Sustaining High Performance - A Performance Lifestyle Approach

The Gibson Hotel , Dublin provided the venue for an interactive half day seminar designed to showcase innovative human resource management practices to top employers in the Great Place To Work Institute network. The event which is part of the Institute of Sport's athlete employer support strategy provides athletes and companies with an opportunity to network in an interactive environment designed to create flexible employment opportunities for top Irish Athletes.

'Since July 2010, the Institute of Sport have completed 3 athlete employer networking events which have been attended by over 90 companies. Central to the success of these events is a vibrant partnership that exists between the Institute of Sport and the Great Place To Work Institute Ireland. Our athlete employer network events are an important demonstration to the employer community that our athletes are highly employable and open to flexible non permanent part time employment opportunities.' explained Daragh Sheridan, Head of Performance Skills, Irish Institute of Sport. Since the establishment of the Institute's Athlete Career Development Programme in 2009, 54 athletes from a range of sports have benefitted from accessing a range of career development services designed to create a positive impact on athlete performance.

The theme for the most recent athlete employer networking event centred on the link between an employee's style of living and their performance in the work place role. Daragh Sheridan opened the seminar with a showcase demonstrating the Institute of Sport's approach to supporting athletes in their quest to live a balanced and varied lifestyle whilst ensuring the highest standards of training and competition success. Central to this approach is a whole person ethos whereby key life skills are developed to support athletes while they cope with the demands of a high performance lifestyle. Top athletes Darren O Neill (Boxing) and Deirdre Byrne (Athletics) provided live examples of their lifestyle challenges and how key support from the Institute of Sport has positively impacted their ability to implement a style of living that befits top performance.

Gary Keegan, Director, Irish institute of Sport followed with a presentation focusing on lifestyle management from a systems perspective. 'I was delighted to participate in the athlete employer network event as these events are always a great opportunity for the world of high performance sport to showcase our best practices and people to a top business community in Ireland. The theme of lifestyle management in the current recessionary climate is becoming an ever more important consideration as employees struggle to manage the demands of daily living. The Institute of Sport was delighted to provide perspective athlete employers with a unique insight into our performance lifestyle management approach'.

Cathal Divilly, MD, Great Place To Work Institute Ireland commented 'The partnership between the Institute of Sport and our work place community is a very significant partnership initiative for us. To date we have successfully collaborated with the Institute and our partners to place a number of athletes into flexible employment in addition to exchanging key insights into the parallel worlds of business and sport. The response from our client companies to the high quality content presented today has been extremely encouraging and we look forward to a continuing our successful partnership'