Ireland set to 'embrace' European Para Youth Games

Chef de Mission Richard Doyle says Ireland's next generation of Para sport hopefuls are ready to shine at the European Para Youth Games (EPYG) in Istanbul 2025.

An 18-strong squad will head to Türkiye for the EPYG from July 24-27 competing in Para athletics, Para swimming, Para table tennis and wheelchair basketball.

The wheelchair basketball squad includes several players who took bronze at the EPYG in Finland in 2022 but this is the first time the country has competed at the multi-sport event for young athletes under the umbrella of Paralympics Ireland.

"It was a conscious decision," said Doyle, who was a deputy Chef de Mission at the Paralympic Games in Paris 2024. "We see the value in getting to know these athletes much earlier in the cycle not just at a Paralympic Games every four years.

"We don't get too many opportunities for multi-sports environments and when there are a Games in Europe it is very important to support them.

"Giving young athletes experience of a multi-sport event is crucial. Paris was my first Games and there is just so much going on. It's a hive of activity with so many different countries, dealing with 10--12 sports or 22 sports it can be overwhelming.

"You could see by the end of Paris how people have made those connections across different sports. If we can do that years in advance and people get to Los Angeles (2028 Paralympic Games) or Brisbane (2032) and they already know people from other sports it's a huge advantage in terms of team cohesion and culture.

"I think, particularly for anyone who might be a single athlete from a sport, if you're coming in and there's five swimmers or 10 cyclists and you are one person form archery or something, then if you've already been around people it's a huge advantage."

Doyle, who is Performance Operations Manager at Paralympics Ireland, added: " Every person is different in the type of support they need so seeing it in action allows us to plan much better how we support them in these type of environments.

"The Olympics or Paralympics are incredible really. You're going into a village and it's unlike anything you could possibly have experienced before.

"Particularly for Paralympics it's the man showpiece every four years so there's much more media attention, friends and family travel en masse. It just comes with a lot more potential distractions, but f you've had a taster of that it will help you plan for yourself."

Ireland will be among a record 33 countries competing in this edition of the EPYG and Doyle is full of praise for his counterparts in Türkiye for staging an event which will attract more than 1,200 athletes and support staff.

He added: "There is great excitement. I know a lot of friends and family are going to make the trip to support them in competition.

"We haven't set medal targets. We don't know who exactly will be there from other countries and the full side of that.

"But we are going there to compete and we have selected a strong team from the layer below our high-performance athletes.

"it's an introduction to a multi-sport environment and creating that team cohesion, identifying future leaders. We want to ensure everyone has a good Games experience rather than medal targets.

"We know that, subject to the competition calendar, the table tennis guys will go and support the wheelchair basketball guys and vice-versa. That's the power of this type of event. You see the scale of things beyond your own sport.

"I know there's going to be 650 or so athletes, some 1200 people, that's a significant undertaking for NPC (National Paralympic Committee) Türkiye so fair play to them.

"We will be there supporting them and making sure we get the most out of the event.

"Our intention is to embrace everything from the opening to the closing ceremony.  We want to fully support the entire event."

Doyle added that Paralympics Ireland also welcome the Discovery Programme which will run alongside the competition at the athletics stadium and the Cebeci Sports Complex where the eight other sports will be staged.

The programme aims to give athletes, coaches and other support staff the chance to take part in working groups and lectures on a whole range of topics from classification, clean sport to social media.

Doyle added: "We have highlighted the Discovery Programme in all our team meetings with the athletes.

"If it doesn't impinge on training it's important that they do embrace this and engage with other countries and the topics that will be on the agenda. That goes for athletes as well as coaches.

"We have done research with the University of Limerick looking at the barriers and opportunities in para sport and one of the research assistants will be over in Istanbul with us so he can immerse himself in this.

"At this EPYG we can benchmark ourselves against other countries across Europe. Our President is coming, our Chief Operations Officer is coming. We intend to be fully engaged in everything.

"The Turkish NPC have done a massive job. I don't underestimate the amount of work it takes and we want to support every element.

"There's always an issue with Ireland in terms of our population so the depth of national competition can be low in certain sports. That's another reason why the EPYG is massive for us as it allows us get a higher depth of competition.

"There are sports like athletics, cycling, swimming which have high performance programmes and established staff but there are other programmes trying to get to that level in terms of funding and support.

"So when the sports come together at an event like the EPYG and they see what is possible it just encourages everyone to go a little bit bigger and take things to the next level."

The record-breaking Istanbul 2025 European Para Youth Games officially open on 24 July and run until 27 July. They will feature a record 640 athletes with 1,200 competitors, coaches and team staff from 33 countries, also the biggest ever number, competing in Para archery, Para athletics, wheelchair basketball, boccia, goalball, Para judo, Para swimming, Para table tennis and Para taekwondo.

Participants will also get to experience the Discovery Programme where they will have the chance to take part in education and experiences in a broad range of topics, including activities designed to immerse the people of Istanbul in EPYG and to get to know Para sport.