REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE LADY TAVERNERS SPIRIT OF SPORT AWARDS 2010 EUROPA HOTEL
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE LADY TAVERNERS SPIRIT OF SPORT AWARDS 2010 EUROPA HOTEL, BELFAST THURSDAY, 13TH MAY 2010
Ladies, gentlemen and distinguished guests, it is a great thrill to be part of these Lady Taverners Annual Spirit of Sport Awards 2010. My thanks to Candy Devine for her kind invitation to this formal recognition and celebration of the achievements of Northern Ireland’s remarkable young athletes with disability.
In another time, not so very long ago, the sporting talents of young people with a disability were largely overlooked the world over. It was assumed they would settle for being spectators at best but today thanks to their courage, abilities, advocacy and champions of change things are very, very different. Now you have a brilliant team at Disability Sport Northern Ireland working to make sure things keep getting better and the practical, passionate help of the Lady Taverners who have made this cause their own. You can see why. Sport is such a fundamental part of the physical and mental well-being of our young people and the Lady Taverners are working to ensure that access to sport and recreation is truly open to all and encouraging of all. For youngsters living with disability and who dearly want to get involved in sport there are very key issues which can make life difficult for them or easy, things like transport, appropriate equipment, specialist coaches, funding….
The Lady Taverners help address those potential obstacles and they make sure those gaps are filled. Their funding helps to create bridges over which young people can travel on a journey into their own, their fullest potential – opening them up to participation in all sorts of sports from your founding sport of cricket to sports that are new to Northern Ireland like New Age Curling, where able-bodied compete alongside those with disability. Put these things together and you get a much more comfortable and integrated world where people think positively, live healthily, have good social interaction and the chance to know the joy of winning, the heartache of losing, the determination to try again and the generosity of acknowledging the efforts, talents and successes of others.
Since 1992, when the Northern Ireland Region of The Lady Taverners was established, so many young people have benefitted from your fund raising efforts. There are, thanks to you, tennis courts at Thornfield School in Jordanstown, sports equipment in 47 schools across Northern Ireland, educational toys for playgroups, specially adapted mini-buses and recreational equipment for children with severe disability. But if you were to ask any of the members to comment on the work they have done, it would not be about the difficulties of fund-raising, or the personal effort invested in the work of Lady Taverners.
I am sure they would tell of the huge satisfaction they get from seeing others get opportunities that would otherwise not be available and in particular they would say they love this special day – the day of the Spirit of Sport Awards which has been the highlight of The Lady Taverners’ annual Spring Lunch since 2003.
On this day we are introduced to young people who amaze and humble us. Living with disabilities they deal with a lot of tough challenges every single day. They take them on quietly and with a resilience that is awesome and often not known outside their own homes, families and communities. And then they get involved in sport and they shine in ways that make us all so proud. To every single young person with disability who has taken part in sports in Northern Ireland I say thank you for the ways in which you have invested in yourselves, in sport and in life itself. I particularly congratulate our three terrific award finalists – Talia McDowell, Conn Nagle and Calioen McGowen whose impressive range of sports include football, swimming, tennis, badminton, curling and basketball. A big well done to all the nominees, to all who played a role in the nomination and selection process. You have selected three inspirational young people who are true ambassadors for the very best spirit of sport. They have vindicated in every way the work of the Lady Taverners and given all of us a day to lift our hearts. I thank them for their outstanding commitment to sport and wish them every personal and sporting success in the future. Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.