Athletics NI is the governing body for the sport of Athletics in Northern Ireland and is involved in all disciplines of the sport of Athletics for all ages from 11 years upwards, including Track and Field, Cross-Country, Road Running and Fell Running. As Athletics NI is committed to the further enhancement and continued development of its athlete and coach development programmes. This Erasmus+ mobility will be targeted at benefiting the twenty four elite athletes who are currently in the NI Youth Academy programme. It aims to up-skill those selected and the accompanying coaches via exposure to European competition and integration with other European athletes and staff. The participants identified cover specific technical areas, including Hammer/Pole Vault/Horizontal Jumps/Middle Distance/Wheelchair Racing, and will be provided with targeted support and mentoring as they progress along the development pathway toward senior success. In line with Athletics NI's vision it aims to develop those athletes from the NI Youth Academy with the skills and performance behaviours necessary to train and compete and succeed in a high performance, services supported, international environment. All the participants will have ambitions to compete for NI at the Commonwealth Games or ambitions to represent Athletics Ireland or Team GB at the Olympic Games 2020 & 2024. The mobility will provide valuable experience for these elite athletes as they progress towards their goals. The mobility will be planned and managed by Athletics NI's Director of Coaching and Athlete Performance - Tom Crick. His objective is to develop Athletics NI's athletes to the highest possible physical and technical standard to ensure Northern Irish athletes are well placed to achieve qualification for international competition. When appointed Tom Crick recognised that coaches and athletes in NI had not been exposed to the same opportunities as those on the mainland UK and he has been determined to change the status quo by implementing the most effective initiatives in NI, while making sure they are customised to specifically meet the local needs of the sport. This mobility would support those aims by offering athletes a two week intensive, training, competing and educational programme, integrating with and learning from top class European athletes in Portugal. The Erasmus+ project will provide emerging athletes with an opportunity to experience what is required to live, train and compete as a full time athlete. It will create a path to further enhance athletes, and continually professionally develop coaches, for the benefit of Athletics in NI and thereby attain Athletics NI's vision of producing high performance athletes. The mobility will also be an opportunity for the sharing of knowledge, skills and training techniques between European Athletics teams and Athletics NI which Tom Crick will oversee in his role as Athlete Education Lead on the mobility.The mobility has been planned for April 2017 so that the Erasmus+ project would be perfectly aligned to prepare and support athletes for the 2017 Youth Commonwealth Games and 2017 World Youth Championships in June 2017 to give them every opportunity for success by implementing the learning outcomes arising from the mobility.Athletics NI is committed to fully evaluating the project upon completion and to disseminating the learning objectives and outcomes widely across the organisation and with other stakeholders including Ulster Athletics Council, Athletics Ireland, Team GB, Sport NI and the Sports Institute NI which will widely promote the Erasmus+ programme across NI. Development Officers, Laura Kerr and Tom Reynolds, will strive to improve the sport by implementing the lessons learned from the mobility back into the development programmes that support clubs, coaches and emerging talented athletes, to maximise the long term benefit of participation to the organisation. It has just been announced that Northern Ireland have been awarded the honour of hosting the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2021, which is a smaller version of the Commonwealth Games. It is open to all 71 Commonwealth nations and territories, with around 1,000 athletes between the ages of 14 and 18 competing in a wide range of sports. There will be a significant amount of planning prepared to host this prestigious tournament and it is envisaged that undertaking this mobility will significantly benefit the planning process where Athletics NI staff integrate with the competition organisers at Monte Gordo (Portugal) and Ayamonte.