ASPC News from Around the World
Sport Ireland Institute Visit to CAR Sant Cugat
Sport Ireland Institute, the National Sports Institute for Ireland and member of the ASPC, conducted two knowledge sharing visits in October with colleagues from CAR Sant Cugat in Barcelona and Canadian Sports Institute- Atlantic in Dublin.
Sport Ireland Institute is the Performance Support delivery unit of Sport Ireland, the state agency in Ireland with responsibility to lead and develop sport in the country. Sport Ireland, was established in 2015 via the Sport Ireland Act that merged the former Irish Sports Council with the National Sports Campus Development Agency. With this merger, Sport Ireland took responsibility to develop the Sport Ireland Campus, a sprawling 550 acre site in West Dublin approximately 10 km from Dublin Airport. The Campus has a dual purpose of elite High Performance Training alongside community and participation programme development.
The Sport Ireland Campus Masterplan is gradually being developed with current facilities in operation including: National Aquatic Centre National Indoor Arena Phase 1- incorporating a multipurpose sports hall, indoor athletics track and the National Gymnastics Training Centre. National Indoor Arena Phase 2- incorporating Irish Rugby’ s High Performance Training Centre and an Indoor Football Pitch. Olympic Hockey Pitch Gaelic Games, Football, Rugby & Community pitches. National Cross Country Track Modern Pentathlon Centre
With the development of the Sport Ireland Campus, most of the High Performance Programmes and the Administration of the national federations have moved to the site, including the Olympic Federation of Ireland and Paralympics Ireland.
The future development of the site commences with the construction of the National Velodrome and Badminton Centre( Dec. 2025) and the National Cricket Stadium in readiness for the 2030 Cricket World Cup. A further extension of the Sport Ireland Institute Building at the centre of the Sport Ireland campus is currently going through the planning system.
https:// vimeo. com / 704136210
A team from Sport Ireland visited CAR Sant Cugat to share knowledge and learn about the philosophy and programmes underpinning the success of the CAR team. We were particularly keen to learn about the operational model supporting the range of facilities on the CAR campus. We were delighted to spend a day conversing with and learning from Josep Escoda and his colleagues and build potential for further collaboration.
Following the visit to CAR, the Sport Ireland Institute hosted a visit with a delegation from the CSI-A. With a wide and varied programme over 3 days, it was hugely beneficial to both Institutes to share knowledge and experiences.
We look forward to conducting further visits with members of the ASPC network in the coming years.