Kerry GAA has announced a collaboration with Bon Secours Hospital Tralee which will see the two organisations work together to promote health and wellbeing amongst GAA players and the community generally.
Bon Secours Hospital Tralee already enjoys a strong connection with the GAA as one of its Preferred Medical Providers providing diagnostic services to the GAA and collaborating in areas of mutual interest.
The Hospital will now become ‘Health Partner’ to Kerry GAA, supporting Kerry GAA with access to expertise and facilities to help team management to optimise the performance of our elite athletes.
In the latest initiative marking the collaboration, the Kerry Senior team recently attended the Hospital for pre season testing.
Bon Secours Hospital Manager TJ O Connor said:
“This latest collaboration is about giving Peter Keane and his team access to our people and our technologies to optimise the performance of these elite athletes. We all know the kind of fine margins at this elite level and if we can help our team get one percentage more of performance that can potentially make all the difference.
We started our schedule of testing and we fully expect that this is just the beginning. We have already begun talking with the GAA about how we can support our underage football teams here in Kerry and we’ve also reached out to the LGFA to see how we can support our ladies in the county. A version of this testing is relevant for everybody; not just elite athletes. This year we are promoting a program, FIT+, which is fitness testing for athletes at all levels to promote health and fitness in our community.
For us working with the GAA is an easy decision; most of us follow the fortunes of our footballers. The GAA is embedded in every community in the county and most of us are members of GAA clubs. The GAA is hugely important across every parish in the county and for us that is very important; we feel a strong obligation to support our community here in Kerry; it matters to us. So for us, supporting the GAA makes sense. We are really looking forward to the coming year and the inevitable successes that will follow and all the opportunities that will present themselves.
Kerry GAA Chairperson Tim Murphy said:
“We are delighted to have an association with Bon Secours Hospital Tralee. Its local, it’s not for profit, like ourselves. From a GAA perspective we like to support locally as much as we can and we’re excited about this ongoing relationship. I would hope that we can build on what we have and we are very happy to be on board with the Bons for what will be a mutually beneficial relationship for both.
The newly opened Kerry Sports Academy (KSA), located at the IT Tralee North Campus will also form part of the infrastructure to support the delivery of Bon Secours performance testing programme. At the KSA participants of the Fit+ will have access to state-of-the-art facilities and equipment. The Kerry GAA and the Bon Secours are both strategic partners of the ITT, with access to the KSA for this initiative further enhancing this collaboration.
To learn more about the fitness screening service in the Bon Secours Hospital Tralee, click here
