For Women in Sport Wednesday, we highlight one of our IWA-Sport Development Officers and Team Ireland athlete, Kelly McGrory. Kelly shares her experience on the job, her life as an athlete and ambitions!

Tell us what you do in your role as an IWA-Sport Development Officer.

I am the lead point of contact for our wheelchair basketball programmes, I provide support to all other sports such as para athletics, para powerlifting and wheelchair rugby and I support the running of our multi sport junior clubs. I work a lot in the area of wheelchair basketball development and have helped set up our academy programmes over the last few years.

What do you enjoy about the work you do?

I love the variety of para sport and physical activity opportunities we get to offer to our members, and I love working with our members through sports.

What would a typical day in the life of a Sport Development Officer be like?

We do a lot of behind the scenes planning during the week for our events and clubs to run smoothly, and the weekends are usually filled with attending and running our various para sport events.

In your time with IWA-Sport, can you tell us what your highlight has been so far?

We travelled to Greece with our members for a para sport festival in 2023 called Par-Olympia. We had a great week learning about all different types of para sports, meeting new people from different cultures and backgrounds and getting to know our members.

Kelly (left) participating in wheelchair rugby at Par-Olympia in Athens, Greece.

Since working amongst para sport in Ireland, have you got a favourite sport and why?

My favourite sport mainstream and para is para athletics! I think it’s a brilliant sport to watch or to take part in and its suitable for everyone.

You’ve a sporting background outside of IWA-Sport too. Can you tell us about your experience as a high-performance athlete?

I’m an Irish international athlete in the 400 metre hurdler (mH) and I run as part of the Irish women’s 4×400 team.

What does your training schedule look like?

I train 6 days a week, Monday to Saturday. Mondays I train twice, gym in the early morning and on the track in the evening. The rest of the week is one session per day with a mix of track work, gym, plyometrics and technical training for hurdles and sprinting.

What are your goals in athletics?

My goals are to try make Olympic selection for the women’s 4x400m relay. I competed this year in the Europeans in the 400mH, which was a big goal of mine too.

What would you say to other female athletes looking to get involved in either para sport or able-bodied sport?

Sport is where I have met the most influential people in my life, it teaches you more than anything else we do in life! Besides that, its a fun and healthy hobby and an amazing way to socialise with your friends. So get involved and keep trying different sports until you find the one that suits you best.

Since taking part in the interview, Kelly was selected by Team Ireland to represent the country at the Olympic Games in Paris as part of the 4x400m relay team. From everyone at IWA and IWA-Sport, we want to congratulate Kelly and the team on their amazing performances in Paris.