Donegal athletes and coaches invited to hear from experts at NW Sporting Pathways seminars

The North West Sporting Pathways Programme is offering local athletes and coaches the opportunity to increase their knowledge and tailor their approach to training and personal development by hearing from sports industry experts through two free online seminars.
The two ‘Raise Your Performance’ seminars, which will be delivered by Donegal Sports Partnership and Derry City and Strabane District Council, are funded by the North West Regional Development Group in conjunction with the Executive Office and the Irish Government. The aim of the initiative is to strengthen the athletic pathways from grassroots participation to elite level competition.
The two ‘Raise Your Performance’ seminars will be delivered online via Zoom, with four high-profile speakers lined up for each seminar.
Seminar 1 is scheduled for Thursday, January 28th, 2021, between 7 pm and 9.15 pm. The areas covered in this session will be mental health and wellbeing, strength and conditioning, sports psychology and sports nutrition. Speakers will include Shannon Lynch, mental health and wellbeing and occupational therapist; Ciara McLaughlin, mental health and wellbeing and Kinesiology practitioner; Paul Fisher, strength and conditioning coach, Ronan Doherty, performance nutritionist and lecturer at LYIT and Nollaig MacCarthy, certified sport and performance psychologist and founder of MindFit Ltd.
Seminar 2 will take place on Wednesday, February 24th, 2021, between 7 pm and 9.15 pm and the topics for discussion will be anti-doping, recovery, core stability and sports psychology. Speakers for this session are Wendy Henderson, anti-doping consultant at Sport NI; Gary Wallace, sports coach and founder of CORE NI; Kevin Gallagher, academic and coach and Gary Worgan, leadership coach and consultant.
Speaking about the online seminars, Maggie Farrelly, Education and Training Coordinator with Donegal Sports Partnership, said: “We are delighted to be able to deliver these seminars online a year on since they were first scheduled. These seminars will provide an opportunity for young athletes and coaches to gain first-hand knowledge from the guest speakers during an interactive forum.”
“We are extremely fortunate to have secured a range of speakers of such a high calibre. The topics covered will provide an insight into the support services that are available to athletes and coaches. Participants will also gain some tips and guidance to help support athlete development,” she added.
The North West Sports Pathways programme aims to drive the development of the local coaching workforce, increasing participation rates in grassroots sport and the creation on North West regional talent squads to support the development of local emerging talented athletes.
The focus of the project is the delivery of coach education and training opportunities, club-based coaching, regional talent squads, sports camps and celebration/recognition events across the Donegal County Council and Derry City and Strabane District Council areas.
For more information and registration details on the ‘Raise Your Performance’ seminars, check out Donegal Sports Partnership Facebook or Twitter pages, or log on to
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