February NUI Galway Announce New Partnership with Rowing Ireland

NUI Galway is delighted to announce a new partnership with Rowing Ireland as an official 'Rowing Ireland Partner Pathway University' that will help develop the high-performance programme at NUI Galway. This partnership builds on the already strong working relationship between the University and Rowing Ireland over the past number of years. 

NUI Galway will become a Pathway University, to develop talented pathway athletes for international selection at Under 23 and eventually Olympic level. In addition to this, the partnership will provide value to NUI Galway coaches as Rowing Ireland help to upskill these coaches to improve the rowing programme on campus. This will in turn increase the number of NUI Galway athletes on the national squad. 

Mike Heskin, Director of Sport and Physical Activity at NUI Galway, said “We are very excited about this New Partnership with Rowing Ireland’s High Performance Programme. The University has been developing partnerships with a number of the High Performance Sport programmes in Ireland involving both domestic and Olympic sports. These partnerships will prove hugely beneficial to our University athletes by providing a clean pathway for them to archive their athletic goals. 

"We are especially delighted to be in partnership with Rowing Ireland to build on the existing relationship which has provided Olympians in our recent past. We hope to see a number of other sports follow Rowing’s Lead and operate a high performance programme from the NUI Galway’s campus.” 

Rowing Ireland and NUI Galway will work hand in hand to develop a sustainable and robust pathway of young athletes from Junior to Under 23 World Championship level before progressing to the senior Olympic team.

NUI Galway head coach, Ciro Prisco will continue to build on his experience as part of Rowing Ireland's High-Performance coaching team (Under 23 World Championships 2019 and Junior European Championships 2020) by taking up the new position of temporary High-Performance assistant coach, working with the team at the National Rowing Centre while combining his duties as NUI Galway head coach, overseeing the development of the club programme in Galway. 

Commenting on today's announcement, High-Performance Director Antonio Maurogiovanni, said "We are delighted to have NUI Galway as a partner in supporting the High-Performance Programme Pathway. Along with our partnership with Queens, NUI Galway will have an essential role in our High-Performance programme's success in the years to come.

"We welcome Ciro Prisco to our High-Performance team in an important role as Assistant Coach for our High-Performance Senior Athletes. Ciro will be a valuable member of the team, and we look forward to working with him and supporting him alongside his role in NUI Galway."

Michelle Carpenter, Rowing Ireland Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are delighted to welcome NUI Galway as a new partner and as a Pathway University. NUI Galway has a history of producing World Class athletes, and this partnership will benefit both NUI Galway and Rowing Ireland for the future. This partnership is a testament to the vision and hard work that our High-Performance Team has put in. I want to thank Antonio Maurogiovanni and Fran Keane for their hard work in getting this over the line." 

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