Irish Sports Council Looks Forward to Another Exciting Year Ahead
2014 is set to be another interesting year for the Irish Sports Council with the ongoing of implementation of the Review of the International Carding Scheme and the London Debriefs, continued developments at the Institute of Sport, re-launching of the Irish Anti-Doping rules, introduction of the Get Ireland Walking initiative as well as the progress of the Sport Ireland Bill.
Kieran Mulvey, Chairperson of the Irish Sports Council acknowledged "The Irish Sports Council has made increasing participation in sport and physical activity a key strategic priority. The LSPs and NGBs are making a major contribution to the increasing engagement with sport which is being captured through our research programme; we hope to see the positive trends continue in 2014".
Minister of State for Tourism & Sport Michael Ring said: “The level of investment in sport for 2014 indicates the Government’s continued commitment to sport. Funding of €42m is being provided for the Irish Sports Council this year which will allow the Council to support our elite athletes as they compete on the world stage as well as supporting a range of programmes aimed at increasing the levels of participation in sport. As the year begins, I would take the opportunity to encourage people to develop healthier lifestyles through regular participation in sport and physical activity. I look forward to another exciting sporting year ahead and I wish every success to all of our sportspeople who will be competing in international competitions during the year.”
In 2013 the Council's National Network of Local Sports Partnerships encouraged over 150,000 people to participate in locally delivered programmes, while over 20,000 female participants took part in local Women in Sport programmes. 16,000 participants took part in the An Post/Irish Sports Council Cycle Series while over 19,000 people took part in the Irish Sports Council/Operation Transformation '5k Fun Run' and 'National Walks'."
Half year results from the 2013 Irish Sports Monitor reinforced the positive developments with participation in sport increasing by one percent to 47% between 2011 and 2013 while individual sport increased by three percent to 42%. Sedentarism decreased by one percent to 12% during the same period.
The Irish Sports Council continues to support the development of core operational plans for 59 National Governing Bodies of Sport as well as working in partnership with the FAI, GAA and IRFU on developing youth field sports initiatives. The NGBs remain at the center of Irish sport and the long term investment in the organisations is delivering benefits in participation, members services, events and high performance.
There will be a number of important World and European Championships for high performance sports including athletics, equestrian, sailing and women's boxing. 2013 was an incredible year for Irish Sports with the high performance sports delivering 70 podium places at international championships in variety of sports and grade grades.
John Treacy, CEO of the Irish Sports Council said "We are delighted with the continued achievements of our high performance athletes and delighted with the excellent performances of athletes who had excelled at London 2012. . We have worked in partnership with 19 National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) to develop High Performance Plans and look to build on this success into the future".
50 Ways Your Investment Impacted Sport in 2013
The following is a summary overview relative to each programme of the 50 ways public investment impacted sport in 2013 through the Irish Sports Council.
High Performance
1. 19 National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) developed High Performance Plans
2. 87 athletes entered the International Carding Scheme
3. 15 golfers were supported under the Team Ireland Golf Trust Programme
4. Over 60 medals were achieved at World and European events
5. A comprehensive review of the International Carding Scheme was published
6. The official 'Debrief from 2012 Olympic Games' was published
Institute of Sport
7. Over 183 athletes from 20 NGBs attended physiotherapy, strength & conditioning, nutrition, medical and physiology clinics at the Institute (IIS)
8. Over 2,600 hours of support services was provided by IIS service providers
9. Over 54 referrals for specialist medical care (cardiac screening, MRIs and clinical psychology) were received
10. Over 160 blood profile tests were carried out for 92 athletes
11. 25 coaches received individual mentoring, three professional development workshops and cross-sport peer learning through the IIS Pursuit of Excellence Horizon Programme
12. Two sports (Athletics Ireland and Paralympics Ireland) will base their science and medicine services at the IIS
13. Over 60 top coaches and service providers attended the HP Sport Professional Development workshop
14. 14 Performance Directors from 13 sports took part in the Performance Development Forums
15. 169 days of support was provided at camps and 88 days at competitions for six sports
16. 17 service providers received reaccreditation for the Professional Quality Assurance Programme (PQAP) while eight new applications were received
Participation
17. Over 200,000 people participated in locally delivered participation programmes
18. In addition, over 20,000 female participants took part in local Women in Sport programmes
19. Over 6,500 participants completed 450 Code of Ethics & Good Practice for Children's Sport courses
20. 16,581 participants took part in the An Post/Irish Sports Council Cycle Series in five counties
21. Over 7, 000 people took part in the Irish Sports Council/Operation Transformation '5k Fun Run'
22. Over 12, 000 people took part in the Irish Sports Council/Operation Transformation 'National Walks'
23. Over 1,000 groups and clubs around Ireland participated in the Go For Life programmes
24. 14 Sport Inclusion Officers were supported to encourage participation for people with disabilities
Youth Field Sports
25. 2,500 football clubs, 340,070 participants in programmes and 31,518 trained coaches
26. 2,359 GAA clubs, 294,577 registered players and 317 staff in Games Development
27. 236 rugby clubs, 158,685 registered players and 11,634 accredited coaches
Governing Bodies
28. 59 National Governing Bodies of Sport developed core operational plans
29. Three NGBs were audited under the Annual Audit Programme
30. Seven events took place across six sports under "The Gathering 2013" initiative including the Ireland v England Cricket ODI, IFDS World Disabled Sailing Championships, Laser European Championships and European Athletics Team Championships
31. 18 NGBs were relocated to Irish Sports HQ
32. Over 40 NGBs has signed up to Just Sport Ireland, the independent dispute resolution service for Irish Sport offering both a Mediation and Arbitration facility.
33. OCB programmes included 155 executive coaching assignments, 11 performance management systems developed, 14 staff handbooks and 14 strengthscope reports with sector employees
Anti-Doping
34. A total of 805 tests were conducted as part of the National Testing Programme by November 2013
35. 167 blood tests were completed out of competition by November 2013
36. 413 urine tests were completed out of competition by November 2013
37. 225 urine tests were completed in competition by November 2013
38. 49 pre-competition blood tests and 43 post competition urine tests were conducted at the European Team Championships
39. Three Anti-Doping Violations were recorded by Quarter 3
40. 44, 000 educational resources distributed by the Anti-Doping Unit
41. 15 educational seminars were conducted by November 2013
42. Over 20,000 successful database searches checked the status of medicines on sport on www.eirpharm.com
National Trails
43. Over 650 trails were registered under the National Trails Register
44. 180 inspection and advisory assignments were undertaken on trails in Ireland ensuring trail quality and standards are maintained
45. www.irishtrails.ie attracted over 110,000 unique visits in 2013
46. An android version of the Irish Trails App was launched. The Irish Trails App has been downloaded by 3000 users since its launch.
Coaching
47. 1,921 coaching courses have been approved in 2013
48. 22,803 coaches have qualified in 2013
49. Two tutor courses have been approved in 2013
50. 104 tutors have qualified in 2013.