Sky Sports Living for Sport: Katie Taylor heads 20-strong Athlete Mentor team in Ireland

Katie Taylor: With some of the new Living for Sport mentors

Sky Sports Living for Sport Ambassador Katie Taylor has announced that a host of exciting new Athlete Mentors are joining her team, including sports stars from athletics, boxing and - for the first time - the GAA.

The latest additions to Sky Sports Living for Sport mean that Taylor is now supported across Ireland by 20 Athlete Mentors, who will use the lessons they have learned through sport to help young people develop life skills and inspire them to achieve their full potential.

The new Sky Sports Living for Sport Athlete Mentors include: Darren O’Neill (Boxing), Jessie Barr (Athletics), Thomas Barr (Athletics), Shaun Berne (Rugby), Aoife McDermott (Basketball), Annalise Murphy (Sailing), Joey Boland (Hurling), Lorcan McLoughlin (Hurling), Stephen McDonnell (Hurling), Christy Toye (Gaelic Football), Karl Lacey (Gaelic Football), Darran O’Sullivan (Gaelic Football)

Taylor: Taking part in a skills session at a Dublin school

"I'm so pleased that thousands of young people in Ireland are already experiencing the benefits of Sky Sports Living for Sport," said Taylor. "I'm really excited to be announcing that our team of Athlete Mentors is expanding to help inspire even more young people to achieve their potential."

I'm really excited to be announcing that our team of Athlete Mentors is expanding to help inspire even more young people to achieve their potential.

Katie Taylor

Sky Sports Living for Sport is part of Sky Academy, a ground-breaking set of initiatives that use the power of television, sport and creativity to help up to one million young people build skills and experience by 2020 across the UK and Ireland. Sky Sports Living for Sport, delivered in partnership with the Youth Sport Trust, launched in 2013 in Ireland with Ambassador Katie Taylor and over 100 secondary schools in Ireland have already participated.

It is a free initiative open to all secondary schools across the UK and Ireland which uses sports stars and the skills learned through sport to build confidence and develop life skills in young people. To get involved and sign up to Sky Sports Living for Sport visit www.skysports.com/livingforsport .

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Mark Deering, Director of Corporate Affairs, Sky Ireland said: "We’re delighted with the success of Sky Sports Living for Sport since we launched the programme in Ireland. Over 100 schools and thousands of children in the country have now experienced first-hand the positive impact that Sky Sports Living for Sport can bring to their lives.

"So we’re now pleased that Katie, as the Sky Sports Living for Sport ambassador, has today announced a great new line-up of Athlete Mentors to join our existing team who will help to reach even more young people across the country as the programme continues to expand to reach our target of one third of secondary schools in Ireland by the end of 2016."

Already thousands of Irish students have experienced the positive impact sport can bring to their young lives through visits by Sky Sports Living for Sport Athlete Mentors. The new additions to the Sky Sports Living for Sport team will be visiting secondary schools throughout Ireland and use sports to inspire young people to develop confidence and valuable life-skills. The twelve new members of the Sky Sports Living for Sport team will join existing Athlete Mentors Alan Quinlan, Alison Miller, Brian Gregan, Craig Breen, Eoin Rheinisch, Jenny Murphy, Michael McKillop and Natalya Coyle to help deliver the projects across the country.

Teachers can run the Sky Sports Living for Sport initiative on a stand-alone basis or as part of existing curriculum activities by selecting up to 20 students who they feel need support and submitting a simple project plan online. Sky then sends out a starter pack for the teacher and t-shirts for the students. As part of the project, teachers set goals with their groups including asking them to lead their own sports event, before finally celebrating the group’s achievements.

To get involved and sign up to Sky Sports Living for Sport visit www.skysports.com/living for sport