By Dionne Meehan
DONEGAL Sports Partnership’s Chief Executive is set to retire at the end of the month after 18 years of service.
Dungloe man, Myles Sweeney, has spent almost two decades evolving Donegal Sports Partnership to where it is today.
When Myles began the role in 2006 after a lengthy career with Donegal VEC, he set out to change people’s lives through the power of sport. But when he noticed that competitive sport wasn’t for everyone, he began thinking outside the box.
“In Ireland at the minute, there is roughly around 43 per cent of the population participating in sport,” Myles told the Donegal News.
“There is a whole group of people out there that are not.
“Donegal Sports Partnership focuses very much on those people who are not participating.
“By looking at the 57 per cent of the population that are not participating in sport, we try to find out why, and then try applying a programme of sport and physical activity that can engage them,” he said.
From working with children and adults that have intellectual or physical disabilities to overcoming the barriers that permit young people, children and adults from participating in sport, Donegal Sports Partnership’s programmes don’t only have physical benefits, they have mental health benefits too.
But Myles knew the importance of sport long before he joined Donegal Sports Partnership.
In 1984, he began working with Donegal VEC. Playing sport all his life, as a young person right through to his adulthood, Myles took on the role of Youth and Sports Secretary.
It was in this job that he learned just how powerful sport really is.
“During the peace process, the EU used sport as a way of bringing communities together because at that time there were huge divisions, both North and South, in relation to working together and collaborating,” Myles said.
“They used sport as a model to bring schools together, to bring communities together and I got the job to roll out some of those programmes,” he said.
Already having this experience under his belt, Myles was the perfect candidate when it came to appointing a new Chief Executive to Donegal Sports Partnership when Michael McGeehan stepped down from the role.
“I came in first of all for one year and 18 years later, I am still here,” Myles joked.
Throughout Myles’ career, Donegal Sports Partnership has evolved massively and positively.
“We had to go through a recession and there were times where you wondered, is there going to be a Sports Partnership at all,” Myles said.
“You look at investment in education, in health, in the social services, and they are always a priority in Ireland. Sometimes sport and physical activity is seen as a soft touch, it is not seen to be important.
“But, I think over the years we have proven ourselves and that cycle now has developed and allowed us to invest more and Sport Ireland has come on board.
“They have invested in much more sport, they have seen the benefits of participation sport in Ireland and they have seen what it can do.
“I have seen first-hand how sport can change a community, it can bring communities together, bring people together and the outcomes it can have,” he said.
Throughout his career, Myles has strived to make a difference in people’s lives.
“There is nothing more satisfying in life than seeing that you have developed a programme or provided some funding for an organisation that makes a difference. People are under a lot of pressure, there are a lot of barriers there, but it is lovely to see those barriers overcome and that people can come out the other end and participate.
“It can be something as simple as a dance programme or even a men on the move programme in a rural community, where you are bringing a group of farmers together and they come back to you and say ‘that is the best fun I have had in years’.
“For us, it is much more than the games that you see on the TV, or the Olympics, it is more in the community and working with the community,” he said.
Set to retire at the end of the month, Myles is passing the baton on to his good friend Declan Boyle.
“I am delighted that Declan got the job,” Myles said.
“He went through a very rigorous recruitment process and I am absolutely delighted for him.
“Declan is a good friend of mine, he is a fellow Donegal man.
“He is a good people’s person and I think he will do really, really well.
“He is inheriting very good staff, that are empathetic with the people we work with and work to a high standard,” he said.
But as far as retirement plans go for Myles, he is now looking forward to spending some well-deserved time with his wife Ann Marie, who also recently retired after 35 years in the teaching industry.
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