WIN a Mental Health Athlete Mentorship Programme and £1,000 in new sports equipment for your local secondary school

Did you know 45% of young people in Northern Ireland say that their mental health deteriorated during the pandemic? (*Source: The Prince’s Trust Youth Index, 2021)

That’s why we have teamed up with Youth Sport Trust, the UK&I’s leading charity improving young people’s education and development through sport, to offer 25 secondary schools across NI the opportunity to participate in the inaugural Lidl Community Works Sport for Good schools programme.

With a nationwide team of specially trained elite athletes at the ready, we are committed to teaching students about the long-term physical and mental health benefits of sports participation. These athlete mentors will run workshops and take sessions with the students that will help increase their confidence and resilience while also providing them with tools to help manage their own mental health into adulthood.

On top of all that, each chosen school will also receive £1,000 in brand new sporting equipment of their choice.

*The nomination period has now closed - all successful schools will be contacted in December

Lidl Community Works - Sport For Good

Launched in 2019, the Sport For Good programme is designed to encourage and support young people to make the most of the physical and mental benefits of participation in sport and physical activity.

With 44% of young people in Northern Ireland having experienced a mental health problem*, participation in sport has never been as important as it provides young people with a boost to social skills, self-esteem and body confidence as well as a life-long support network of friends and mentors.

This year, 25 secondary schools across NI will be selected to participate in the first ever Sport For Good mental health athlete mentorship programme being run in conjunction with Youth Sport Trust, the UK&I’s leading charity improving young people’s education and development through sport. Each school will also receive £1,000 worth of brand new sports equipment.”

(*Source: The Prince’s Trust Macquarie Youth Index, 2018)

Meet our Ambassadors

Bethany Firth MBE

- Swimming

Bethany Firth MBE is a 6-time Paralympic gold medallist competing in para swimming. She won gold medals at the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Paralympic Games in her specialist event, the 100-metre backstroke while also collecting 2 more individual golds during the 2016 games and a relay gold at the 2020 games. Bethany was awarded and MBE in 2017 for services to swimming.

Rhys McClenaghan

- Gymnastics

Rhys McClenaghan is a European Championships and Commonwealth Games champion gymnast who specialises in the pommel horse discipline. A ground breaker for sure, in 2018 Rhys won Northern Ireland’s first ever artistic gymnastics medal at the Commonwealth Games and became Ireland’s first ever European champion, when aged just 19. He also picked up a bronze medal at the 2019 World Championships and has since become the first Northern Irish gymnast ever to qualify for an Olympics gymnastics final at the Tokyo 2020 Games.

Ciara Mageean

- Athletics

Ciara Mageean is a middle-distance runner who specialises in the 1,500m and has competed at successive Olympics in Rio and Tokyo. In 2016, after battling back from a career-threatening injury, Ciara took bronze at the European Championships and has since gone on to secure a European Indoor Championship medal. She also became the first Irish female to qualify for a World Championships Final since Sonia O’Sullivan in 1997 when qualifying for the 1,500m final in Doha in 2019. As she said herself of that achievement, “that’s not bad for a wee girl from Portaferry"!