SKY Ireland recruits three mentors from Team Ireland Equestrian

SKY IRELAND has recruited 11 Athlete Mentors to join Ambassador Katie Taylor in the Sky Sports Living for Sport initiative in Ireland.

Three of the Mentors belong to affiliates of Horse Sport Ireland – Eilish Byrne, Natalya Coyle and Camilla Speirs.

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.

The new 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 Speirs: (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.

Opportunity
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 added: “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

www.skysports.com/livingforsport