Sport Northern Ireland

Sport Northern Ireland is the leading public body for the development of sport in Northern Ireland.

The corporate vision is to promote “a culture of lifelong enjoyment and success in sport which contributes to a healthy, fair and prosperous society”. In practice, this means Sport Northern Ireland creates and develops programmes and partnerships that will address its three strategic objectives:

Increased participation in sport and physical recreation; Improved sporting performances; and Improved efficiency and effectiveness in the administration of sport.

Sport Northern Ireland works in partnership with the Department for Communities (DfC) to deliver on Sport Matters: The Northern Ireland Strategy for Sport and Physical Recreation, 2009-2019. This Strategy sets out a new shared sporting vision of “a culture of lifelong enjoyment and success in sport”, as well as the key strategic priorities for sport and physical recreation, and informs the direction of future investment – underpinning three areas:

1.Participation;
2.Performance;
3.Places

Sport Northern Ireland is based at the House of Sport in Belfast, and operates a National Outdoor Training Centre at the base of the Mourne Mountains – Tollymore National Outdoor Centre. Sport Northern Ireland also manages the Sports Institute, which is the High Performance Arm of Sport Northern Ireland based at the Jordanstown campus of the University of Ulster. The Sport NI Sports Institute prepares Northern Ireland’s best athletes to perform on the world stage by providing an environment that nurtures elite athletes and coaches.