Grassroots graft takes Natasha Kelly to Paralympics  

When Natasha Kelly boarded flight EI 486 from Dublin to Lisbon on August 7, it was her 23rd flight of the year.

Since then, there has been a return flight to Dublin and last week the Glencolmcille woman flew into Paris for the 2024 Paralympic Games.

Well travelled, but such is the life of the busy and energetic Donegal woman – who has a big role in Paris. 

Kelly works as Para Triathlon Lead with Triathlon Ireland, with whom she is also a Regional Development Officer in the North West.

At the 2024 Paralympic Games, which get underway this week, Kelly is team coach with the para triathletes.

This year's squad marks a historic milestone as Ireland’s biggest para triathlon team, with all athletes making their Paralympic debut.

Cassie Cava, Chloe MacCombe and Judith MacCombe and guides Catherine Sands and Eimear Nicholls will all be experiencing their first Paralympics. 

The competition is set to take place on September 1 and 2 over a course that includes a swim start at the Pont Alexandre III bridge, a cycle along the Champs-Élysées and a run through the heart of Paris.

The Paralympics mark a significant milestone in Kelly's coaching journey.

“I'm excited to support Team Ireland,” she says. “It's always a privilege to be able to wear the green 

and to be able to do it on a major stage is extra special. It's an absolute honour. It is one of the biggest stages in sport.

“When I travel, I feel as if I am representing Glen, representing Finn Valley; I take the places and the people with me.

“Finn Valley gave me my first proper coaching role. The people of Glen, my local community, have been very supportive too.”

Prior to taking up her job with Triathlon Ireland, Kelly worked for Finn Valley Athletics Club as a coach in schools in the Finn Valley area and led out some of the club’s programmes such as Fastest Feet and Little Athletics.

Kelly still competes, when the schedule permits, in the Finn Valley AC blue and white.

She joined Triathlon Ireland in 2022 and holds a Masters from ATU Sligo in Health Promotion Practice and Physical Literacy.

She says: “It's how physically literate a child is. It's the real fundamentals of coaching. 

“Coaching always comes back to your principles of coaching. It gives me a different outlook on why we do certain skills. From coaching kids from four years of age, you really have to explain and they have to understand.”

She was playing basketball and football when she tore her anterior cruciate ligament during a training session with Naomh Columba. Her rehab work included cycling and jogging. The seeds of the triathlon were already planted.

Kelly was talented at her new sport and in 2018 won the triathlon award at the Donegal Sports Star Awards.

“I am really enjoying the job,” she says of her current post. “I work from grassroots to elite and engage people in triathlons. A big thing we're focussing on now is junior development.”

A graduate from the ASPO Women lead sport programme, she was also a member of the Female Coaching Network Preparation for Paris programme.

Kelly was in elite company as one of 52 coaches from 15 different countries and 19 sports in the WhatsApp group.

Among those who took part in the project included: Jane Figueiredo, coach to British diver Tom Daley; former New Zealand shot-putter Valerie Adams, a double Olympic champion; Simone Biles’s former coach Aimee Boorman; and Sara Symington, the head of Olympic and Paralympic programmes with British Cycling.

Kelly has been team manager of the Europe Triathlon development team at the European Cup in Cork and a busy incoming schedule will include the Europe Triathlon European Youth Championships in Banyoles, Spain; the 2024 Europen Standard Elite, U23 and Para Triathlon Championships in Vichy, France; and the 2024 World Triathlon Championship finals in Torremolinos-Andalucia in October.

Kelly is also the project lead and coach for the Europe Triathlon Para Triathlon Development Camp which will be held in Rio Maior, Portugal in October.