It is one of our favourite events of the year and yesterday’s tenth staging of the PExpo went to another level.

Staged at the Sport Ireland Campus National Indoor Arena for the first time, and backed by the Olympic Federation of Ireland, Dare to Believe, PTSB, Sport Ireland, Dublin City Council and many more, including Sport for Business, this was a day that could not fail to inspire.

Schools from every corner of the country gathered with projects that showed innovation, the energy of youth and at times, a quiet brilliance that comes from asking why not rather than why.

We presented the Sport for Business Award to two teams in the Senior Category and one in the Junior.

We will cover them in detail next week and they will be taking part in our special Sport for Business Children and Sport event in Dublin on Friday, May 17th.

Talking to them yesterday, from Sutton Park School and Coláiste Eoin in Dublin and Coláiste Muire Ennis in Clare, was to get a glimpse of the future, secure in the knowledge it is in safe hands.

We interviewed Olympians Shane O’Donoghue and Ellen Walshe on stage and also enjoyed displays from Sam Madden and Leon Dwyer in Freestyle Football and Breakdancing.

Sport ireland’s Her Moves were one of the multiple sports bodies that put energy themselves into displaying the ways in which young people can engage with sport in multiple different ways.

The Dare to believe programme rowed in behind this year’s event and Roisin Jones and Roisin McGettigan were blown away by the zip there was throughout the day.

Minister of State for Sport Thomas Byrne was on hand as well as other politicians and business leaders.

This event has the potential to be a super-sized and super-engaged version of the Young Scientist and indeed one of the winners of this in 2021 went on to claim that crown before.

Born of the enthusiasm of a group of PE teachers and development officers led by Paddy O’Reilly of trinity Comprehensive in Ballymun and supported by a brilliant cast of Chris Steele, Gerry McDonnell, Peter O’Reilly, Lindie Naughton, Ian Farrell, Jason Carey, Amalia Naughton-Lopez, Andrei Molnar, Nicky Fitzgerald, Davy Cullen and Peter Campbell, this really is a date for your diary next year and for the long term.

Brilliant, simply brilliant.

More to come on the winner next week.

The Sport for Business Membership comprises nearly 300 organisations including all the leading sports and sponsors, commercial and state agencies. 

Find out more about joining us today.

Be part of the biggest community of sporting and business organisations in Ireland by becoming a member of Sport for Business and enjoying a host of benefits.

 

Get ready to join us for some of these forthcoming events…