On Friday, November 15th, over 47k students registered to tune into Olympians LIVE! with double Olympic Champion Kellie Harrington, and Olympic Bronze Medalists Philip Doyle and Dáire Lynch!
The three superstar athletes joined our host, Emer O’Neill, in-studio to share their inspiring stories, answer students’ burning questions, and demonstrate Olympic Movement breaks. Dare to Believe put on two webinars, the first was created for the primary school audience, and the second was created for the post-primary school audience.
Primary School Webinar
Kellie Harrington was first up and she brought two very special surprise guests, her two dogs Nig and Gus. Kellie chatted about her passion for boxing and answered questions from Central Model Infant School, Dublin 1. Then Kellie asked her dogs to help her pick their favourite Olympic Gold Medal. Kellie explained how her Paris Gold medal contained pieces of the Eiffel Tower.
Before Kellie finished up on the stage, two primary school students presented Kellie with an Olive laurel wreath crown as an nod to the Ancient Olympics traditional prize for Olympic Champions, to thank her for inspiring us all with her Olympic success and the work she does in her community and with Dare to Believe.
Next up was a conversation with Paris bronze medalists Philip Doyle and Dáire Lynch. We heard about them growing up playing different sports and how they got into rowing. They took questions about dealing with nerves before races, overcoming tough patches in races and favourite Superheros different personalities, Philip said Superman and Dáire said Batman. Thank to Primary 4 Class, St Michaels Primary School Killean, Newry, Co.Down and Rathkeevin NS, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary E91TX38 for asking the questions.
All three ambassadors returned to the stage…but the two rowers returned as Superman and Batman!! Kellie did a rapid fire round with the superheroes before putting everyone through their paces with a boxing Olympic Movement Break. Then the rowers did an Olympic movement break each that focused on muscle groups needed for rowing: push ups and a rowing core exercise… This wrapped up the primary portion with a boost of energy before students returned to classwork.
Secondary/Post-primary Webinar
The secondary webinar kicked off with Champ Kellie again . Kellie spoke about how much she credits boxing with saving her life, how has given her so much; her community, structure in her life and her career, nutrition and her favourite sport psychology tool, box breathing! Kellie was joined on stage by Philp while Dáire headed back to college for an exam! Philip answered questions from students and talked about how the work he did in other sports growing up was easilsy transferred to rowing when he found it in University. Before wrapping up, Philip took on a fun core challenge while coach Kellie looked on. Thanks to the students from Tallaght Hospital School,Co.Dublin; Mulroy College, Rossgarrow, Milford, Co. Donegal; St Mary’s Diocesan School, Drogheda,Co. Louth and Beara Community School, Castletownbere, Co Cork.
Watch the Secondary Replay:
Show and Tell
Thanks to all the schools that posted photos of the students tuning in and taking part in the webinars. We loved see them on social media! LINK
Tell us what you think!
Please share you thoughts and feedback on the webinars with us! We are always looking on ways to improve, so your input is truly appreciated! LINK TO SURVEY
