REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE FIFTH ANNUAL SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE OF SPORTS AND EXERCISE MEDS
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE FIFTH ANNUAL SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE OF THE FACULTY OF SPORTS MEDS
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, Fellows and Members of the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine.
It is rather unusual for me to be in Croke Park on a September Day and not to be out on the pitch shaking the hands of players and officials or in the stand trying and failing to remain calm and controlled and, in particular, to refrain from giving advice to referees. So to be here for the official opening of this conference on Sports and Exercise Medicine is a particular novelty and a delight for which I am indebted to Dr Pat O’Neill, and to our hosts at the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
You certainly chose a very apt venue in which to discuss the themes of this conference and just as hundreds of thousands of us leave this place each year with an avalanche of thrilling memories that, win or lose, are the best tonic money can buy, I hope that each of you will at the end of this conference leave with the excitement of fresh insights, new networks and friendships made or renewed. Hopefully no-one will be carried off the field or sent off, for of course, conferences are the antithesis of competitions - they are generous collaborations and focussed sharings of wisdom, experience, insight and skill designed to move an entire discipline forward, to plot road maps to next steps and best steps.
The Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine is only six years old and already its list of achievements and contributions is compelling. As a national resource, its importance grows by the day whether the subject is first aid and medical screening, or advice on sudden cardiac death in sport or anti-doping in sport. Whatever the sports medicine issue, whether of wide public interest or of concern to amateur or professional sportsmen and women, the faculty is looked to with respect and with the expectation that from it will come information, advice, support and scholarship and training of the highest standard. This conference is one of the showcases of the freshness and the searching curiosity that are hallmarks of the work of the faculty.
You are about the business of ensuring the healthy enjoyment of sport and the nurturing of a culture that knows how important exercise and good nutrition are to healthy lifestyles. As individuals and a society, we stand to gain massively from developing a widespread culture of regular physical activity that sees people maintaining safe and active involvement in sports from childhood to old age. The physical benefits are matched by crucial psychological and social benefits – all important antidotes to the illnesses, the obesity, the reduction in quality of life, the wastefulness of life that results from poor and avoidable lifestyle choices.
With three great sporting spectacles coming to us from China this year - the Special Olympics World Games, the Olympics and the Paralympics now in full swing, we have all witnessed one enthralling spectacle of sporting success after another. Each one has been a personal triumph for athletes who have prepared over many years, investing massively in their skill and putting themselves to the test in competitions with the tightest of tight margins between the joy of a medal and overwhelming disappointment. Last Sunday in this stadium we saw a master class in hurling delivered by a team that it would take three teams to beat. The fiercely competitive nature of modern sport, the pursuit of better and better results, the demand for greater levels of fitness, the exposure to injury and the pressures for rapid recovery from injury, these generate huge demands and not just on the athletes; trainers, coaches, medical teams are all challenged to be right on top of the latest training and technologies, the latest research, the best advice and to make sensible, wise judgment calls despite the pressures.
The plans of the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine for Higher Specialist Training in Sports and Exercise Medicine, now at launch stage, are a very important step in the maturing of the discipline of Sports and Exercise Medicine in Ireland. We want our competitive top athletes to have the best medical advice and support so that they can compete with the best at home and abroad. We want our young people to engage safely in the huge range of sports that are available to them today. We want our people to build suitable sport or physical exercise into their everyday lives. We rely on you to inform and educate us about how best to use sport and exercise to enhance our lives and minimise any inherent dangers. There are practices and precautions, customs and procedures and systems around each sphere of sporting endeavour which will benefit enormously from your critical examination, your scholarly research, your educated analysis and your sound roadmap to a better, safer, healthier future.
I am grateful for all you do for all of us whether we are sports enthusiasts from the sidelines or on the pitch.
I wish the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine every success in its future endeavours and I am delighted to declare open the Fifth Annual Scientific conference of the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine. Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.