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Sports Minister Edwin Poots visits High Performance Centre
Sports Minister Edwin Poots has praised developments in sport on a visit to the Sports Institute Northern Ireland (SINI) at the Jordanstown campus. In a stopover at the University organised by Sport Northern Ireland and SINI, the minister received a presentation on the work of SINI from members of staff, met with athletes who attend the Institute and received a tour of the current existing facilities which the athletes use. The Minister’s visit finished with a tour of the impressive new £12m High Performance Centre which is due for completion this year.
The Sports Minister gets a tour round the existing facilities at SINI. Ronnie Smith Head of High Performance SINI, Sports Minister Edwin Poots and Phil Mooreland Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at SINI.
During his visit to the Institute the Minister met with representatives from both Sport Northern Ireland and the University of Ulster, the two partner organisations of the Sports Institute.
Welcoming the minister, UU Vice-Chancellor Prof Richard Barnett, said:
“The University has a long tradition in sport, indeed the University was founded as a physical education college in the fifties (UCPE) and we aim to continue our ventures in sport. The University aspires to establish itself as the leading university for sport on the island of Ireland and we endeavour to also be one of the leading universities for sport in the UK.”
Gary Longwell, High Performance Manager of Rugby at Sports Institute Northern Ireland (SINI) introduces the Sports Minister, Edwin Poots, to Niall O’Connor and Sam McDonald rugby athletes at SINI.
Professor Eric Saunders OBE, chairman of Sport Northern Ireland commended the work carried out by the Sports Institute,
“ the completion of the new £12m High Performance Centre at UUJ, the Institute is moving into a new and exciting phase of its development. This state of the art facility combined with the expertise of the Institute staff, will create the right training environment to motivate and inspire our athletes to be the best that they can be. Sport Northern Ireland is delighted be involved in this relationship with the University of Ulster which has resulted in the development of this elite facility”.
Mr Poots praised the work of SINI in developing world-class athletes:
“It’s vitally important that Northern Ireland has sports people competing at the highest levels and without the likes of the Sports Institute there’s no prospect of that being the case. The Sports Institute hasn’t been going that many years and with the sort of work that’s involved the fruits of it will be fed through from here on in.”
The Minister meets athletes of SINI. Conor McConvey, mountain biker at SINI, Joanne Hopkins, High Performance Manager of individual athletes at SINI, Orlagh Duddy, rower at SINI, and Sports Minister Edwin Poots.
The minister also welcomed the development of the new services at the Jordanstown campus.
“In terms of the new facilities being developed, they’re very impressive. The scale of those facilities will allow people to train at the highest level with all the requisite coaching, physiotherapy and various training mechanisms to support them.
“It’s all very critical for the development of sport and it fits very neatly for what we are proposing to do with the sport strategy, where we are wanting to see people compete at the highest spectrum as well as encouraging ordinary people to get out there and enjoy some sports discipline.”
The £12 million HPC is due for completion this year.
Sports Minister Edwin Poots takes a site visit to the new facilities at Sports Institute Northern Ireland. Dr Olive Brown, Sport Northern Ireland Council Member, Professor Eric Saunders OBE, Chairman of Sport Northern Ireland, Hugh McCaughey, Chair of SINI, Sports Minister Edwin Poots, Ronnie Smith, Head of High Performance SINI, Peter Niblock, Architect, Samuel Stevenson & Son.
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