Dundalk IT Academy puts local athletes through their paces

Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) hosts inaugural High-Performance Academy

Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) says it was delighted to recently host its inaugural High-Performance Academy which it says was a huge success.

This unique multi-sports camp for teenage athletes enabled students to step into the shoes of a sports scholarship student and take a walk through the support network that is available to Elite/High-performance sports scholarship students at DkIT.

The DkIT Sports and Societies Team enjoyed welcoming 17 athletes from various sporting disciplines such as Drogheda Swimming club, Dundalk Rugby Club, Louth u14 GAA, Stabannon Parnells, St. Fechins Camogie and LGFA and Dundalk Young Irelanders GAA.

The sports staff at DkIT say they were thrilled to share their expertise in the areas of skill development and sports related fitness. They called on local experts Sharon Courtney (All-star winner and Louth GAA nutritionist), Sarah Fagan (LGFA player and PhD student) and Ciarán Sloane (Louth GAA Strength and conditioning coach) to share their knowledge and experiences in the areas of nutrition, strength and conditioning, recovery and lifestyle balance for athletes.

All participants had a fun three days with Camper of The Week who was Alex Pepper from Inniskeen stating “I learned so much from all of the coaches and met a lot of new friends. I think we will all take what we learned this week into our sporting careers going forward”.

The organising committee say they were delighted with the success of the camp and Dr Bronagh McGrane said “it was great to see so many athletes from Louth and surrounding areas come together to develop, learn and get the opportunity to sample the brilliant facilities here at DkIT.

"The best part for me was seeing them make new friends and share their own knowledge with each other as well as learning from the experts. This High-Performance Academy will most definitely become a stalwart of the DkIT Sports Calendar. We can’t wait to host it again!”