In a new Leading Sport series, in association with our Partners in Leadership PwC, Sport for Business will host exclusive interviews with leaders in the commercial world of sport in Ireland and further afield.
In this week’s interview we talk to Darragh Cunningham, the newly appointed CEO of Pentathlon Ireland on what it will take to lift a sport with a low base of awareness up through the rankings.
Sport for Business: Tell us a little about where Pentathlon Ireland is in 2017
In a word “expanding”. Coming off the back of our second Olympic Games the board felt that the organisation needed to shift a gear and go to the next level as a sport and structurally as an NGB.
I’ve been brough in as CEO to direct and guide us on this journey. We’ve also hired the best Pentathlon coach in the world in Walid Sayed who will start with us next month and we’ve brought in a new office administrator, so we are in expansion mode.
Our athletes are fit, healthy and hungry. We’ve got two of the greatest athletes in the country in Natalya Coyle and Arthur Lanigan O’Keefe and for the first time we now have a chasing pack of young athletes who are starting to make their mark.
How important is it to have unified training facilities at the National Sports Campus
With the facilities here at the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus and the expertise within the Institute on top of that, we are right up there with the best established Pentathlon Federations in the world.
I was in Germany recently. A country that is synonymous with quality and their Pentathlon Federation is extremely well set up in the middle of their Olympic park. But even they can’t compare to the National Sports Campus.
We used the Campus for our nationals last month and the facilities were the envy of every other nation involved in Pentathlon.
I think in Ireland sometimes we’re guilty of not appreciating what we have but everyone in Pentathlon Ireland understands how lucky we are to be supported by the campus facilities and the Institute. They ooze class and expertise and we’d like to think that we contribute as much as possible to that.
Natalya and Arthur are two great athletes. How can the the wider sport benefit from having them at the top of their game.
Well first and foremost they are actually great people. Athlete’s careers are short so we need to be conscious that as well as producing great athletes we also try to help and guide good young people.
Arthur and Natalya are a bit special though. As competitors when they walk into a competition you can see the other athletes sit up a little straighter. Both top 10 in the Olympics and both have more in the tank.
What’s also great though is their desire to contribute to the sport as a whole in Ireland. Natalya has recently regained the title of National Women’s Champion. Arthur had a slight injury that day so didn’t compete but he came down to support the younger athletes. That should tell you all you need to know about the spirit we have here.
They are always willing to train and talk to the younger athletes so their experience rubs off on the whole squad and makes them even stronger.
What is the size and scale of the sport at grassroots level?
You’ve found our cryptonite. Sadly the size and scale at grassroots level is very small in National terms.
A great deal of athletes tend to come to Pentathlon at a slightly later age than other sports. The benefit to this however is that we attract athletes who already have a certain area of quality and a sporting ethos.
It’s our job then to refine that and expand upon the skill sets. Pony Club with their Tetrathlons have been a great resource for us and vice versa. Swimming is another one. A girl who only joined our High Performance Programme last year broke the world record in the pool at our Nationals. How exciting is that?
However I come with a strong track record in participation so I have a host of key initiatives in their infnacy to grow the sport at grass roots level. I can tell you that my answer to this question will not be the same if you ask me again in 2 years time.
How big a place does Ireland have in international Pentathlon terms?
Pentathlon might not be big in Ireland but Ireland is big in Pentathlon. I’ve already mentioned about the facililties and I expect over the next few years that we will become a hotspot for international training camps.
We have 5 or 6 athletes now who can mix it at world level. When Walid gets here and sets up his programme I expect us to make even more gains. Walid qualified a 14 year old for the Olympics in Modern Pentahlon. That’s phenomenal, so he knows how to get the best out of athletes very quickly.
Couple that with our own history. Our high performance programme officially started in 2010 and we qualified 2 athletes for London 2012. That’s unheard of in any sport in any country around the world so Ireland has massive pedigree within Pentathlon and we’re only going to get stronger.
I predict that over the next 20 years Pentathlon will be Irelands most successful Olympic sport. We’re going to be the All Blacks of Irish sport. Continuously producing world class athletes. We have something very special here.
Where do you get the bulk of your funding?
All of our funding comes from High Performance within Sport Ireland and we’re very grateful for their support. I would like to think that relationship works both ways though for the reasons mentioned above. I think I recall you saying at one point that “Pentathlon is a sport that delivers a lot of bang for its buck”.
Funding is something that we need to address though as it’s simply not a sustainable business model. We have got to become more self sufficient and I have already started laying the foundations for that to happen.
You can’t build a house on sand so step by step we need to produce world class governance systems and procedures, then we’ll build an empire.
What are some of the things that are most exciting on your desk at the moment?
Well we have a massive annoucement coming in mid June that I just need to keep close to my chest for the moment but it’s going to be a game changer for us.
I’ve just completed the nationality transfer of Eilidh Prise from team GB to team Ireland and I have to thank Stephen Martin in the OCI for his support in helping me to get her 2 year non-compete clause quashed.
Eilidh was ranked number one in the world in her age bracket just over 2 years ago. She hasn’t competed in a while but you don’t reach number one in the world easily so she’s a great addition and she already knows most of the guys in our squad from all of the time she spends here.
We have a great schools programme going with Laser-Run which has already attracted massive numbers in schools. It’s an easy sell but our HPP athlete Tom O’Brien is doing an excellent job delivering it. “Hey kids, do you want to shoot laser pistols and run around?”
It might not be glamorous or exciting but I’m pretty much reviewing every policy document and every structure we have at the moment and rebuilding or reshaping the entire organisation so my desk is pretty full. I do enjoy that side of things though and it’s extremely important work.
What will success look like over the remaining three years of this Olympic Cycle?
Our philosphy is that we must create a culture of excellence, a world class system.
If that process is right and you believe in the process, partake fully in the process and enjoy the process then the results will come.
You are new to Pentathlon, at an exciting time for the sport. Tell us a little of your own history and what has brought you here?
Well I spent the last nine years with Dublin City Council as the Leisure Services Manager there. Dublin City Council’s sports department is a wonderful place to work as you get to diversify into a lot of great projects.
Sometimes with NGB’s on participation inititives, sometimes large events, sometimes high performance training and more so that gave me a great foothold on where sport in Ireland is and it also meant I could see what different bodies were doing and what worked for them and what didn’t. I also got to work with some great people.
Alongside that I have always been heavily involved in any sports club I’ve played with over the years. I’m one of those guys who just seems to end up on the committee or helping out so I’ve always been involved in sport alt all levels either as a professional, a volunteer or a player.
I’ve done a lot of work within tennis that I’m particularly proud of.
Moving from Dublin City Council to a small NGB is likely to have some challenges, how are you facing them?
The funny thing is that I’ve actually felt really comfortable and energised by the role since day one. I’ve yet to encounter anything that has really thrown me for a loop although I’m not naive enough to think that that will always be the case.
I think that my biggest strengths seem to be some of the most important elements for the role, so not only have I been able to face each challenge head on but I’ve enjoyed the process of doing it.
I’m also not shy about asking a question though so where I have needed a little advice there are some great people on campus I can speak to like Sarah Keane (CEO Swim Ireland and President of the OCI), Ciaran Gallagher (CEO Gymnastics Ireland) and Liam Harbison (Sporting Director of the Institute). They have all been extremely supportive since I started. Roddy Guiney of Wilson Hartnell is also a good friend of mine who I can always rely on when the going gets tough.
I think if you discover something you love and it turns out that you are actually good at it, then you have to go “all in”. That’s what I’ve done here and so far I’m relishing every second of it. Long may it continue.
What are your own sporting passions?
I’m a massive Leeds United fan. Rumour has it my first word was “Leeds” but that could just be my brothers winding me up. With that being the case I’ve been to Elland Road well over 100 times.
Tennis is my sport as a player now though. I played for Dublin as a junior but never quite made national level. I returned to the sport in 2011 with Ashbrook Tennis Club in Rathgar after 17 years without picking up a racket and I’ve won 22 titles since then in singles and doubles so I’d like to think I can still mix it with the young hot shots.
What are your personal ambitions over the next 12 months to get over the line.
The Board at Pentathlon Ireland have put a lot of faith in me and I want to prove them right and repay that faith every single day.
They have given me the support and the license to take Modern Pentathlon in Ireland onto the next level and with our staff, our athletes, Sport Ireland and the Board themselves we fully intend to do that.
We have to aim high so over the next 12 months we need to lay the foundations on which we will build our sport. There’s an exciting new strategic plan in the works, some big announcements in term of events and programmes, I’ve no doubt the athletes will continue to provide us with world class performances.
One thing is for sure though, I want to eradicate the question “What is Pentathlon”? Mark my words. By the end of 2018 everyone in Ireland is going to know exactly what Pentathlon is.
