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.

The Institute of Sport, of which Sean Kelly is executive chairman, will provide life skills coaching, scholarships at any nine third level institutions and career development support.

The Institute will help to combine sport and academic career planning and will provide student-athlete academic counselling support. The institute will cover the cost of tuition fees up to a maximum of €6,000 in any two-year period with support up to €3,000 per annum in tuition fees for those who pursue post-graduate studies.

Launching the scheme, Keith Wood, a member of the Institute of Sport, said: “Any sporting career is short-lived and we must ensure that these high achievers take the skills they have honed on the pitch and on the track into their life after sport. These new programmes will help athletes successfully complete their education and put them on the pathway to a successful second career. This frees them up to concentrate without worrying about their futures outside sport.”

The three support programmes — life-skills coaching, athlete scholarships and career development — are partnerships across the education sector and the employment market. Phil Moore, the Institute’s Director of Athlete Services, designed the programmes to extend the world-class support environment for Irish athletes to their lives outside sport.

His work addresses the findings of a study commissioned by the Institute of Sport and carried out by Prof Aidan Moran and Dr Suzanne Guerin (both at the Department of Psychology, UCD). It outlined the key experiences of Ireland’s elite athletes, many of whom are Beijing-bound.

The employment and second career issues will be tackled through a deal with recruitment consultants Top People. This partnership will see Top People bring their expertise in career development to assist athletes identify their potential through in-depth profiling, analysis, guidance and coaching.

Managing director Rae Pugh said they were delighted with the partnership with the Institute of Sport.

“We recognised from the first conversations we had that there was a wealth of untapped talent in the elite athletes,” she said. “However, they often don’t recognise how their skills and personal values can transfer into the workplace.

“Our job is to help them identify what they have and how they can use it to develop a second career that’s just as successful as their first in sport.”

Sean Kelly, executive chairman of the Institute of Sport, said their aim at the institute was to create a world class environment for top athletes and that included supports in their lives outside sport.

“The aim of these programmes is to remove the uncertainty about their futures in education or career and I’m confident they will have a major impact on our athletes,” he said.

Athlete lifestyle programmes

COMPONENTS the Institute offer:

Athlete life-skills coaching to help identify and develop self-management skills delivered by experienced and qualified performance psychologists so that the athlete can succeed in every area of life.

Athlete scholarships that combine training and competing with third level studies. Key elements are flexible learning and assessment, academic and sport mentoring and support with tuition fees (repeat year and postgraduate).

Expert career guidance from industry leading specialists Top People to help identify skills and aptitudes so that the athlete — while still competing — can begin to develop his or her career potential and better prepare for life after sport.

Will provide effective life skills to help manage time effectively; prioritise and plan; cope with distractions; focus on the task in hand; cope with pressure (in competition and other areas of life); maintain motivation through hard training; negotiate successfully.

Take control and ownership of sporting and other life experiences; cope with injuries and setbacks; cope effectively with various transitions in sporting career; manage the lows and highs.

Participating Third Level Scholarship Partners: Athlone Institute of Technology; Dublin City University; Dublin Institute of Technology; Letterkenny Institute of Technology; NUI Maynooth; University College Cork; University College Dublin; University of Limerick; Waterford Institute of Technology.