Jan 7, 2019
The Ireland u16s Girls Volleyball Team created history at the European Championships Qualifying stage yesterday (Sunday Jan 6th). The girls in green beat Iceland to claim 5th place and become the first Irish Junior Volleyball team to win an International Match.
Led by the excellent Maria Jones Ireland cruised the first set winning 25-13, before Iceland hit back dominating the second (7-25) in super quick time. Ireland re-grouped and were driven by Grace Moloney who dominated play with neat passing and pinpoint volleys. The impressive setter Shannon Kehoe teed up some hard hitting spikes by Laura Connolly as Ireland took a nail biting third 25-23.
The 4th set ebbed and flowed before the Irish got over the line. The hugely improving Yousra Kebayli with some vicious jump serves creating havoc. Ireland claimed victory 25-18 to run out winners 3-1 and begin some wild celebrations as the first Irish Junior Volleyball Team to win at an International event.
Head Coach Gianni Massa commented, “I am very proud of all the girls, their dedication and commitment to this project has been inspiring and I am so happy for them to get their rewards. Coming here and competing is wonderful and to win a game is the icing on the cake.”
Captain from Ennis Volleyball Club Maria Jones added, “It was a great performance which we knew we had. We’ve improved so much playing against these teams and to win is brilliant.”
Ireland started the campaign with a defeat to Denmark 3-0 on Friday morning and a close loss to the Faroe Islands on Friday evening (3v1). They were outgunned 3-0 by Sweden on Saturday before their victory on Sunday.
The competition is the first event the squad have played in and a victory is remarkable considering their more experienced opponents. The squad will continue it’s development over the coming years.
The Irish team will return home to Dublin airport on Monday evening.
Dec 19, 2018
The Board of Cricket Ireland has endorsed the provision of Irish cricket’s first women’s senior playing contracts, after a recommendation was accepted at its recent Board Meeting held at Ballymascanlon House Hotel on 12 December 2018.
Warren Deutrom, Chief Executive of Cricket Ireland, said:
“We are delighted to become one of a very select number of sports in Ireland to offer professional contracts to women players. It has been an ambition of ours for a number of years, and we now find ourselves in the position to push ahead with this much-needed improvement to our sport.”
“The professionalism shown by our senior women’s team during preparation, qualification and performance at the recent ICC T20 World Cup was a demonstration that this side of our sport is ready to progress and grow.”
“We have been steadily increasing our investment and support for women’s cricket over recent years. This has included the appointment of a full-time national coach, providing for loss of earnings for players throughout the summer, increasing coaching staff and coach contact hours, increasing overseas player development opportunities, provision of a dedicated Academy programme for girls, and facilitating greater access to support services such as physio and medical, strength and conditioning, psychology and nutrition education. In addition, the creation of the Toyota Super 3’s Series in 2016 has provided that vital bridge between club and international cricket.”
“Like we did with the men’s side a number of years ago, we will now bring a measured approach to player contracts. A small number of part-time contracts will be offered in early 2019, with the plan to expand this programme over subsequent years.”
“Once again, we are grateful to Sport Ireland for their support in investing in this important development for Irish women’s cricket, enabling us to move into this exciting new period in our sport.”
The ICC recently announced that the next iteration of the ICC International Women’s Championship, post-2021, will expand from eight to ten teams. As Ireland is currently 10th in the world rankings, the Board realises the opportunity is within Irish cricket’s grasp to cement a place when qualification comes around.
Richard Holdsworth, Performance Director of Cricket Ireland, said:
“The International Women’s Championship is an international cricket tournament used to determine qualification for the Women’s Cricket World Cup, and – like Ireland’s inclusion in the men’s Future Tours Programme – would mean that our senior women’s team will be playing some of the world’s biggest teams more regularly.”
“As was noted by many observers at the recent T20 World Cup, the standard of Irish women’s cricket has increased significantly in recent times, but so has the standard of all of the world’s top teams. We need to introduce new measures like this to remain competitive against the world’s best and to push our game forward.”
“To prepare for our potential inclusion in the Women’s Championship, it will require further investment and improvements to be made in the women’s game – and a need to call on players’ availability more regularly. When relying on players who are juggling work and study commitments, availability for international games can quite often become a challenge. We believe that offering a small number of contracts, at least initially, will begin to ensure improved playing standards and better availability of our first-choice squad members.”
The Board also wholeheartedly endorsed the funding and development of a strategy for girl’s and women’s cricket in Ireland that will look at all aspects of the game, on and off the field of play. While the announcement of initial contracts precedes the strategy’s development, it is envisioned that the strategy will provide recommended guidelines for the scope and timing of expanding the contracts process.
“With a broad brief to look at all aspects of women’s and girls’ involvement in Irish cricket – including the need to benchmark with other cricket nations/sports, and to encompass targets set by Governments and ICC – the Board agreed that the engagement of an independent, experienced consultant to develop a framework for the future of this area of our sport was essential. We will be appointing the consultant early in the new year and will begin this important project immediately afterwards,” said Mr Holdsworth.
“We are entering a new phase in women’s sport in Ireland, and cricket is no different. Around the world we see an uplift of interest, participation and standards of women’s cricket and we are gradually putting in place a system to ensure that we not only continue to compete with the top teams, but advance the sport from grass roots to international.”
Cricket Ireland also confirmed that negotiations have progressed with other Full Member nations on international women’s fixtures in Ireland in the summer of 2019. These fixtures will be announced in January 2019 and will be part of another important year for the sport, as they will precede the global qualifying tournament for the Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia in early 2020.
Dec 18, 2018
Ireland is to stage the first Round of the 2019 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup, one of the major international events in the sport and a qualifying event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The prestigious event will be held over the June Bank Holiday at Bettystown Beach on the County Meath coastline between Dublin and Drogheda.
The two days of competition will see players from across Europe arrive in Ireland, many of them for the first time in a sport which has only been on the Olympic schedule through London 2012 and Tokyo 2020.
Ireland is one of eight countries that will host pool matches with a likely four countries competing in both men’s and women’s events at each venue.
The others to have succeeded in the competition and which were announced in Luxembourg yesterday are Croatia, Cyprus, England, Georgia, Greece, Slovenia and Serbia.
Successful countries from this initial group stage will advance to a second phase in May 2020 and the Finals in June of that year.
“Bringing International events to Ireland is a key part of our strategy to grow, develop and promote the sport,” said Volleyball Ireland President Grainne Culliton.
“The profile of this event will help us inspire new players to the sport. We are incredibly excited to host such a prestigious event.”
The Tournament will align with the European Volleyball Schools Project programme, with Volleyball Ireland working with the Meath Sports Partnership to deliver Beach Volleyball in local schools ahead of the event.
“We want to use the profile of an Olympic Qualifier to get more people into Volleyball,” said Volleyball Ireland General Manager Gary Stewart.
“It’s a great opportunity to show the country what a great sport Volleyball is. It’s also a superb opportunity for potential partners to come on board and work with us on this event and our huge schools programme which reaches all corners of Ireland.”
Volleyball Ireland has a range of programmes for participants aged 5 years to 95 years old through its physical literacy initiatives for children to its Chair Volleyball campaign for older adults.
Bettystown Beach has played a key role in the Beach Volleyball Ireland National Tour in recent years, and Meath County Council has been a strong supporter in winning the right to host the Continental Cup Group stage.
The tournament will take place on June 1st and 2nd, one week before the Women’s Hockey Olympic Qualification tournament.
Dec 17, 2018
Sport is a huge part of volunteering in Ireland and Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development, Mr. Sean Canney, TD, has launched a Call for Input Paper on Volunteering.
This paper is the first step in developing a national volunteering strategy. It will inform stakeholders about the proposed development of a national volunteering strategy and seek their views on what constitutes volunteering and what this strategy should contain.
The Minister said: “One of my Department’s key objectives, as outlined in our Statement of Strategy 2017-2020, is the development of a national strategy on volunteering.”
Volunteers make an enormous contribution to Irish society, developing communities as vibrant, inclusive and sustainable places where people want to live. The very real economic, cultural and social benefits of volunteering permeate through an incredibly diverse range of activities.
The participation of a broad range of stakeholders is key to the development of this strategy. When the draft strategy is developed, a further opportunity will be offered, by means of a public consultation process, for any further views on the strategy before it is finalised.
If you would like to contribute your views on volunteering it would be a valuable boost to making sure that sport is well represented.
Download the consultation document here.
The closing date for submissions is Thursday 14 February 2019.
Dec 14, 2018
A new state of the art hockey pitch will be laid at the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus, providing a welcome boost to Ireland’s national hockey teams as they go in search of Tokyo 2020 qualification.
Today’s announcement comes on the back of recent strong performances by the Irish national senior hockey teams which are both ranked among the top ten nations in the International Hockey Federation (FIH) rankings.
The Irish women’s team claimed an historic silver medal at the 2018 World Cup in London in August, while the men’s side recently competed in the World Cup in India following qualification for the 2016 Rio Olympics – the first time Irish hockey was represented at the Olympics in over a century.
To build on this success, Sport Ireland has commenced the replacement of the current sand-based hockey pitch on the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus with a new Polytan Polygras Toyko GT surface. This is the same surface that will be used at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and the 2022 World Cup.
Speaking at the announcement today which was attended by members of the Irish Men’s and Women’s teams, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross TD, said:
“This is a very welcome and timely development for the sport of hockey. I was lucky to witness Ireland’s achievement at the Women’s World Cup in London earlier this year and to see the desire and determination the team played with while representing their country. This new world-class facility at the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus will be of massive benefit to the preparation of not just our senior national teams, but also our up and coming players who will no doubt have been inspired by the recent performances of our women’s and men’s teams. This new hockey pitch is another welcome step in the development of the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus as the home of Irish sport and together with the excellent facilities already in place and those planned for the next few years, will support more and more Irish sportspersons in their training and preparation for international competition.”
“Chairman of Sport Ireland, Kieran Mulvey, commented: “The Irish hockey teams have had a remarkable period of success in recent years. The women’s team captured the imagination of the country with their exploits in the World Cup in August; while the men’s team have gone on to represent Ireland with pride in the World Cup this year following their qualification for the Olympic Games in 2016. The Board of Sport Ireland is keen to see the sport of hockey continue to rise in Ireland which is why we have approved the replacement of the hockey pitch. This development makes a clear statement that the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus is the home of high performance hockey in Ireland.”
The new pitch will be constructed by Sport Ireland with day-to-day management of the facility becoming the responsibility of the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus operations company.
Chief Executive of Sport Ireland, John Treacy, added: “The sport of hockey has gone through a very successful period and Sport Ireland is keen to build on its support for the game here at all levels. The new pitch at the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus will allow Ireland’s elite hockey players to practise on the same playing surface that will be used in the next Olympic Games, which will be a huge benefit to their qualification prospects and preparation for international competition. Locating the pitch here at the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus will also allow players to avail of existing science, medicine and lifestyle support services through the Sport Ireland Institute.”
Chairman of Sport Ireland’s National Sports Campus Committee, Patrick O’Connor, said: “This development of this new pitch alleviates the need for Irish teams to travel abroad to train, giving them access to the latest in pitch technology here in Ireland. This will further reduce hockey’s reliance on club-based facilities for training, which are not always readily available, and will make the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus an attractive proposition to travelling teams ahead of the Tokyo Games.”
The next major event on the agenda for the Irish women’s team is the Hockey Series Final, which takes place in Ireland in June 2019, with the men’s equivalent taking place in France in the same month. Both the men and women will compete at the Euro Hockey Championships next August 16-25 2019 in Antwerp, Belgium.
Chief Executive of Hockey Ireland, Jerome Pels, said: “Hockey Ireland would like to thank the Minister, the Government and Sport Ireland for their support. As we build on the success of the women’s silver World Cup medal this summer, this is a crucial development in our ability to support the high-performance teams. The Tokyo specification hockey pitch at the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus is an important part of our high-performance plan. We believe there are great benefits of being within the performance environment at the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus and having a direct connection with the other facilities such as the Sport Ireland Institute.”
It is expected that the new facility will be complete and ready for use in April 2019 at a cost of €600,000.
Dec 11, 2018
The Olympic Federation of Ireland (OFI) and Sport Ireland Institute today announced a ground-breaking, athlete centred partnership agreement for performance support delivery for the period 2018-2022.
The OFI and Sport Ireland also announced that Fukuroi City in Japan will host the Team Ireland pre-Games Training Camp ahead of the Toyko 2020 Olympic Games.
At the launch of the partnership Patricia Heberle was named as the Olympic Federation of Ireland’s Chef de Mission for the European Games 2019 in Minsk, and the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020. Previously the role of Chef de Mission was recruited internally or on a voluntary basis. This is the first time that it will be a professional, stand-alone role.
The new partnership with Sport Ireland Institute will deliver a comprehensive performance support programme for Team Ireland, covering athlete life-skills, sports science and medicine as well as various Games readiness activities before, during and after Games time.
Previously Irish Olympians did not always have the same medical support care team looking after their needs before, during and after Games. Instead there was often a handover of care from one medical team to another at Games time. Following feedback from athletes post the Rio Games the OFI and Sport Ireland institute came together to put this new athlete centred support plan in place.
This new partnership aims to align all sport science and medical care so that athletes can perform to their full potential. The OFI and Sport Ireland have agreed to jointly fund this new partnership and it will be delivered through partnership with the OFI, Sport Ireland Institute, the National Governing Bodies and the Performance Directors.
Speaking today, President of the Olympic Federation of Ireland Sarah Keane said,
“Today’s partnership agreement is a major step forward in placing the athlete first and comes at a crucial time as preparations for Tokyo gather pace. Our strategy is clear on the need to deliver for athletes. The appointment of Patricia Heberle as Chef de Mission in a stand-alone professional role, and the provision of Sport Science and Medical care from Sport Ireland Institute practitioners during games time makes this a very important day for High Performance sport in Ireland. Team Ireland is now functioning as a team with the whole system working together seamlessly for our athletes. I want to thank John Treacy and Sport Ireland, as well as my own Board for helping to bring it about
CEO of Sport Ireland, John Treacy, said
“On behalf of Sport Ireland, we are delighted to see this new aligned approach in the Irish High-Performance System toward Olympic Games preparation and performance. The closer collaboration throughout the Olympic Games four-year cycle between the Olympic Federation of Ireland, Sport Ireland Institute, Sport Northern Ireland and the National Governing Bodies of sport will lead to more effective and targeted use of resources, increased performance support to Team Ireland and provide the all-important continuity of care to athletes. This is a big step forward and we’d like to congratulate all parties involved who have worked very hard to put this partnership in place.”
The Olympic Federation of Ireland today also announced that it has appointed Patricia Heberle as its Chef de Mission for the European Games 2019 in Minsk, and the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020.
Patricia, a former Australian hockey player, has been working since 2017 for the Olympic Federation of Ireland as its High Performance Lead and has recently been involved in leading the Sparking Performance programme for NGB Performance Directors through the Sport Ireland Institute.
Commenting, Peter Sherrard CEO of the Olympic Federation of Ireland said,
“Today we put in place three vitally important building blocks for the road to Tokyo. Firstly, Patricia Heberle’s appointment brings a wealth of expertise and the respect of Irish High Performance system. She is a key appointment for the Olympic Federation of Ireland as we prepare for the European Games in Minsk next year and the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020. Secondly, thanks to today’s landmark agreement with Sport Ireland Institute, Patricia will be operating a unified, seamless system, where the needs of the athlete are central and delivered in partnership with the Sport Ireland Institute. Thirdly, we have also identified a very strong pre-games training camp in Fukuroi, Japan. We have done a lot to get to this point but the real work starts now, and on the best possible footing. Together we are determined to deliver for the athletes who represent us on the world stage.”
Newly appointed Chef de Mission for the Olympic Federation of Ireland, Patricia Heberle commented,
“This role means a huge amount to me. I have participated in the three Olympic games both as an athlete and a coach and the opportunity to be Chef de Mission for Team Ireland is both a huge honour and a privilege.
“I am coming into the role at a very exciting time for Irish Sport, having been involved for some time in the Irish High Performance system. The people involved, the funding coming from Government and Sport Ireland is starting to deliver some really good results. The partnerships announced today are a huge step forward in ensuring that everyone is working together for the good of the athletes and their performances.”
Fukuroi City and the Ecopa Stadium facilities have been selected as the pre-games training camp for Team Ireland prior to Tokyo 2020.
Located 90 minutes to the west of Tokyo in the Shizuoka Prefecture, the city is connected directly to Tokyo by bullet train. The city hosts the famous Ecopa Stadium, indoor arena and athletics facilities. It will also be a host city to the Rugby World Cup and is due to host the Irish Rugby team for a week in 2019, providing a large number of opportunities to develop performance synergies ahead of 2020.
Fukuroi was selected after eight other locations in Japan were reviewed by representatives from Sport Ireland, the Institute, the Olympic Federation of Ireland and its Athletes’ Commission, and presents a very strong fit for the needs of Team Ireland prior to Tokyo 2020.
