Performance Athlete Funding
Access to athlete funding plays a vital role in supporting athletes on their journey to success. The costs associated with training, equipment and competition can be a barrier to an athletes development and success.
For athletes in Northern Ireland there a number of funding initiatives and schemes that can offer support. Speak to the team at Paddle Northern Ireland to find out more about funding.
Mary Peters Trust are Northern Ireland's leading sporting charity. They help young people, both disabled and able-bodied, achieve their sporting dreams and ambitions.
They do this by selecting the best athletes, supporting them financially and providing access to a team of experts, who help and support their pathway to success. Since our inception more than 40 years ago, the Trust has made a staggering number of awards, making a difference to the lives of thousands of young athletes from across Northern Ireland sport.
Sport Northern Ireland is dedicated to developing people in sport, especially young people, and providing facilities for people of every age group and ability to be able to participate, enjoy and perform sport and physical activity.
The Athlete Award Programme aims to assist athletes in maximising their potential by providing financial support to contribute to essential personal living costs and targets athletes with the potential for success in Olympics, Paralympics, and Commonwealth Games.
This investment aims to enable athletes to train in order to maximise their potential. Those applying will be required to demonstrate that their circumstances have changed or need to change significantly to allow them to adequately prepare for competition or the national high-performance programme.
The programme is split into three financial levels and can only be applied through your sports governing body.
Speak to the team at Paddle Northern Ireland to find out more about Sport NI funding.
The GLL Sport Foundation (GSF) is an athlete support programme in association with GLL, Belfast City Council and The Mary Peters Trust.
This programme complements and works in partnership with the existing athlete support framework that operates across Belfast to support athletes across the city to achieve their sporting goals.
The GLL Sport Foundation (GSF) is the largest independent athlete support programme in the UK and has a positive track record in supporting athletes. In 2015, GSF supported 1,700 athletes across 105 sporting disciplines and with over 90% of award recipients receiving no other centralised funding support the programme is focussed on supporting athletes with the right support at the right time along their sporting journey.
Local Councils
A number of local councils within Northern Ireland offer assistance to athletes within their catchment area to assist with their training or competition needs. The following councils have run Elite Athlete Training Bursary Schemes or supported local athletes:
Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Fermanagh and Omagh District Council
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council
Other council areas may offer athlete support programmes, contact the Council Sport Development Team for information.