Michael Larkin

Wicklow Basketball Club, Wicklow

Mick is a local Detective Garda in Wicklow and has been coaching and running Wicklow Basketball Club since he first founded it 20 years ago. During this time he has coached over 1200 young people to play basketball. Mick uses basketball as a means to help young people make responsible decisions and choices in life relating to drugs and alcohol. To encourage responsible choices, he has organised regular basketball trips for the teams to Boston, New Haven and Florida to play against Police Athletic League teams in the various cities. These basketball trips have been run every two years since 1996 and have had as many as 100 people travelling per trip. All of the trips have been funded through Mick’s very successful fundraising nights at the local teenage disco. Along with six colleagues, Mick has run the “Storm” disco once a month for the past seven years, resulting in over €60,000 being donated to various charities in the Wicklow area, including his own basketball club. All of the aforementioned charity work has been done quietly and unassumingly, while Mick continues to coach three nights a week and attend games at the weekend. Being a pioneer and non-smoker he is a great role model for the kids and still kindly offers advice and assistance, even to former members who are adults now! His dedication to helping the kids of Wicklow for the past 20 years has been remarkable and he continues to provide them with a positive and safe environment to develop, enjoy themselves and become better people.

Two favourite quotes that Mick uses when motivating his players and kids are: “No written word nor spoken plea, can teach our youth what they should be, nor all the books on all the shelves, it’s what the teachers are themselves” and “There is a choice you have to make, in everything you do, and you must always keep in mind the choice you make, makes you; Happiness begins where selfishness ends.”

Photograph by Maureen McDonnell