SINI was established in 2002 to build a world leading sport system for Northern Ireland and is a partnered by Sport Northern Ireland and based at the Jordanstown campus of the University of Ulster.
The Sports Institute Northern Ireland is home to three programmes including the Major Games Programme, which caters for around 50 athletes who are training hard to compete at major competitions including the Olympics, Paralympics and Commonwealth Games.
Among those athletes is Aileen Morrison, a triathlete originally from Derry, who made history this month when she became the first Irish athlete to medal in the World Championships. Aileen took bronze and has climbed to a very respectable 20th in the current world championship rankings. Aileen is now looking to London 2012 and had this to say,
“It is my goal to get to London 2012 and I have had a real confidence boost with my result in Hamburg and I don’t want to just get to London 2012, I want to get there and compete. I now know I can go and compete at the highest level; London 2012 is a very realistic opportunity for me.
Paddy Barnes is another world class SINI athlete who tasted success at the Beijing Olympics with a Bronze medal, is very much looking forward to London 2012,
“I would hope to be there in the ring in London competing and trying to improve on the bronze I won in Beijing”
All eyes will be on double Gold Paralympian Jason Smyth at the European Championships this week as he creates history as the first Paralympian to compete in a European Championships. Jason is hoping to create more sporting history in 2012 when he aims to compete in both the Olympics and Paralympics, a goal which he feels is, "definitely achievable". Jason and his coach Stephen Maguire work very closely with SINI and Jason recently said this about it,
“The relationship we have with SINI is so important, the staff are all so professional and experts in their disciplines, they will recommend what they think is best and we’ll discuss the way forward. They meet with my Coach Stephen and I guess I do what I’m told but I’m confident that they make the right decisions."
Every athlete coming into SINI is screened and a specific programme is designed especially for them delivering a range of services including Strength and Conditioning, Sports Psychology, Performance Nutrition, Performance Analysis and Sports Physiotherapy.
Each individual athlete’s programme is brought together and managed by SINI’s two resident Performance Planners Jo Hopkins and Richard Archibald, both very successful sporting stars in their own right, Jo and Richard ensure that the service delivery is fully integrated and work very closely with the athlete and their coach, to ensure that the athletes programme is structured and tailored to their individual needs.
Richard Archibald, a former SINI athlete and double Olympian with the Irish lightweight four rowing team, had this to say on his role at SINI,
“My focus is on helping the athletes plan their lives, making sure that they get all the services they need, we co-ordinate others for the benefit of the athletes.
We pull together SINI staff and Sport NI funding bodies and liaise with local coaches, national coaches and organisations such as the Olympic Council of Ireland and British Olympic Association trying to make sure that everything is working for the athlete.”
He adds, “With the diverse range of services available and the wide range of athletes we serve and the individual needs of different sports, you can’t say what works for one will work for another, it’s very individual.”
