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Over 1,500 young people from all over Kerry will gather at Killarney’s INEC this Sunday to celebrate KDYS Youth Day.

Youth Day has now grown to become one of the largest annual youth events in Ireland as a day to celebrate, innovate and illustrate what it means to be young in Kerry today.

KDYS has an exciting vision for all young people in Kerry, where all young people can realise their potential, learn the skills needed for their lives today, and to ensure a healthy and successful future.

KDYS provides state of the art youth spaces where all young people can create and access a huge variety of exciting programmes in these dedicated youth facilities. These important centres help to equip young people with life changing skills through opportunities which help them to grow, learn and develop - building futures for all young people, explained Tim O’Donoghue, CEO.

“Youth Day is our flagship event,” he said.

“It also allows us a chance to reaffirm our commitment to supporting all young people no matter what. Despite all the challenges facing young people today, KDYS is committed to building futures for all young people and the communities where they live. In fact, we have ambitious plans to build on and expand the range of spaces, skills and opportunities we provide to young people.”

A small selection of what is on offer throughout Youth Day 2019 includes surf simulator, dance, jousting, master classes, virtual reality demos, fitness challenges including spinning, rowing and push ups, hair and beauty, board games, special guests, and of course the ‘Mega Disco’.

Youth Day highlights how the KDYS has been building futures for young people in Kerry since 1971, through a mixture of youth clubs and specialist programmes.

The range of supports provided by KDYS to young people focus on helping young people with; active and healthy living, personal development, arts and creativity, eating well and nutrition, helping transition from primary to secondary school, mentoring, preparing for the workplace of tomorrow, team building and leadership, mental and spiritual wellbeing, being resilient and dealing with anxiety, digital and online safety, learning skills for future employment.