Students from Ó Fiaich College in Dublin were in the Sky Sports studios in London over the weekend as their school was crowned 2015 Sky Sports Living for Sport Project of the Year. They fended off competition from more than a thousand projects from across UK and Ireland in the secondary schools initiative that uses sports stars and sports skills to boost confidence, change behaviours and improve life skills.
At the start of the project, each student set their own goal and outlined how they planned on improving themselves both physically and behaviourally in the coming 10 weeks. Each Wednesday, the group worked on a different sport – from rugby union and football to boxing and tennis – and the students’ involvement and enthusiasm throughout was unprecedented compared with any previous extra-curricular activity the school had carried out.
Teachers and students from the Dundalk school were awarded the trophy by Soccer AM presenters and featured on a televised ceremony on Sky Sports 1. They also received £2000 towards their next project.
"Winning Project of the Year is an amazing honour," said teacher Brendan O'Malley. "This highlights the hard work and effort shown by all students and proves that effort and positive attitude, results in success. The group of students are an amazing bunch of young people and are overwhelmed with this accolade. We have had many memorable experiences throughout this project, including our exciting trip to Sky’s studios in London, and this win tops off an unforgettable year”.