: *Isotonic (exercise physiology), a type of muscle contraction *Isotonic regression, a type of numerical analysis *Isotonic, one of three types of tonicity that characterize a solution's concentration; see Tonicity#I ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hennessy, Liam 1958 births Living people Exercise physiologists Irish educational theorists Irish male pole vaulters Athletes from County Tipperary