TY Football and Fitness Course

The only course of its kind in Ireland, the Football and Fitness course provides TY students with the opportunity to meet their educational requirements whilst also developing a whole range of football, fitness and life skills.

Based in the Dublin 15 area and with access to facilities that include the Sport Ireland Campus, the course is a joint collaboration between Fingal County Council and the Football Association of Ireland. It has been established for both girls and boys, with s​​​​​Students selected through a trials process, a mix of football ability and their school report. 

Since starting in 2016, the course has gone from strength to strength creating pathways for players into full-time scholarships, first team contracts in the League of Ireland, professional contracts abroad, underage International football and senior International football.

Course Co-ordinator Denis Hyland said: "This course allows the players to live in a proper football environment for a year while also meeting their educational needs. They are at an age when some young players head abroad to join professional clubs and this programme allows them to reap the same footballing benefits and a lot more while remaining at home with their families and putting something back into their local communities."

The programme is jointly delivered by Fingal County Council’s Sports Office and the Football Association of Ireland with assistance from Empower Blanchardstown. 

While the joint initiative has heavy focus on football and fitness, it also helps equip students with valuable life skills. Participants gain a full Fitness Instructor’s qualification from Litton Lane Training and complete the FAI’s Coach Education pathway, earning PDP1 and PDP2 qualifications alongside a gym instructor qualification. Across the year that the TY course was running, students also undertake modules covering maths and English, as well as learning about topics such as sports psychology and nutrition, and there’s even cooking lessons involved on how to produce high-performance meals for athletes.

If you are interested in learning more, you should contact the relevant development officer for where you live in Fingal to see about timing of the course, what is involved, and also what other sports related events are running across the year, details of which are available here: https://www.fingal.ie/fingal-sports-office-team