Dr. Michael McKillop returned to Ulidia Integrated College to complete his work with the Sky Sports Living for Sport programme. In his role as a Sky Ambassador he has worked with groups at the school over the last four years. Needless to say it was once again a great success and very inspirational for all those in attendance. Most notably he shared his challenges with mental health during his in run up to the Rio games 2016.
Michael is an Irish middle distance runner and Paralympic athlete who achieved gold medals in the 1500m and 800m at the Paralympic Games in London, Rio and Beijing. He is also the current world record holder for each of the respective distances.
This year he worked closely with the 13 and 14 Sports BTEC sports Studies students. During his visit he spent time assisting and motivating them in planning their sports event. The students decided as a group to run a football league for the year 8 pupils.
Michael delivered two classroom sessions and a practical session on the six keys to success. Drawing on his own experiences he highlighted during his career when he needed to rely on;
- Mental toughness
- Hunger to achieve
- Communication
- Sports and life knowledge
- Breaking barriers
- Planning for success
The students responded well to these ideas and I hope that they can use these key skills in their own lives in the future.
Unfortunately this is the last year of the sky ambassador programme and on behalf of the school and pupils I would like to thank Michael for all his support over the years. We wish him well in his future and hope he can achieve his final goal of gold in Tokyo 2020.
Yours in Sport,
Mr Donnelly
