The Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games team has left Glasgow triumphant as the team members collected the nation’s best Commonwealth Games haul since the 1986 Edinburgh Games, with a total of 12 medals – two gold, two silver, and five bronze.
With nine of Northern Ireland’s medals coming from boxing, SSE’s Ambassador Michael Conlan played his part in the team’s success by securing boxing Gold in bantamweight.
With the thoughts of the Home Nations already turning to Rio 2016 SSE has committed to doubling the number of young athletes it supports through its Next Generation programme from 50 to 100.
Through the Next Generation programme SSE has been getting behind a host of future stars with a superb package of financial and developmental support. This package includes funding and mentoring to help them achieve their full sporting potential and help ensure a sporting legacy for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and well beyond into the future.
Thanks to the support given to Team NI by supporters during Glasgow 2014, Northern Ireland will see an additional seven athletes inducted into the SSE programme.
They will join four young ‘Next Generation’ athletes from Northern Ireland who are already enjoying the support of the SSE scheme. These include Namphon Steele (Athletics - Sprint 100m/200m), Kurt Walker (Boxing), Norman Lau (Badminton), and Morgan Berryman (Swimming).
Wendy Barbour, SSE’s Director of Commonwealth Games and Sport, said the programme is already delivering results.
She said: “Three of our current SSE Next Generation athletes were competing at Glasgow 2014 with two of them winning medals. These young athletes are dedicated to their sport, often juggling school or college with their hours of training. The financial help and mentoring SSE provides will now help 100 more young people, across the UK, take their sport to the next level.”
Josh Bradley from SSE Airtricity who was lucky enough to carry the Queen’s baton whilst in Glasgow supporting team NI said:
“The support for Team NI was incredible, and it’s great that as a result of that support a further seven young athletes from Northern Ireland will be supported through SSE’s Next Generation programme. With mentors like the Home Nation’s most successful Olympian, Sir Chris Hoy, supporting the next generation of Northern Irish sport, hopefully we can build on the success we’ve had in Glasgow!”