{"id":199506,"date":"2025-12-19T04:04:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T04:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/199506\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T04:04:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T04:04:08","slug":"you-have-to-step-back-and-let-the-families-do-it-for-themselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/199506\/","title":{"rendered":"You have to step back and let the families do it for themselves"},"content":{"rendered":"

A well-known figure on the professional rugby stage for two decades, Donncha O\u2019Callaghan is now a firm fixture on one of the country\u2019s favourite TV programmes.<\/p>\n

For six years, he has been a coach on Ireland\u2019s Fittest Family, and as the remaining families battle it out in the final on Sunday, he says this year was one of the most enjoyable yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved making the programme this year,\u201d he says. \u201cMaybe because I\u2019m a little more confident and I\u2019m enjoying having some ex-teammates like Andrew Trimble with me because we are well used to each other and can [communicate] without even talking \u2014 you know when you know by someone\u2019s eyes what they\u2019re thinking about a situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also really enjoyed all the families this year \u2014 as well as being super fit and competitive, they were all really nice as well. It\u2019s harsh to say it, but that\u2019s not always the case, as sometimes the competitive juices go a little over the top, and it can bring out the worst in people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ireland rugby star, who is married to Jennifer Harte, says that working on the series, which is filmed during the summer months, can be tough when it involves \u201crecording back to back\u201d, but despite the demands on family life, he doesn\u2019t find the filming too taxing, physically or mentally, as he\u2019s there simply \u201cto facilitate rather than take over\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to step back and let the families do it for themselves, you can\u2019t grow a leg for them,\u201d he laughs. \u201cIt\u2019s about knowing where you can help and get behind people, and also knowing when you need to have a pop at the family dynamic \u2014 because as an outsider, you see things that are holding people back. They could have a blind spot and think it\u2019s normal, or defer to one family member because of their age, when in fact someone else might be a better leader, which can be hard for them to swallow.<\/p>\n

\n Of course, everyone wants to win it, but it\u2019s important to recognise that it\u2019s often enough for them just to get some great family bonding moments.\n <\/p>\n

Both in his sporting career and in his current role, the Corkman has witnessed incredible displays of physical and mental determination, and says, \u201cthe ability for people to go beyond is quite incredible\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the standout families for me would have to be the McSharrys from Sligo, who won the series in 2019. You could just see they were different,\u201d he says. \u201cBut every year we see something remarkable, and for me this year was Aoibhe Linehan on the plank, which is coming up this weekend. What I loved was that she wanted to take on all the lads. She didn\u2019t view it as a gender thing and just thought that she could do it better than the others.<\/p>\n

\"Cork-basedCork-based Linehan family – Diarmuid, Aoibhe, Ruair\u00ed and Se\u00e1n – with coach Donncha O’Callaghan, are competing in the final of Ireland’s Fittest Family on Sunday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there\u2019s always self-doubt and what I call family protection, where people are thinking \u2018that\u2019s my little girl\u2019 or \u2018that\u2019s my sister\u2019 and they want to mind her. But she was just thinking \u2018I\u2019ve got this\u2019. It was great.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sort of mindset only usually happens in special teams who really care about each other because there is an unshakeable bond there. As a coach, it\u2019s great to be part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is full of praise for the Lenihans, who he says are \u201cincredibly fit with loads of that Cork edge to keep going\u201d, adding they gave it \u201cabsolutely everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

A father of four, he knows how important trust can be and says he has learned to let his team know what to expect from him. And although his role doesn\u2019t involve much physical preparation, he has had to learn to feel at ease in front of the camera.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past few years, I\u2019ve gained confidence when it comes to chatting to camera as I used to find it very daunting,\u201d he admits. \u201cThe rugby environment was very different to something like Ireland\u2019s Fittest Family, as you have to entertain people in their sitting rooms on a Sunday night, and they don\u2019t want to hear any dressing room shouting. They might want a bit of that, but they also want to have a laugh<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned to be a bit more relaxed and just be myself. I can credit Davy (Fitzgerald) and Anna (Geary)with that as they really get me, and it\u2019s also great having Andrew (Trimble), Eleanor (Keane) and Michael Darragh (MacAuley) as well \u2014 although they all slag me because I\u2019m not one of the originals, saying I\u2019m just a young pup.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has passed his love of sport onto his children \u2014 Sophie (15), Anna (13), Robin (12) and Jake (10) \u2014 and says the key to achieving this is to lead by example.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is so much better than dictating to your kids,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\n If my kids see me being active, eating healthily, and just keeping good habits, it reaffirms the message much more than me banging on about it or laying down the law.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, I\u2019ve been the dad who\u2019s put my foot down about not giving up on things, but I\u2019ve also been the dad who might say \u2018forget it, let\u2019s go for ice-cream\u2019\u2014 it\u2019s all about balance, and parenting is hard because you never know if you\u2019re getting it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to his own fitness, the 46-year-old says he\u2019s been \u201clucky\u201d always to be around great coaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot easier for professional sportspeople because we have all the help and motivation we need. It\u2019s much harder to stay on course in the real world. But it\u2019s good to know that if you earn a night out or a few treats then you\u2019ll appreciate it a lot more. So, do the exercise or the sport, but then also have some time out as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that is what I\u2019ll be doing for Christmas \u2014 watching some movies with the kids, enjoying some selection boxes and also cooking, because I like going into the kitchen for a while as it is a bit of a respite from socialising. I\u2019m looking forward to some family time in the days ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

The final of Ireland\u2019s Fittest Family airs Sunday, December 21, at 6.30pm on RT\u00c9 One and RT\u00c9 Player<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A well-known figure on the professional rugby stage for two decades, Donncha O\u2019Callaghan is now a firm fixture…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1424,426,61,60,105798,80],"class_list":["post-199506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-fashion","tag-food","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-recipes-and-people","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}