11 Irish sport stars join Katie Taylor as part of Sky Sports Living for Sport Programme in Ireland

- Alan Quinlan, Natalya Coyle & Bernard Brogan among new Athlete Mentors –

- Athlete Mentors to visit Irish secondary schools and use sport to encourage pupils to develop important life-skills -

Sky Ireland has today announced the recruitment of 11 Athlete Mentors to join Ambassador Katie Taylor in the Sky Sports Living for Sport initiative in Ireland.  Launched earlier this year, and delivered in partnership with the Youth Sport Trust the initiative is free to schools, and aims to improve the lives of 11 – 16 year old secondary school students in Ireland through participation in sport. More than 35 secondary schools have already participated to date in the initiative. For more information on how you can get involved visit www.skysports.com/livingforsport. 

The Athlete Mentors are:

• Craig Breen (Motorsport Rallying - WRC Super 2000 World Champion)
• Bernard Brogan (Gaelic Football -  Dublin & St Oliver Plunkett’s - All Ireland winner & GAA All Star)
• Eilish Byrne (Paralympic Equestrian - London 2012 Bronze medalist)
• Michael Conlan (Boxer - London 2012 Bronze medalist)
• Natalya Coyle (Modern Pentathlon- London 2012 Olympian)
• Brian Gregan (Athlete 400m - Irish Record Holder and London 2012 Olympian)
• Michael McKillop (Paralympic Athlete 800m / 1500m - London 2012 Double Gold medalist)
• Alison Miller (Rugby - Ireland Grand Slam Champion & Portlaoise RC)
• Alan Quinlan (Rugby - Munster & Ireland – Double Heineken Cup winner)
• Mark Rohan (Paralympic Hand Cyclist - London 2012 Gold medalist)
• Camilla Spiers (Equestrian - London 2012 Olympian)

Each Athlete Mentor has been specially selected to share the story of the challenges and achievements on their journey to success. As part of the initiative, they will visit secondary schools throughout Ireland to inspire pupils and encourage them to apply the life lessons they’ve learned through success in sport.

Sky Sports Living for Sport Athlete Mentor Alan Quinlan said, “I’m genuinely thrilled to be on board as an Athlete Mentor. My focus will be very much on communicating to secondary school kids the wider skills that can be learned through participation in sport.  I hope I can play my part in helping them develop the skills they need to make the right decisions and succeed in life.”

Sky Sports Living for Sport Ambassador Katie Taylor commented, “It’s great to have such a fantastic team of Athlete Mentors joining the programme in Ireland. We now have an exciting opportunity to work together to motivate and inspire secondary school students all over the country through Sky Sports Living for Sport projects and our Athlete Mentor visits.”

The 11 Irish Athlete Mentors join a team of 74 other world class Athlete Mentors delivering Sky Sports Living for Sports visits across the UK and Ireland, with the support of Sky Ambassadors David Beckham, Katie Taylor Jessica Ennis-Hill and Darren Campbell.

Commenting on the announcement, JD Buckley, MD, Sky Ireland said, “We are delighted to have such a distinguished list of Irish sports personalities from a cross-section of sports joining Sky Sports Living for Sport in Ireland. The response from secondary schools since our Ambassador Katie Taylor launched the programme has been really strong. With such an impressive team of leading sports professionals now on board we are looking forward to helping students in secondary schools throughout Ireland improve their lives.”

Irish Schools who want to find out more about Sky Sports Living for Sport and to get involved simply need to visit http://skysports.com/livingforsport 

For further information, please contact:

Neil O’Gorman
Communications Manager, Sky Ireland
T: 0872077192
E: neil.o’gorman@bskyb.com

James Elms
Communications Executive, Sky Ireland
T: +44 7557847136
E: james.elms@bskyb.com

Notes to Editors

About Sky Sports Living for Sport 
Founded in the UK in 2003 with Sky’s charity partner, the Youth Sport Trust (YST), Sky Sports Living for Sport uses sports stars and sports skills to improve the lives of thousands of young people aged 11-16 each year, in partnership with second level schools. The scheme currently reaches over 30,000 students in a third of all second level schools in the UK.  The initiative forms part of Sky’s wider commitment to the community through the Bigger Picture. To find out more about Sky’s The Bigger Picture initiative visit: http://sky.com/thebiggerpicture

Teachers can run the Sky Sports Living for Sport on a stand-alone basis or as part of existing curriculum activities by selecting up to 20 students who they feel need support and submitting a simple project plan in outline. Sky then sends them information packs and t-shirts. Teachers set project goals with their groups including asking them to lead their own sports event, before finally celebrating the group’s achievements.

Participating schools receive up to two visits from an Athlete Mentor who talk about the challenges they have had to overcome to achieve success and how participation in sport has helped them throughout their lives. The visits are designed to inspire the students and demonstrate that that lessons learned through sport - such as mental toughness and planning for success – can help them achieve their own goals in life.

To register for Sky Sports Living for Sport go to http://skysports.com/livingforsport. You can also find us on Twitter at @SkySportsLFS or ‘Like’ us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SkySportsLivingForSport. It is hoped that Sky Sports Living for Sport reaches over one third of all secondary schools in Ireland over three years.

About Sky Ireland

Sky Ireland has been Ireland’s leading pay-tv provider for many years. Last year, it opened a new dedicated customer service centre in Dublin and now employs more than 850 people as a result of one of Sky’s most ambitious and rapid recruitment campaigns in its history.

Earlier this year, Sky launched broadband and talk services to customers across Ireland bringing great value and unlimited broadband to the market and giving households nationwide for the first time the convenience of having all of their entertainment and home communications services with a single provider. The year has also seen Sky continuing to innovate with the launch of our OnDemand service offering thousands of hours of programming to customers when and how they want to view it and at no additional cost.

About Youth Sport Trust

Youth Sport Trust is passionate about helping all young people to achieve their full potential by delivering high quality physical education and sport.

Youth Sport Trust works to:

• Give every child a sporting start in life through high quality PE and sport in primary schools;
• ensure all young people have a sporting chance by developing opportunities for those with special educational needs and disabilities;
  
• Support all young people to achieve their sporting best in school and their personal best in life.

To find out more visit: www.youthsporttrust.org