About Dare to Believe
Our Mission
Sponsored by the International Olympic Committee Solidarity Fund, the Olympic Federation of Ireland schools programme, Dare to Believe aims to inspire the young people of Ireland to ‘Dare to Believe’ in themselves through an interactive curriculum that explores the Olympic Values and includes visits with Team Ireland Olympic and Paralympic role models that bring the values to life.
Dare to Believe Since 2019
62
ATHLETES
594
School visits
529,056
Students Reached
7046
Schools
11,045
teachers
32 (100%)
Counties
The programme continues to evolve and expand and now boasts both Core Primary and Post-primary programmes, Olympics School Challenges, Olympians Live! webinars and more!
Dare to Believe Programmes+
CORE SCHOOLS PROGRAMMES
Olympic Values Curriculum & Olympian Visits
Primary & Post Primary
OLYMPIC MOVEMENT BREAKS
Classroom video-based movement breaks with Olympians
OLYMPIANS LIVE!
Nationwide webinars with Olympians & students all over Ireland
PE EXPO
Post Primary Schools PE Project based competition
OLYMPIC SCHOOL CHALLENGES
Virtual Physical & Cultural Challenges
Launched in 2019, the programme now boasts 31 world class Olympic + Paralympic ambassadors who go into schools all over the country to share their inspirational stories of resilience and teaching students how to set goals and adopt healthy lifestyles through participation in sport.
Resource that cover the Olympic Values of Olympism, Respect & Equality, Healthy Mind & Body, Joy of Effort and Striving for Excellence are available to schools to prepare for the Dare to Believe Ambassador’s visit. All materials are user-friendly, completely free and identify Irish National curriculum strands for teachers.
Core Programmes
CORE SCHOOLS PROGRAMMES
Olympic Values Curriculum & Olympian Visits
Primary & Post Primary
Olympic Values Curriculum
6 Units – Teacher Led
Ring 1: Olympism
Ring 4: Respect
Ring 2: Healthy Mind + Body
Ring 4B: Equality
Ring 3: Joy of Effort + Courage
Ring 5: Striving for Excellence
Olympian Visit
Grand Finale – Athlete Led
Visit Format
- School Assembly Meet & Greet to whole school
- Ice Breaker Game
- 20 Minute Talk & Presentation
- 10–15 Minute Q&A
- Olympic Sport Mini Masterclass
“In my 30 years teaching this programme was by far the best one I’ve ever engaged with.”
Key Benefits of the Core Programme
as described by teachers surveyed
- Promotes health and fitness
- Inspires young people
- Provides engaging ways to teach core values like equality and teamwork.
- The programme’s cross-curricular approach is praised, emphasizing its appeal to both sports enthusiasts and those less interested in the subject.
- Athlete visits are particularly commended for their positive impact on students, fostering beliefs in oneself, teamwork, resilience, and the pursuit of dreams.
Sustainable Development Goals
Promotion of health & wellbeing is at the core of every Dare to Believe offering—storytelling, curricula, role models, challenges.
Our initiatives include adaptations for children with disabilities, include children from diverse backgrounds and features Paralympic athletes. 80% of our schools visits are to DEIS schools.
Our educational programmes include multiple learning modalities and helps achieve Irish educational standards.
All of our initiatives promote the Olympic value of respect and many include the Paralympic value of equality.
Our current roster of 41 Olympic Olympic ambassadors includes 20 males and 21 females.
We have aligned with the Department of Education‘s Active School Flag, the Minister of Sport & physical education, the teacher led PExpo, GAISCE, French Embassy & COGA.
About Dare to Believe
Discover all the features and benefits that Dare to believe has to offer both Primary and Secondary Schools
Key Objectives
- Educating students about the importance of having a healthy mind and body.
- Improving participation rates of kids in sports across Ireland.
- Teaching students that the joy of effort and striving for excellence in sport and other areas in life is something all kids, sporty or not, can experience and learn from.
- Helping students to understand the importance of goal-setting and its application to all walks of life, not just sport.
All the content is research based, interactive and combines video and reading material with classroom activities, physical activities and challenges for students.
Summary of Research
Key areas of focus:
- Obesity epidemic is high and results in numerous detrimental health and societal consequences.
- Children who identified a sports star role model were 1.7times more likely to meet the national physical activity guidelines than those who didn’t. (source)
- Children who identified a sports star role model were 2.9times more likely to play sport in a club or community setting that those who didn’t. (source)
- Children who identified a sports star role model were 2.8times more likley to be a member of a sports club than those who didn’t. (source)
- Goal setting increases motivation, achievement, ownership (self-efficacy), persistence and creativity.
- Exercise has many physical benefits including: cardio fitness, healthy lungs and bones, weight regulation and cancer prevention.
- Sports and exercise can boost and improve social connection to school and community, teamwork with fellow students.
- The emotional benefits of exercise include, resilience, hormone regulation, decreases aggression.
- Lessons from sports are transferable to academics and other pursuits — teamwork, leadership, overcoming failure and obstacles, self-motivation.
- Mental benefits of exercise and sport participation include: improved focus, learning, absorption of information and attention control.
- Role models are shown to influence levels of physical activity.
Contact Us
If you have any questions or want to learn more about the Dare to Believe programme contact us at info@dtb-dev.flyingfish.ie
Kate O’Connor
ATHLETICS
Dare to Believe
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