Featured Event: Deaf Sport Ireland prepare for Deaflympics with opening of new home at Deaf Village Ireland

Mar 28, 2013

DEAF VILLAGE IRELAND OPENING: 

Deaf Village Ireland (DVI), the new home of Deaf Sports Ireland (DSI), is an all-inclusive state-of-the-art community facility officially which opened its doors on Ratoath Road, Cabra on Monday 4th March.

DVI aims to facilitate and support members of the Deaf community nationally to encourage inclusivity with the local community and communication between the two groups. This is aided by the bi-lingual approach taken, whereby Irish Sign Language (ISL) and spoken English are the two primary languages present and both are used constantly.

The introduction of this facility to the community so far has, and will continue to have a huge impact by providing sporting, social, religious, heritage, educational, community and cultural services and amenities for Deaf, Hard of Hearing and hearing people alike. Services are available for Deaf and Hard of Hearing youths and senior members.

DATE: 

4^th March, 2013

PARTICIPATING TEAMS/ATHLETES:

Bohemians FC played a 6-a-side football match on the DVI all-weather pitches, against a DSI team consisting of Deaf players.

A Water-Polo exhibition between Deaf school boys & seniors took place in the Inspire Fitness Centre.

Sporting Host:

Deaf Sport Ireland (DSI)

About DSI:

Irish Deaf Sports Association (IDSA) was founded in 1968, and then rebranded to Deaf Sports Ireland in December 2011.

EVENT PREPARATION:

As with any opening of a new facility, there was a huge amount of work in the planning stage but after a two year construction time frame and a €15m budget thankfully the village opened this year.

THE EVENT:

Venue

Deaf Village Ireland

Spectators/Attendees

Over 500 people attended including the Minister for Transport, Sport and Tourism, Mr Leo Varadkar who officiated the opening.

Volunteers

Volunteers from each of the organisations with offices within DVI (including DSI) and from DVI itself helped out on the day.

Profile

The Launch itself lasted from 10am until 10pm with multiple events taking place. The morning saw a water-polo exhibition between Deaf school boys & senior take place in the Inspire Fitness Centre within the premises. At 11.30, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Mr Leo Varadkar officiated the opening by cutting the ceremonial ribbon and releasing doves alongside manager Sylvia Nolan.

Following Minister Varadkar’s opening, there where speeches by a number of people, including Manager Sylvia Nolan, Caroline McGrotty of the Vice Chairperson of DVI, Kevin Lynch, Chairperson of the Sportco before Fr. Gerard, Chaplain for NCDP gave a blessing of the official opening.

There was also a performance by the Deaf choir from the local girls’ school, St. Mary’s School.

The afternoon saw presentations from a few of the Deaf organisations at the Cabragh hall, such as DSI, IDYA, Deafhear, DDA, SLIS, the Deaf Heritage Centre and Deaf Drama. This was followed by a 6-a-side football match on the DVI all-weather pitches, between local club  Bohemians FC and a team consisting of Deaf players. Bohemians players wore ear plugs in order to experience what it is like to play sports Deaf. Both lunch and dinner were served to guests, as well as light refreshments throughout the day and at 8pm DVI hosted a Ceili that pulled in a large crowd, both Deaf and hearing.

What next for DSI in 2013?

There’s a busy year ahead for DSI, with athletes competing in multiple sports across the country in preparation for National Championships and the 2013 Deaflympics. The Deaflympic Summer Games will, this year, be held in venues in the cities of Sofia and Pravets, Bulgaria. This means it will be a busy year for DSI with training camps to coordinate as well as working on the grassroots programme that is in place. As part of this grassroots work, DSI will be working hard to organise and run activities and training that will help to promote and develop the social and community benefits of participation in sports within the Deaf community.

….and for the Irish Team?

The 2013 Deaflympic Summer Games will run from the 26^th of July until the 4^th of August, with 18 sports competing.

The Deaflympics is the 2^nd longest running multi-sport event in the world, second only to the Olympics. Since the first Games in Paris, 1924, the Deaflympics have been held every four years, barring a short break during WWII.

The Deaflympics offers a more inclusive platform for Deaf and Hard of Hearing competitors, free of communication barriers and the social isolation and marginalisation that can accompany them. Visual signals, rather than audio, are used throughout the Games and hearing aids, cochlear implants etc. are not permitted when competing, placing all of the athletes on a level footing.

To qualify for the games, athletes must have a hearing loss of at least 55 db in their ‘better ear’. Other examples of ways the games vary from hearing competitions are the manner in which they are officiated. To address the issue of Deaflympians not being able to be guided by sounds, certain sports use alternative methods of commencing the game. For example, the football referees wave a flag instead of blowing a whistle and on the track, races are started by using a light, instead of a starter pistol. It is also customary for spectators not to cheer or clap, but rather to wave – usually with both hands.

The Irish Team has a great track record with medal success at the Deaflympics. Ireland first entered a team into the Games in the 12th CISS World Games for the Deaf (the previous name of the Deaflympics) in 1973 sending swimmers.

Since then, the Irish Team (with entries in athletics, badminton, basketball, football, swimming, table tennis & water polo) obtained medals in a further 8 Deaflympics Games, winning 17 gold, 14 silver & 11 bronze medals.

This year, the Irish Team will most likely consist of entries into Badminton, Men’s Football and Swimming. Not all of the qualifying tournaments have yet been held, but the Irish Men’s Football Team, which ranks in the top 5 world-wide, has been successful, after drawing against Germany last September.

EnergyFit- A pilot program to help sports facilities reduce their costs through energy efficiency

Mar 25, 2013

The Federation of Irish Sport has teamed up with Future Fit in a programme sponsored by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) which is designed to increase energy efficiency of sports clubs thereby reducing operating costs.

It is estimated that clubs could save up to €3,000 a year through energy efficiency. This could amount to cost savings of in excess of €10 million across sports clubs in Ireland as a whole. Indeed, research from the SEAI would indicate that savings of 10-20% could be made by many sports clubs through behavioural and/or low cost changes.

The programme entitled “Energy Fit” is being run on a pilot basis initially and is entirely FREE for eligible clubs. Click here for the brochure which sets out criteria for inclusion in the programme and details of how to get involved.

It is intended that participation in the programme will not only help improve the financial standing of sports clubs at a time of unprecedented economic challenge but also enhance the environmental footprint of sports for the benefit of this and future generations.

We would ask that you would circulate details of the programme to your clubs and encourage them to get involved. Please do not hesitate to contact Paul O’Connor of Future Fit on 086 343 3368 or paul@futurefit.ie if you require further information or feel there may be specific sports clubs that might benefit.

The first EnergyFit Workshop takes place tomorrow, Tuesday, March 26th, 6.30 to 9.30pm in Sutton Golf Club. Future dates and venues nationally will be announced closer to the day. Dublin dates for your diary:

Dublin North,

Workshop 1 – When, March 26 – 6.30-9.30 pm      Where: Sutton Golf Club     What:  How to read your bills, best tariffs, take meter readings, identify big energy users, identify savings

Workshop 2 – When, April 9th – 6.30-9.30 pm        Where: TBD     What:  Register of saving opportunities, Energy Action plan,

Workshop 3 – When, April 29th – 6.30-9.30 pm      Where: TBD     What:  Operations and maintenance check list, member engagement, review and recommendations

Dublin South,

Workshop 1 – When, April 2nd – 6.30-9.30 pm      Where: TBD     What:  How to read your bills, best tariffs, take meter readings, identify big energy users, identify savings

Workshop 2 – When, April 15th – 6.30-9.30 pm     Where: TBD     What:  Register of saving opportunities, Energy Action plan,

Workshop 3 When, April 30th – 6.30-9.30 pm     Where: TBD     What:  Operations and maintenance check list, member engagement, review and recommendations

West Dublin

Workshop 1 – When, April 8th – 6.30-9.30 pm      Where: TBD     What:  How to read your bills, best tariffs, take meter readings, identify big energy users, identify savings

Workshop 2 – When, April 22nd – 6.30-9.30 pm     Where: TBD     What:  Register of saving opportunities, Energy Action plan,

Workshop 3 – When, May 6th – 6.30-9.30 pm     Where: TBD     What:  Operations and maintenance check list, member engagement, review and recommendations

If you would like your club to participate please fill out this questionnaire

Focus on Women in Sport

Mar 22, 2013

In a week where Ireland’s women won the Rugby grand slam and the Irish Sports Council provided over €840,000 in funding to ‘Women in Sport’ programmes for 2013 we take a look at the role of women in sport in Ireland. Speaking after the teams success in Rome this week President Michael D Higgins said that “This Grand Slam winning performance again highlights the ever-increasing success of women in sport in this country, and will contribute to further participation by women in sport and will help gain the due recognition that women’s sports deserves.”

40% of females currently partake in sport and 170,000 women volunteer in Irish sport each year. Athletics athlete, Fionnuala Britton, has consistently performed for Ireland, a double winner of European cross country medals as well as her recent bronze in the European Indoors. Her success is also reflected at grassroots level with over 50% of Athletics Ireland members being women. In addition, 40,000 women took part in the Dublin Flora Women’s mini marathon last year.

Katie Taylor is of course Ireland’s most successful female athlete ever with numerous European and World Championships medals and an Olympic Gold to show for her efforts. Perhaps Amy Broadhurst from Dundalk, the European Junior gold medalist, will join her on the podium in Rio. The IABA reports an increase in participation in women’s boxing in the past number of years since Katie’s success.

The Irish Sports Monitor 2011 suggested that middle aged women are more likely to sustain their involvement in sport than men, and may be more open to trying new sports, as well as showing an increase (since 2009)  in participation in sport by adult women in all age groups. However, research in the UK (Loughborough University), shows that over half of girls are put off physical activity by their experiences of school sport and PE lessons (a phenomenon mirrored in Ireland). 45% think sport is too competitive, while over a third say their PE teacher only pays attention to pupils who are good at sport. The study also revealed that girls’ attitudes to PE are led by their peers, and that many feel uncomfortable taking part. 57% of girls agreed that girls drop out of doing physical activity because their friends do.

In Ireland perhaps we need to focus more on individual sports for girls, where they are shown to maintain interest and participation, as well as to diversify the offering of sport and physical activity at school. Research by Swim Ireland shows that women tend to swim more often than men and swim for health reasons rather than competition.

Sarah Keane, CEO, Swim Ireland set out her vision for women in sport in Ireland towards 2020 in our Annual Review:

Today in Ireland we have a host of top class sportswomen right across a whole range of sports. And yet do they get the credit they deserve in terms of sponsorship, facilities, funding or publicity?

The Irish Sports Council has a specific Women in Sport programme, funds female athletes through the carding system and the Irish Times holds the Women in Sport awards. Yet the fact remains that female sportspeople do not get anything like the same recognition as their male counterparts in similar positions.

No doubt Katie Taylor will have an excellent chance of being named Sports Personality of the Year for 2012 given her Olympic Gold Medal but we should not forget she was a three time World Champion already and has not yet received the award.

We are also lucky in Ireland to have a number of really talented and capable women in leading roles in sports administration right around the country. Not to mention the huge female volunteer base that sustains Irish Sport. Again however like the female athletes much of this work goes on under the radar. And yet all of these girls and women are exceptional and should most certainly be real role models for young Irish girls and women nationwide. 40% of females partake in sport and yet with the right encouragement and focus on some of the fabulous existing role models, this figure could be even more.

Sport is for everyone and that includes women. Women’s passion and commitment no matter the nature of their involvement in sport is just as fierce as men’s. I would hope that by 2020 female participants in sport feel their contribution is as recognised and as valued as that of men and that girls and women of all ages are encouraged to get involved in sport to the same extent as their male counterparts… truly sport for all.

Read more about the success of Women in Sport in our Annual Review