On Saturday 29th May, six Sports clubs will compete in the National Lottery Good Causes Awards.
This morning we highlight the claims of South Dublin Taekwondo, Ballintubber GAA Club and Ratoath Athletic Club, adding to yesterday when we looked at Kanturk Cycling Club, Raphoe Community Development and Shankill Tennis Club.
The National Lottery Good Causes Awards honour the inspiring work and achievements of thousands of projects, clubs and individuals from all over Ireland who with the help of National Lottery Good Causes funding have had an extraordinary impact on their local communities.
The winners will be named in a special live show tomorrow between 1 and 2-30 being streamed at the National Lottery Website lottery.ie/goodcausesawards.
Gráinne Seoige will be among the presenters and there will be a special appearance from Tolü Makay.
Nearly 30 cent in every €1 spent on National Lottery games goes back to Good Causes all over the country and funding from this source makes up a major part of the money distributed by the Government through Sport Ireland.
Earlier this month the National Lottery announced that it had passed the milestone of €6 Billion being raised for good causes since its inception 34 years ago.
Sport is one of six categories alongside Health & Wellbeing, Heritage, Arts & Culture, and Community and Youth.
Each category winner will receive €10,000 while the overall Good Cause of the Year will get an additional €25,000 on top of this. The winners will be announced at a virtual event hosted by Grainne Seoige live from the Mansion House on Saturday 29th May.
South Dublin Taekwondo
The Tallaght based club was founded in 2008. It has around 80 members and teaches people of all ages and experiences in this Korean martial art.
At the beginning of 2020, the club found out that one of their students Jack Wooley had qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and their coaches are also national team coaches.
Through the funding received, the club has been able to invest in equipment, including electronic scoring equipment and 300 Martial Arts Mats. This equipment is very expensive and the club usually only has the chance to use it when they travel to international tournaments.
Now, the club and their friends have full access to this equipment.
Ballintubber GAA Club
Since receiving National Lottery funding, Ballintubber GAA Club has been able to modernise the facilities at both of their clubhouses in Ballintubber and Clogher, and construct new facilities to both sites for the benefit of the wider community.
The community walkway, gym and astroturf pitch have proved to be hugely popular for the entire community, from the younger generations to the older.
Ballintubber GAA shares their facilities with numerous other teams and personnel such as Carnacon Ladies LGFA, Bord na nOg, Mothers and others GAA, Ballintubber Over 55s Club and Ballintubber Basketball.
The community nurse is also based at the same location and the wider community can use the facilities for meetings and functions. The impact of the upgraded facilities has had a highly positive effect on the entire community.
Ratoath Athletic Club
Since being founded in 1971, Ratoath Athletic Club has grown to be one of the largest clubs in their local area with over 460 active members.
Their athletes have competed successfully in competitions all over Ireland and on European circuits. The funding received by the club allowed the construction of a 2000 metre blue tartan area which can be used for a range of events including sprinting and hurdling, long jump, high jump and strength and conditioning.
This has enabled the club to expand the sports that they can now offer. One of the key objectives of the club is to encourage participation within the wider community and to ensure local groups benefit from the facilities.
The judging panel for the awards was chaired by Nuala Carey, Lotto presenter, and also included Seamus Griffin, CEO of the Griffin Retail Group, Fergus Finlay, Columnist and Author, and Jennifer Crowe, CSR Manager of the National Lottery.
Join us on Monday when we reveal the winners of the Award.
The National Lottery is among more than 250+ members of the Sport for Business network of sporting and business organisations working together across a number of key areas.
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