Liam Hennessy FRAMI is an

Exercise Physiologist Exercise physiology is the physiology of physical exercise. It is one of the allied health professions, and involves the study of the acute responses and chronic adaptations to exercise. Exercise physiologists are the highest qualified exercise ...

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, 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 M ...

, and has worked both with professional athletes and teams and as an academic researcher. He founded the

distance learning Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

institution

Setanta College Setanta College is a distance learning college, with a focus on sports courses. It offers internationally accredited qualifications, ranging from Higher Certificate to Master's degree level. The college is primarily web-based but also offers ca ...

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 Coun ...

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 team ...

wins and the

Grand Slam (rugby union) In rugby union, a Grand Slam (Irish: ''Caithréim Mhór''. Welsh: ''Y Gamp Lawn''. French: ''Grand Chelem'') occurs when one team in the Six Nations Championship (or its Five Nations predecessor) beats all the others during one year's competitio ...

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.,

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 ...

, S.S. Lazio, 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 pla ...

. 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 The World Athletics U20 Championships is a biennial world championships for the sport of athletics organised by the World Athletics, contested by athletes in the under-20 athletics age category (19 years old or younger on 31 December in the year ...

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 vari ...

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 Pádraig Peter Harrington (born 31 August 1971) is an Irish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. He has won three major championships: The Open Championship in 2007 and 2008 and the PGA Champi ...

'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 indicato ...

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 t ...

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 The ''British Journal of Sports Medicine'' is a twice-monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering sports science and sports medicine including sport physiotherapy. It is published by the BMJ Group. It was established in 1964 and the editor-in-c ...

'', Sports Biomechanics, and The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research Hennessy has studied at

University of Limerick The University of Limerick (UL) ( ga, Ollscoil Luimnigh) is a public research university institution in Limerick, Ireland. Founded in 1972 as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it became a university in 1989 in accordance w ...

East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania (ESU) is a public university in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. It is one of ten state universities that compose the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE). History What today is East ...

New Mexico State University New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's ...

, 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 ...

. He founded

, a

college, which offers sport related courses from

Higher Certificate The Higher Certificate (''Ardteastas'' in Irish) is a third level education award at level 6 on the National Framework of Qualifications in the Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a cou ...

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 si ...

level. All of the college's qualifications are accredited by

Quality and Qualifications Ireland Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI; ga, Dearbhú Cáilíochta agus Cáilíochtaí Éireann) is the national agency responsible for qualifications in Ireland. It was established by the Oireachtas in 2012 following the amalgamation of the ...

(QQI). The college provides courses in strength and conditioning for both beginner and experienced coaches for several sports. Hennessy worked in the Cardiopulmonary 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 Jo ...

, Dublin and also was a P.E. teacher at

St Columba's College, Dublin St Columba's College is a co-educational independent day and boarding school founded in 1843 located in Whitechurch, County Dublin, Ireland. Among the founders of the college were Viscount Adare (who later became The 3rd Earl of Dunraven and M ...

. In 2003, Hennessy developed

Club Energise Club is the brand name for a series of Irish carbonated soft drinks produced in Ireland by Britvic Ireland and previously by Cantrell & Cochrane (C&C). It is bottled by the Britvic plant in Dublin. The series includes Club Orange, Club Lemon, ...

, an isotonic drink.

References

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