With two great passions – development and education – Director of Sport and Physical Wellbeing at University of Galway Des Ryan focuses both on guiding elite athletes to fulfil their potential and encouraging as many people from the University community as possible to enjoy the benefit of sport.
As we celebrate the success of our student athletes, Director Ryan explains how the University can better support them and create an inclusive and diverse active environment where everyone is welcome.
Des Ryan (DR): I’m from a small village, Aughrim, Co. Galway. I was involved in many different sports in my youth, and my journey took me from Garbally College to Strawberry Hill St Mary’s University in Twickenham. I was then delighted to come back to Galway in 1997 to work with Connacht Rugby as a development officer as well as a Strength and Conditioning coach for underage players; as part of this experience, I progressed to the position of Head of Strength and Conditioning with the senior team at Connacht Rugby.
It was later that an opportunity appeared with the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) for a Strength and Conditioning Coach and Fitness Education Manager. I managed the physical development of players across the four provincial academies alongside the coach education programme, in relational to physical development. That’s where my passion is: development and education. In a collaborative effort, we came up with an Irish Rugby approach to physical development, through a new and unique certified conditioning course.
Arsenal Football Club Academy saw the strength and conditioning development work in the IRFU, and they approached me for the role of Head of Sport Medicine and Athletic Development. That was an exciting progression for me. I spent nine great years at Arsenal, with great progress on player and facilities development in that timespan, and I made lifelong friends and colleagues. Post-COVID, I was keen to get back to the West of Ireland. The opportunity came with an offer from Setanta College and, just recently, the role of Director of Sport and Physical Wellbeing came up at University of Galway; it’s a fantastic role with a university that has a fantastic history of sport, and in my own city. I’m looking forward to being here for the long term, developing sports across campus.
DR: A major focus of my role is that it’s dual aspirational. As Director of Sport and Physical Wellbeing, I support elite sport while ensuring the wider community is active and can enjoy the benefits of being active. In this university, we aim to create opportunities for everyone. There are 42 clubs, but we aim to grow that. We offer three tiers of opportunity and whether you’re a beginner, looking to stay fit, or aim to compete in the Olympics, there’s a place for everyone, and we want to expand this model across all sports.
Our mission is to become the most progressive and caring university sports programme on the island of Ireland. What does that mean? We have mapped out the community and created clustered circles to ensure that everyone has an opportunity. The first circle is our elite scholarship athletes, then the varsity circle is the teams that compete nationally, and next is the active circle, representing individuals who participate in clubs or simply engage in casual physical activity. One additional circle consists of inactive people. Our goal is to get people who are not active into the active circle.
We already have amazing athletes, like our World Under 23 medal-winning rowers. For our student scholarships, we want to identify future stars in our area. We will reach out and invite them to explore our programmes, like sports science, strength and conditioning, sports psychology, or sports nutrition.
In October and November of 2024, we invited sports organisations in our area to experience the University’s vibrant sports community, reflecting our value of openness. This all contributes to building a high-challenge, high-support environment for young athletes. Guided by our core values, we are constantly evolving to offer comprehensive coaching and support.
I’ve already begun. One of Arsenal Football Club’s strengths was their clear vision and philosophy, which asked: What are we trying to achieve? How will we achieve it? They focused on four pillars of development for the players: technical–tactical, champion-mentality, psych–social, and lifelong learning. I’m working with all team coaches to create a performance plan based on these pillars. Each coach has been challenged to define their team’s philosophy, mission, and strategy. This is a collaborative effort, feeding into the University’s wider Strategic Plan.
This University has a good history in Gaelic games and other sports. Liam Nolan, for example, represented us at the Golf Open, practising alongside Tiger Woods – a great experience for a dual-aspirational athlete. This happened while Liam was being supported by the Sports Unit. Many of our students and alumni represented the University in July’s All Ireland Football and Camogie finals. We’ve also had many alumni compete in the Olympics and, with the right support and structure, our women’s soccer players could make it to the Women’s Super League in England. It’s up to us to bring out the best in our players and athletes, and also to bring the best players and athletes to the University from the University of Galway’s catchment area.
We are fortunate to have strong partnerships here. My goal is to strengthen and formalise them. For example, our relationship with the Gaelic Games associations and Connacht GAA. We also have a good relationship with the Galway City Harriers, Connacht Hockey, and the hockey club in Galway. It’s one of the few facilities of its kind in the region, and it provides a great opportunity to engage with local clubs and schools. There are also the likes of the Galway Bay Rugby Club, Galway United, and the Connacht Rugby National Talent Squad for girls, all of whom use our facility regularly. We are looking forward to hosting a Connacht A game versus Ulster A on the 28th of December. We also have the Wheelers Team of the Titans Basketball Club, a new collaboration for training opportunities and facility use geared toward the activity of wheelchair basketball. It’s a pleasure to be partnered with this team and club. I’m committed to continuing to foster this openness and community engagement. Our community sports education programme was a great success so far; alongside my own workshop, we had Heather Boyle (IOC), Joanne Murphy (Ironman), and Russell Earnshaw (Magic Academy) deliver workshops on campus for the community.
When it comes to scholarship athletes, it is imperative that we establish strong collaborations with inter-county managers and high-performance coaches in Olympic sports. We must develop a comprehensive training plan that upholds fundamental principles. We need to ensure that athletes are not overworked – whether this is on the field, in the water, or within their academic pursuits. Taking a holistic approach is vital. We need to map out commitments and align our efforts with national governing bodies to guarantee that players are well looked after. I think that universities are fundamentally positioned to offer essential support services for sport in Ireland, and we as institutions play a critical role in the development of these athletes.
‘Sport for All’ is just as important in University of Galway as high performance, reflecting the value of our dual-aspirational approach; we promote both high performance and sport for all. We organise taster sessions to actively engage students, encouraging them to participate by creating a welcoming environment and showing them clear pathways to getting involved in campus sport. Research shows that being active leads to better self-esteem and stress management, and that it can also lead to increased energy levels, boosted academic performance, and enhanced memory skills.
In January, we’ll have an event where I’ll give a talk about the benefits of sport, then say: let’s be active for 30 minutes. There will be the opportunity to sing in a choir, go for a walk, play pickleball. We’ll be active for 30 minutes, and then we’ll talk about options like these, which offer many health benefits. Another big extravaganza is our February sports day against ATU; this will function as a sports day, and there will be some high-competitive, intermediate, and just-for-fun activities.
Aligned with our mission, we are committed to fostering an inclusive and welcoming environment for all. As part of this, I intend creating a working group to develop EDI initiatives, ensuring transgender and non-binary individuals feel respected and included in the sports community. This will be done with community input to establish how this can be best implemented.
Our location is unmatched, from the beautiful Corrib River to Dangan Pavilion. Plans are in conversation to establish a Water Sports Centre on the banks of the Corrib, which will be a hub for physical wellbeing. Our location is well-suited to sports of all kinds. In five years’ time, I think the University will be well down the road of achieving our mission of being the most progressive and caring university sports programme on the island of Ireland. I can see us being a living lab for athletic studies. At the end of the day, we are an educational body, and I would love to see the sports programme used for cutting-edge research and as a national example of good practice. I can also see Dangan Pavilion being very efficient and smartly planned, with sustainability at its core. I can see the start of the development of a stad municipal or Bardas na Cathrach in Galway. I see this being our home venue, and its grounds being used for recreational and community sport as well. We also have opportunities for alumni to support students; I welcome conversations on how this can be done. Support can be geared towards a programme, sport, player, or the supply of equipment, and collaborative systems can be mutually beneficial and enjoyable.
I see us being leaders of sport, with numerous active club members and many high-performance athletes and players reaching their high potential. I think we can be a place for other universities to learn from, and that our example can be one showing how we can achieve excellent health and wellbeing of students. I can see us excelling and being the one to watch, the one to follow and the one to learn from – all in the collegiate spirit of sharing with our friends and other universities, building a portfolio of successful collaborative projects.
Alumni are important to us in the Sports Unit. We had a very enjoyable Athletics club reunion, where current athletes got to mix with past athletics. This reunion included a presentation of an Excellence Award by University of Galway Athletics Club to Padraig Griffin, recognising his exceptional contribution to Irish athletics. There was also a very enjoyable 150th anniversary celebration event, organised by the Rugby club. I look forward to more of these events in the future that will continue sporting traditions and connect current students with alumni.
Mr Des Ryan, Director of Sport and Physical Wellbeing, invites conversation about opportunities for alumni to support students, and he welcomes interested entities and individuals to reach out to him directly @ desmond.ryan@universityofgalway.ie
