David Gillick is an Irish international track and field athlete, has represented Ireland at the Olympics, won two golds at the European indoor championships and a bronze for 400m at the World Indoor Championships. Post his athletics career, he has written two bestselling books talks openly and honestly about his struggles with mental health post a sporting career and the strategies he used in recovery.

Vera took up the reins as Head Coach with the Republic of Ireland Women's National Team in October 2019 and since then has build a solid foundation of support, skills and success. With the Irish football team heading to the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2023.

"If you really want something and you put all your effort in it together as a group, then anything is possible," 

Gail Donohue is a former national-level swimmer, and Olympic coach in Artistic Swimming. With her extensive personal experience in high-level sport, a BSc in Kinesiology, she is a recognized authority on her sport, leadership, and coaching. She has made numerous presentations on coaching and leadership to audiences around the world.

Gail is a Master Coach Developer and Coach Evaluator for the Coaching Association of Canada (CAC) and is a passionate advocate for strengthening female coaching leadership. Gail has held the positions of Vice Chair on the boards of the Coaching Association of Canada and Canada Artistic Swimming and on the former boards of Coaches of Canada and the Coaching Association of BC.

Head of Nutrition for the Sport Ireland Institute since 2010 with responsibility for the co-ordination of nutrition support services to elite athletes and to a number of National Governing Bodies, for example, boxing, rowing, athletics, judo and cricket. Sharon also supervises research being undertaken on the topic of menstruation and sport and is an expert when it comes to the female athlete, nutrition and menstrual cycle.

A former International athlete and coach, a trained counsellor, teacher, consultant and adjunct of Hult Ashridge Executive Education, Jo uses the principles of neuroscience, psychology and sociology to underpin her thinking and practice in organisational and human behaviour. Her roles such as Performance Mentor for Team GB Performance Services Team, (Rio 2016) have honed her skills and processes working with world class performers and Senior Leadership teams who are required to deliver under extreme pressure. 

A former Ireland Hockey International captain with 127 caps, Sarah is coaching with the Irish Women’s Hockey team having previously coached the England U18 squads. Sarah will share her philosophy toward a flourishing model of coaching that truly looks at the holistic development of people, creating environments that allow individuals, teams and organisations to flourish.

Áine joined the School of Health and Human Performance at DCU as an Associate Professor in Elite Performance. She is the Chair of the Professional Doctorate in Elite Performance (Sport) - a four year part-time, blended learning programme, comprising both research and taught elements aimed at practitioners from across performance domains. 

Declan has spent much of his career in the development and roll out of good coaching practice in Ireland. In more recent times, has focussed on good coaching practice with specific target groups, with a focus on children, young people and people with disabilities.  A current project of interest is the All-Island Physical Literacy Consensus Statement. Declan is founding member of ICOACHKIDS.

This workshop is suitable for all coaches. Facilitated by Jo Hopkins & Gail Donohue, the workshop will explore how better coach-athlete relationships can be formed.

This workshop is suitable for all coaches. Facilitated by Jo Hopkins & Gail Donohue, the workshop will explore how better coach-athlete relationships can be formed.

Cliodhna O’Connor is an Athlete Development & Performance Coach working across multiple sports. She is currently leading the Strength and Conditioning programme for the Irish Senior Women’s Hockey Team. She has previously worked with all GAA codes including Dublin Ladies Football and Dublin Hurling. She is an active coach developer and a previous captain, All Ireland and All Star winner with Dublin ladies football.

Neill Delahaye, nominee for 2021 RTÉ Manager of the Year award, has been promoted to the newly created role of Cycling Ireland Head Coach. After nine years leading Cycling Ireland’s successful paracycling programme, Delahaye will vacate the paracycling coach role to take on a broader remit covering all disciplines. Irelands paracycling programme is independently recognised was Ireland’s most successful high-performance programme at both the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Irish Women’s Rugby Head Coach has coached globally for the last 26 years, including the USA Men’s National side, Leinster, Ireland, New York, St Michaels College and the storied Barbarians but his biggest environment learnings came at Yale University, where he was the Director of Rugby for 7 years and is still active on their board. As a former teacher, who studied at UCD and Trinity College, Greg is passionate about creating effective learning environments and has discovered external factors that have helped to guide his coaching tenants.

Four time Paralympian and gold medallist in the Sydney Paralympic Games. David is Performance Director for Paralympics Ireland and Head of Paraswimming. He is coach to a number of athletes, including Ellen Keane and was recently named Swim Ireland Performance Coach of the Year.

A former Ireland Hockey International captain with 127 caps, Sarah is coaching with the Irish Women’s Hockey team having previously coached the England U18 squads. Sarah will share her philosophy toward a flourishing model of coaching that truly looks at the holistic development of people, creating environments that allow individuals, teams and organisations to flourish.

Is assistant Coach to Ireland's under 19's womens football team, manager to Wexford Ladies Football team, coach to Wexford Youths and will join us for a panel discussion to talk through her methods of working with athletes to enhance their playing ability and enabling them to flourish.

Clíona Foley was a staff writer with Independent News & Media for 24 years, has covered multiple All-Ireland, World and European Championships, three Olympic Games, two Paralympic Games and one Winter Olympics. She also founded and presented the women’s sports podcast 'Off The Bench' from 2016-2020.