IWA Sports Centre Clontarf

Virtual Spring Fitness

The IWA-Sports Centre in Clontarf are running a virtual training programme for their members. It started on the 22nd of February 2021 and has been running for 13 weeks. As gyms unfortunately remain closed, the Virtual Spring into Fitness programme aims to continue to support members and help them reach their health & wellness goals. Members have weekly check ins and catch ups with sports centre staff and take part in 2 live exercise classes each week. Everyone involved is really enjoying catching up with each other and staying active.

Employee Health & Fitness

The month of May was employee Health & Fitness month for the Irish Wheelchair Association. The sports centre staff ran online exercises classes IWA employees for 4 weeks in May. IWA Sports Centre Staff have delivered several 10@10 physical activity sessions as well as lunchtime and evening exercise classes to IWA staff. Well done to all staff who took part!

Virtual Club Sessions

Multi-Sport Junior Club Members from IWA have been training very hard since the 23rd of January 2021. There have been over 33 sessions delivered since this programme started. Fun physical activity sessions have been running on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings for our junior club members ages 5-15. All the participants have been putting in a great effort over the last number of weeks in different exercise sessions. There are members taking part from all corners of the country. Some have been reunited with their club mates and have even met people from different clubs who they may have not met before. We are always accepting new members. Please see IWA-Sport Social media for more information or contact tara.fitzgibbon@iwa.ie

Oliver Murphy Youth Leadership Programme

The Oliver Murphy Youth Leadership programme began on Tuesday March 2nd participants from a geographical spread of Louth, Cork, Dublin, Laois, Galway, Meath, Wexford, and Tipperary. Over the last 10 weeks the members took part in online training in leadership skills that they will be able to apply in various settings. The programme aims to support our young members with leadership skills that will benefit them on a personal and social basis. The participants have become empowered to lead among their peers and become advocates for the work of IWA and disability issues through a structured education programme. They are the first group of young adults in Ireland with additional needs to have completed the programme. The group of youth Leaders graduated in the middle of May following their 10-week course. We were also delighted to welcome Oliver Murphy himself to the event!

Well done to all who took part and delivered the programme! No doubt we’ll be hearing much more about you over the coming years.

Coach Education

The Introduction to Coaching Wheelchair Basketball course is part of the Coaching Development Programme for Ireland and was developed in partnership with Sport Ireland Coaching. Two courses were held on May 26th and May 29th by IWA Sports Team Staff.  This popular course is designed to provide participants with information around basic coaching concepts and skills to support them to become competent and confident in organising and/or supporting a basic level wheelchair basketball session. It is suitable for beginner coaches aiming to work with juniors and beginner adults in wheelchair basketball. Attendees will complete 3 modules, both theory and practically based, which include general information about the sport, classification, roles of a coach, LTPAD model, communication, session planning and experience coaching basic activities. For more information on coaching courses contact Shannon.pollock@iwa.ie

Return to Sport

We are delighted to see some IWA Sports Clubs including North East Thunder & Rebel Wheelers (pictured below) returning to activity this month. So many of our athletes and players are eager to get playing and competing. We wish everyone the best of luck returning to sport in the coming weeks.

Darkness into Light

On May 8th IWA-Sports Team members took part in Pieta House’ fundraiser Darkness Into Light. They braved the windy and wet conditions like many others to show support for the very worthy cause. On the same day IWA Sport also held the Annual General Meeting for staff, volunteers and members.