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NI centres aim to uncover future sports stars
10 March 2010
Three new centres have opened in Northern Ireland, with the aim of providing an Olympian education to the sports stars of the future.
The Performer Development Centres (PCDs) aim to provide young people with exceptional athletic abilities with top-of-the-range support to help realise their full potential.
Laura Casey, a member of the junior Irish Triathlon talent squad, told the Belfast Telegraph the centres are an education in more ways than one, helping her manage the rigours of school life alongside her training programme.
She said: "I am still at school and sometimes it can be hard to juggle training […] as well as school work, so the support from the performance lifestyle staff has been great."
The centres are situated in Belfast, Cookstown and Lisburn and are the result of a partnership between Sport Northern Ireland and the Sports Institute Northern Ireland.
Sport Northern Ireland was established to promote sport and its benefits to people across the region.