Kerry footballers join celebrations at IT Tralee

Kerry football stars Paul Galvin and Darragh O Shea, along with Mayor Miriam McGillycuddy and Irish Sports Council Secretary Peter Smyth visited the Institute of Technology, Tralee on Wednesday December 12th to take part in the Adapted Physical Activity (APA) awards ceremony, which celebrates and honours the achievements of the participants of the APA programme in the Institute.

Since itâ¿¿s inception in 1997, IT, Tralee Students have been working in partnership with various different services which cater for people with a wide range of disabilities from all around the Kerry region. This year 46 students from the Instituteâ¿¿s Health and Leisure and Physical Education programmes ran and coached fourteen different weekly physical activity sessions for 97 participates.

Participating groups included Downâ¿¿s Syndrome Association, Brennán Services, IT Braille Group, the National Learning Network, Kerry Autism Services Nano-Nalge School and Aquatic Exercise Therapy. Activities included swimming, halliwick, basketball, gym, fitness, soccer, walking and goalball.

Michael Carmody, President, Institute of Technology, Tralee, said:. ⿿It was a great achievement by participants and students alike. The level of commitment from the students is something the Institute can be very proud of, and their ability to work so hard on behalf of people with disabilities is astounding.⿝

With the emphasis firmly on ability rather than disability, the APA Awards evening was an immense success. Complementing the IT Traleeâ¿¿s status as a leader in APA in Ireland this year the CARA, the National Centre for APA, was opened in the IT. This is coordinated by a past Health and Leisure Student from the IT, Niamh Daffy.