Irish stars to benefit from new support programmes

A NEW era in athlete support was unveiled yesterday when Keith Wood launched the new Athlete Lifestyle Programmes (ALPs) which has been developed by the Institute of Sport and will have a profound affect on life after sport for the elite athletes devoting their lives to representing Ireland at international level.

Up to now athletes bidding to compete with their counterparts in other countries have had to either put their future after sport on hold or juggle their academic and sporting career.

Now the new ALPs will bid to help them manage their sporting careers effectively so that they can have the best of both worlds.