Spark to sport

Sam Healy (current Irish Senior National Long Jump champion) is sharing with us his experience of studying and competing at the highest level in the NCAA

We catch up with Ceire Smith (episode recorded before Christmas 2021) on her career, overcoming setbacks and balancing a post-graduate course in physiotherapy at UCC.

Emma Saunders is a Performance Lifeskills at the Irish Institute of Sport. 

She is sharing with us what is a Performance Lifeskills and how to support dual-career athletes in Ireland.

Today's guest is Margaret Cremen. Recent silver medallist at the European U23 rowing championship last September, Margaret is sharing with us her goals for 2021 and how she is managing training in a pandemic while staying on track with her academics.

This episode is split into two parts: the first part is an interview with Dr. Michele Hill and Dr. Eithne Hunt (both working at University College Cork) on the topic of student mental health. The second part of this podcast is a conversational reflection with Morgan Buckley (Director of sport) on the lessons learned from the covid19 pandemic.

Maeve Gallagher represented Ireland in three different sports in 2019. This discussion is about her achievements (Youth Olympics, World, and European championships…) and what the future holds for this exceptionally talented student-athlete.

Cian Bohane at the age of 25, made a decision to retire from professional rugby and to follow his heart by going back to third-level education to become a teacher. This conversation is about resilience and living life on your own terms.

This conversation is about yoga, the importance to “stop and breathe” and why a simple life can lead to happiness.

Len Browne is one of the (rare) full-time sport performance analysts in Ireland. He has worked with a plethora of successful team sports and individual athletes. With the demands of the game constantly evolving, sports performance analysis is an integral part of the coaching arsenal. In this interview, we are discussing what is sports performance analysis, some key metrics, and how data can influence athletes.

High performance is never straight forward and this conversation with Johnny Durcan is giving us an insight into this tortuous path. Johnny is aiming to qualify for the Paris games in 2024 but a sunny day in California nearly put an end to this quest. This a story about success, challenges, and a constant search for improvement. 

Michèle Power is the manager of the Quercus Talented Students' Programme. It was a great opportunity for me to sit down with her and understand the mechanisms required to support such a unique and inspiring third level support programme.

Life is always about making a myriad of choices. Greg is sharing with us the path that took him from playing soccer in the NCAA to ultimately making the choice to come back to Ireland and develop soccer in a third level institution.

Colm Doyle is a UCC student-athlete and extremely talented surfer. He is sharing with us his ambitions as a longboarder and his views on studying in a pandemic.

This week’s conversation is with Morgan Buckley, Head of Sport & Physical Activity at University College Cork in Ireland. This conversation focuses on the approach to manage sport in a time of uncertainty and the path that brought Morgan to UCC.