Mullingar Handball Club, Westmeath

Mullingar Handball Club goes out of its way to demonstrate that sport is more than just an activity. The club, which is based in a disadvantaged area, brings the community together, offering a welcoming space for all ages and all abilities to stay active and build friendships.

As well as developing elite players, the club embraces the wider community through initiatives like Age Active, All Stars (for children with autism and other additional needs), Mothers & Others, and Dads & Lads.

With funding from National Lottery Good Causes, Mullingar Handball Club introduced a heating system, an accessible toilet and shower facility and a full-glass back wall with an accessible viewing area to one of its courts. This enabled the club to complete a full year of its All Stars Programme, which resulted in 70% of the participants commencing integration to mainstream training.

The funding also allowed it to host arts and crafts activities during Mothers & Others to help any the mothers that don’t have childcare allowing them to keep active while their children are safe. The group’s age active programme includes exercise classes with a personal trainer, access to a nutritionist and a health check with the Community Pharmacist of the Year.

Seeing children with autism or additional needs in the All Stars programme graduate to mainstream training matters hugely for the volunteers at the club, which has an ethos of meeting each child at their level and taking every opportunity they can to help build their social, communication and other motor skills.

It is obvious that Mullingar Handball Club is a place where everyone feels at home, gets fitter and healthier and feels more connected to their community. And it gives the National Lottery Good Causes Awards great pleasure to highlight Mullingar Handball Club’s work for its community as 2024’s Sport category winner.