KPS had the privilege of welcoming Olympian, Lucy Mulhall, to our school today. Lucy is from Tinahely, Co.Wicklow so we were delighted to have a local hero visit us. Lucy was accompanied by Beijing Olympian Róisín McGettigan who is also from Wicklow and who is the new president of the Irish Olympians' Association. Roisín is a co-founder of the Dare to Believe schools programme that our pupils are currently participating in and enjoying.
Lucy Mulhall spoke eloquently and passionately about her background in sport. She was first a gaelic football star; top scorer and Player of the Match for Wicklow when they won the 2011 All-Ireland Junior football final. Three years later, while studying science in Trinity College, she got an email inviting her to try out for the national Sevens rugby team and hasn’t looked back since. Her switch to rugby coincided with Rugby Sevens becoming an Olympic sport in 2016. As team captain she has led Ireland’s battle for Olympic qualification for nine whole years. They missed out in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 yet never gave up their dream.
They made history by becoming the first Irish women’s team to qualify by finishing fifth overall in the World Series tournament in Toulouse in May
2023. “We just always want to get better and better and put Sevens rugby on the map,” Lucy says.
Our KPS pupils enjoyed making banners, flags and Olympic torches, listening with rapt attention to Lucy's presentation as well as asking questions to Lucy. She taught us about the importance of learning from your mistakes, never giving up on your dreams despite what others say, getting the correct amount of sleep and having a healthy diet. We wish Lucy and her teammates the very best of luck in Paris for this year’s Olympics and we will be cheering them on every step of the way.
In the meantime, we will continue to enjoy our daily Olympic movement breaks led online by our Olympians and high performance athletes.