HIGH PERFORMANCE Institute of Sport Working With Ireland's Number 1 Company

Microsoft Ireland recently invited a team from the Institute of Sport to present a workshop on some of the high performance themes that connect the world of business and high performance sport.

The workshop is part of a partnership process which the Irish Institute of Sport is developing with some of Ireland's leading work places. The partnership is centred upon placing elite carded athletes into flexible work place environments designed to enhance their athletic performance. The initiative is part of the Irish Institute of Sport Athlete Lifestyle Programmes which are available to carded athletes.Daragh Sheridan, who leads the the Career Development Programme, commented 'Visiting companies and promoting some our best people and their practices in high performance sport is an essential part of promoting athlete needs in the work place. Our goal to enhance each athlete's performance in sport by providing balanced career supports in partnership with Irish companies'.

Microsoft first opened its doors in Ireland in 1985 with a small manufacturing facility employing just over one hundred people. Since that time, Microsoft Ireland has grown to encompass four distinct operations at its campus in Sandyford in Dublin, employing over 1,200 full time employees and 700 full-time contract staff. Microsoft's operations in Ireland include software development and testing, localisation, operations, finance, IT, HR and sales & marketing, both here in Ireland and across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Earlier this year Microsoft Ireland won the prestigious award of Best Place to Work in Ireland 2009 presented by the Great Place to Work Institute. This award is recognition of the importance that Microsoft Ireland has placed on its people for the past 24 years. Gary Keegan (Institute Director of Performance Management) presented to Microsoft's leadership team on the key elements relating to 'organizational change' and 'management under pressure'. Gary remarked that '"it's a real pleasure to work with business leaders in Microsoft. Their feedback suggests that high performance sport shares significant common ground with the world of business. We hope to continue to develop this connection as part of part of wider corporate engagement strategy designed to build capacity around our high performance management system while offering our athletes access to supportive work place environments.'

The Institute's corporate engagement activity is part of relationship building process designed to create a mutually beneficial partnership between the world of sport and business. Fiona Mullan, HR Director, Microsoft Ireland said 'The presentation from the team in the Institute was very insightful and highlights the high performance links between the world of sport and business. We thoroughly enjoyed the presentation and we look forward to partnering in the development of high performance sport in Ireland.'

Since July 2008, the Institute has enrolled 35 athletes on its Athlete Career Development Programme. The programme offers carded athletes expert career coaching and access to a growing employer network designed to support athletes in the work place. Currently there are 23 athletes in employment across a range of sectors in Ireland, Germany and the United Kingdom. Phil Moore, Director of Performance Services, stated 'We invite carded athletes to contact us to see how we can provide expert service for their lifestyle needs.

To date we have successfully worked with a number of athletes on a range of lifestyle needs ranging from educational assistance, life skill development and employment support.' The Institute of Sport Performance Services team can be contacted on 01 8608830 or alps@instititeofsport.ie or contact Daragh Sheridan at dsheridan@instituteofsport.ie.