Hundreds of Leaving Cert PE Students begin Leaving Cert Project preparations with TUS Sports Performance Workshops

Benard Mwangi, CBS taking part in the TUS Sports Performance Workshops for Secondary Schools. Picture: Alan Place

Almost 400 second-level students from across the Mid West began preparing for the Physical Education Leaving Cert examination at special TUS Sports Performance Workshops 

Almost 400 second-level students from across the Mid West and beyond began preparing for the Physical Education Leaving Cert examination at a special Sports Performance Workshop in the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS.)

The workshop which originated on the TUS Thurles Campus in 2017 and has worked with more than 1,000 secondary school students since its inception, expanded into the Moylish Campus in Limerick this year, providing students from Limerick, Tipperary, Clare, Laois, Kilkenny, Galway, Cork and Dublin with an insight into everything from sport technology and psychology to nutrition and best practice.

The day long programme aimed at Leaving Cert students was developed by the TUS Applied Strength and Conditioning Department on the Thurles Campus with significant input from TUS third year sport science students. Students and staff from Sports Development and Performance and also Business Studies with Sports Management departments brought the popular workshop to Moylish for the first time ever.

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The aim of the workshop held in both Tipperary and Limerick was to support teachers and students studying the PE curriculum by sharing knowledge in sport science and performance from the TUS BSc programmes in strength and conditioning, performance technology, sports performance and sports management. It also allowed post primary students the opportunity to see and use sport facilities they would not otherwise have access to.

TUS Lecturer in Applied Strength & Conditioning Michael Fennelly explained the origins of this successful workshop and the advantages it provides to both the third and second level students taking part.

“Originally, we developed this day long programme to showcase our strength and conditioning programme in Thurles by giving students an insight into performance testing, athlete profiling, nutrition, sport psychology and resistance training.

“When PE was piloted as an exam subject in schools, we could see how the workshops could be adapted to support teachers and students in preparing for their projects and exams. PE as a Leaving Cert subject has become even more established in the last two years with more schools in the region offering it as an exam subject. As a result, the workshop has become an essential part of the preparation work for the leaving cert exam for many students,” he said.

TUS Lecturer in Sport Kelvin Harold added, “The workshop is a great opportunity for the TUS sport courses students, as it allows them to engage with other students and share what they have learnt during their time in our various sports programmes.

“These students are the next generation of sport specialists, working in an area that the most recent figures available show is worth more than €3.7 billion to the Irish economy. If we also A special sports workshop aimed at women and girls in sport will also return to TUS in the new year.

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