Deaf Sports Ireland- Lorelei Fox Roberts gave an interview to Dublin South FM about DSI, Deaflympics and Deaf Village Ireland last week. Read the transcript here where Lorelei gives a detailed history of Deaf Sports in Ireland and internationally as well as speaking about the upcoming funding drive towards supporting the Irish team in the Deaflympics this summer in Bulgaria.
Irish Blind Sport is organising a fun weekend of competition and “Come & Try” sport on the weekend of 11th-12th May 2013. The MayFest Dinner, to celebrate 25 years of Irish Blind Sports, will also be held on the evening of Saturday 11th at the Grand Canal Hotel. The occasion will be marked by the organisation changing name from Irish Blind Sports to Vision Sports Ireland.
Details of the events planned:
Come & Try: Join Irish Blind Sports on Saturday 11th May at the ALSAA Sports Complex, beside Dublin Airport, and try your hand, or foot at more than 12 sports. Entry is open to all ages and is absolutely FREE.
SuperStars: In tandem with “Come & Try” you will also find competition, in the form of ‘80s style “SuperStars”, at ALSAA. Take part in up to 5 sports, add up your finishing position in each, and you could be a winner. Competition will be open to all with categories based on sight, age and gender. Under 18’s go FREE while over 18s pay a small fee of €10 (€15 for non-members of Irish Blind Sports).
MayFest Dinner: On Saturday evening the MayFest Dinner will take place at the Grand Canal Hotel, Dublin 4 (beside Grand Canal DART station), Following a 3 course meal plus tea/coffee there will be LIVE music and entertainment with bar closure at 1.30 am. Tickets for the MayFest Dinner will cost €30 per person with a €5 discount for members of Irish Blind Sports. Admission will be by ticket only; order your ticket/s using the Entry Form.
Leisure Football / International Match: There will be two football tournaments at ALSAA on Sunday 12th May: a leisure event for all over 16’s (male and female) to come and try. Also, you can look forward to a Futsal international challenge, maybe England! Entry fee for leisure football tournament: absolutely FREE!
Walk: Alternatively, you can take to the Royal Canal on Sunday for a 90 minute organised stroll, followed by refreshments at the HQ of the National League of the Blind of Ireland in Hill St. Entry to the walk – and light refreshments – is FREE!
Accommodation: For those travelling and staying over for the weekend we have organised a special discount accommodation rate at the Grand Canal Hotel: Room only €88; room plus breakfast for 1 person €98 and room plus breakfast for 2 €108. Ring Hotel Reservations at 01-6461000 NOW and quote “Irish Blind Sports MayFest” to receive this special rate.
For all the latest information visit the Irish Blind Sports website. Watch out also for our E-News. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Registration now open, entry forms available to download at www.ibsports.ie
Media Future 2013 will take place in The Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire on May 14th.
The Federation of Irish Sport has teamed up with Media Future Conference 2013 to offer a €70 discount to FIS members who book using our members code (‘fis’). This means that Federation members will pay €275 instead of the €345 standard rate.
About Media Future 2013
The Media Future conference will bring together the world’s leading media people, innovations and technologies. The last 5 years have seen more change and upheaval in the media than at any point in history. Everywhere you look the traditional ways of printing, broadcasting, publishing, and communicating are exploding and being challenged by new technologies. Media Future will chart the extraordinary transformation of the media and identify the key trends, technologies and topics that will shape the future.
There are 200 people booked already and you can check out a selection of attendees by
The speaker list includes the top influencers and decision makers from The Guardian, The Economist, National Public Radio, New Yorker.com, TheJournal.ie and special keynotes from the likes of Irish novelist and screenwriter Roddy Doyle to name but a few.
This is a great opportunity for your sporting organisation to identify the key trends and technologies that will shape the future for disciplines like journalism, advertising, marketing, public relations and technology.
Media Future 2013 will take place in The Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire on May 14th.
How to Book your Ticket
Phone: (01) 473 2050 ask for Cathal and be sure to quote the discount code ‘fis’ (all lower case)
Email: cathal@mediacontact.ie
Online: Go to www.mediafuture.ie click on ‘Buy Tickets Now’ and enter the offer code ‘fis’ (all lower case)
Speakers Announced to Date
Mark Stencel, Managing Editor for Digital News at National Public Radio
Nick Blunden, Managing Director and publisher of The Economist
Tanya Cordrey, Head of Digital at The Guardian Group
Roddy Doyle, Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter
Nicholas Thompson, Editor of Newyorker.com
David Hieatt, Co-founder of The Do Lectures and Hiut Denim Co.
Rick Falkvinge, Founder of The Swedish Pirate Party
Susan Daly, Editor of TheJournal.ie
* additional speakers will be announced next week.
Basketball Ireland announced this week a deal with leisurewear suppliers Macron for their international programmes. The deal ensures eight underage international teams will continue to participate over the next three years.
Speaking at the announcement Basketball Ireland, Secretary General, Bernard O’Byrne, said “It is an excellent partnership for Basketball Ireland and a vote of confidence in the positive direction that the sport continues to take in Ireland.”
The partnership will also see the National Basketball Summer Camp in Gormanston branded as the Basketball Ireland Macron Kits National Camp.
Bernard O’Byrne outlined his excitement about the new venture by saying that “It is the perfect time to announce the deal as our international teams that are preparing for European Championships enter the final stages of their training programmes. We look forward to seeing them play this summer against some of the best in Europe, kitted out in Macron gear.”
Commenting on the partnership, John Fallon, Director of Macron Store Dublin said, “Macron is delighted to be teaming up with such a well-run and professional body as Basketball Ireland. We are excited as this is the first time Macron has formed a partnership with a National team within Europe and look forward to engaging with the Basketball community at all levels. We are confident the Macron kit and leisurewear will meet the high performance standards of the Irish International Programmes.”
Under terms of the agreement, Macron will become the title sponsor of each International team as they compete in the FIBA European Basketball Championships. This summer in particular they will support the U16 boys and girls teams as they prepare for the 2013 U16 European Championships.
The boys will travel Sarajevo, the capital city in Bosnia and Herzegovina from August 8th-18th as they take on England, Switzerland, Slovenia and Romania. Meanwhile the girls will face a tough task when they meet Germany, Portugal and Denmark when they travel to Portugal from August 1st – 11th.
Basketball Ireland and Macron will work together to create both International and grassroots relationships in the basketball community over the next three years.
About Basketball Ireland
Basketball Ireland (B.I.) is the national governing body for the sport on the island of Ireland. As part of FIBA Europe, the European Governing body, and of FIBA, the World Governing body, B.I. is responsible for the promotion and administration of basketball throughout Ireland and for Irish international participation. Basketball is Ireland’s number one indoor sport and is currently the third most popular sport for Irish teenagers as per the recent ‘Census At School’ survey.
About Macron
Macron is an Italian company with a strong international vocation and is now one of the main European players, combining exceptional qualities and skills typical of products made in Italy. The company supports many teams across Europe with its unparalleled products & services including Italian Serie A basketball clubs Sutor Monterganaro and Virtus Bologna, French Orleans Loiret Basket and Irish SuperLeague side DCU Saints. Macron is also official kit supplier to a host of well-known professional football clubs throughout the UK such as West Ham Utd, Leeds United, Sheffield United and in Rugby, both Scottish National Team and Edinburgh Rugby.
Ireland’s WTF Olympic Taekwondo player Conor Grassick brought home Gold from the A Class Belgian Open last weekend having beaten 6 international athletes throughout the day.
Grassick, who fights in the Senior Male -63kg category, had an early start to the day in preparation for his first fight against Poland’s Patryk Rodzik (winner of the Dutch Open 2010) winning the fight in style scoring 5 points to his opponent’s 2.
His second match against Finland’s Sami Lahtinen, went to a 4-4 draw leading to a sudden death/golden point round which Conor successfully won!
Conor was back on the mats early in the afternoon for his third match Britain’s Jibreel Malik which he went on to win 8-5. Within the hour he was back in the ring for the quarter-final against the Belarus national champion and the 2009 European Champion Pavel Kulakou. It was a tightly contested match with Conor eventually winning by 3 points to 2.
With only a half an hour rest Conor then had his fifth match, a semi-final against the world ranked Jaouad Achab from Belgium, who recently won in both the Swedish and German Opens. Conor brought this gruelling match to an 8-8 draw and then went onto win it in the sudden death round delivering a stunning 3 point kick to his opponents head and putting him through to the final against Germany’s Hamza Adman Karim.
Grassick went into the final having beaten 5 opponents, with only 30 minutes of rest from the semi-final and put on a great performance winning 2-1 and taking the Gold for Ireland!
Conor is now setting his sights on medalling in the European Under 21 Championships in Moldova on 18thApril. He is the only Irish athlete to travel to this competition with coach Stig Kramer and we wish him the very best of luck. Conor will be featured on FYI a 3E (TV3) programme next Thursday keep an eye on the ITU Facebook page for further updates.
Read more about Conor’s success and the Irish Taekwondo Union by clicking here
