Subjects · Leaving Cert Physical Education
Leaving Cert Physical Education: NGBs & pathways to excellence
How often NGBs & pathways to excellence comes up on the Physical Education papers, every year it was asked, and questions to try.
HL Asked on 5 of the last 5 Higher Level papers, most recently in 2025. banker
OL Asked on 2 of the last 5 Ordinary Level papers, most recently in 2025.
Quick ones on NGBs & pathways to excellence.
- Coaching courses for PE teachers in second-level schools
- Direct funding to individual elite athletes
- The official rules for all Gaelic games
- Coaches favour the youngest players in each age group
- Older adults drop out of sport sooner than younger adults do
- Players born early in the selection year are picked more
- Burnout and overuse injuries
- A wider circle of friends
- Better all-round movement skills
Show the answers
(a) Direct funding to individual elite athletes
(b) Players born early in the selection year are picked more
(c) Burnout and overuse injuries
Higher Level
Asked on 5 of the last 5 Higher Level papers, most recently in 2025. banker
Every paper, year by year
| Year | Where it came up |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Q1 |
| 2024 | Q15 |
| 2023 | Q5 |
| 2022 | Q17 |
| 2021 | Q16 |
Links open the State Examinations Commission’s paper for that year.
More NGBs & pathways to excellence questions
NGBs & pathways to excellence, 2 marks
A school-club link benefits the school mainly by giving?
- A reason to drop PE
- Places on the club's senior team
- Access to expert coaches and facilities
Show the answer
Access to expert coaches and facilities
Club coaches and facilities widen what a school can offer, and students gain a route into community sport.
NGBs & pathways to excellence, 3 marks
Why should a sport's pathway offer a participation route as well as an elite route?
- Participation routes are only for injured players
- Most won't reach elite level but should stay active
- Only elite players matter to an NGB
Show the answer
Most won't reach elite level but should stay active
Pathways to excellence develop talent, but most players never reach the top. A participation route keeps them playing, coaching and volunteering for life.
NGBs & pathways to excellence, 2 marks
Why do NGBs train referees as well as coaches?
- Games need enough qualified officials
- Referees also select the teams
- Referees write the rules
Show the answer
Games need enough qualified officials
Without enough trained officials, games cannot be played safely or fairly, so NGBs run referee courses and support new officials.
Ordinary Level
Asked on 2 of the last 5 Ordinary Level papers, most recently in 2025.
Every paper, year by year
| Year | Where it came up |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Q13 |
| 2024 | Not asked |
| 2023 | Not asked |
| 2022 | Not asked |
| 2021 | Q15 |
Links open the State Examinations Commission’s paper for that year.
More NGBs & pathways to excellence questions
NGBs & pathways to excellence, 2 marks
What is Sport Ireland?
- A private sports club for Ireland's top athletes
- A TV channel that shows Irish sport
- The state body that develops and funds sport
Show the answer
The state body that develops and funds sport
Sport Ireland funds national governing bodies, supports elite athletes and runs programmes to get more people active.
NGBs & pathways to excellence, 2 marks
Underage development squads aim to…
- Sell tickets for county matches
- Help talented young players improve
- Pick the senior county team
Show the answer
Help talented young players improve
Development squads give talented young players extra coaching as a step on the pathway to elite level.
NGBs & pathways to excellence, 2 marks
An international federation such as FIBA runs a sport at which level?
- World level
- Club level
- School level
Show the answer
World level
Sport is run at local (club), national (NGB) and international (federation) levels. FIBA is the world body for basketball.
Other Physical Education topics
- Anti-doping rules & TUE
- Benefits & concepts of activity
- Components of fitness
- Ethics & fair play
- Mental preparation strategies
- Nutrition & hydration
- Officiating & rules
- Participation patterns & barriers
- Performance analysis & goals
- Performance-enhancing drugs
- Planes, axes & levers
- Psychological factors
- Safe practice, injury & first aid
- Skilled performance & ability
- Structures, strategies & roles
- Aesthetic & artistic criteria
- Energy systems
- Fitness testing & test batteries
- Newton's laws, vectors & scalars
- Practice methods & principles
- Sports supplements
- Stages of skill learning
- Training methods
- Coaching & choreography
- Periodisation
- Principles of training & FITT
- Promotion, policies & role models
- Recovery & overtraining
- Types of feedback