Sky Sports LfS First ATHLETE MENTOR Visit

This afternoon the Girls Rugby Squad of St Mac Dara's Community College in Templeogue had their first Athlete Mentor visit as part of their participation in the Sky Sports Living for Sports project.  We were thrilled to meet Dermot Gascoyne who gave a talk on the importance of sports in his life and the difference sport made to him.  Dermot's talk was extremely frank and open, dealing with the difficulties he had in growing up and in the tough decisions he had to make to become a professional heavyweight boxer.  The girls were fascinated by his talk and were really motivated by his message.  There was a great question-and-answer session with Dermot too and the girls asked a lot about his motivations and his experiences as a professional sportsman.  There was a lot of fun and banter throughout the talk and a great atmosphere in the classroom.

Dermot was accompanied by Natalya Coyle, one of Ireland's Olympians from last year's games in London.  It was a great experience to meet someone who had represented Ireland at the Olympic Games and Natalya also had a lot to tell the girls about her experience and what drives her.  She was going to swim six kilometres worth of lengths after she left us!  That's dedication for you.

 

Dermot then brought us outside and had us play a couple of games to get us moving and enjoying ourselves.  He then wanted us to show him one of our drills from training.  He got stuck in too and had a great time, coaching the girls who were taking part in the drill, as well as coaching the girls who were running the drill.  A real multi-tasker.  Dermot also had the girls show him how good their boxing skills were.

Back inside then for a quick cup of tea and some treats that the girls had made especially for our guests and some more chat.

It's hard to express how fantastic an experience this was for the rugby girls of St Mac Dara's Community College.  Everyone was very moved and inspired by Dermot's talk and he had some great advice for everyone, from the newest first-year players to the grizzled veterans of sixth-year.  We've gotten plenty of inspiration from today and we're really looking forward to working further with Sky Sports and the Living for Sports project.