Thursday, 29 May 2008
OCS is delighted to announce a new partnership with SportsAid which will further enhance the OCS Young Sports Person Awards, a scheme which recognises and rewards outstanding young athletes. OCS currently makes 11 individual sporting awards to youngsters across the UK, but plans to increase this number to support 33 athletes with the help of SportsAid.
The OCS Young Sports Person Awards recently celebrated a decade of supporting youngsters, with awards in excess of £200,000 going to over 100 deserving young people since 1998. Athletes who benefited at an early stage of their career include Jamie Spence, James Wilstrop, Todd Cooper, Rebecca Cooke, Fiona Pennie, Beth Tweddle and Paul Drinkall. SportsAid, the charity responsible for funding emerging sporting talent for over 30 years, supports in excess of 1,500 able bodied and disabled young sports people every year and is at the heart of the talented athlete sponsorship scheme (TASS).
Outlining the partnership, Chris Cracknell, OCS Chief Executive, said:
“Although we’re a large international company, we’re still a family firm, and we pride ourselves on a decade of searching out talented young athletes who could really benefit from a boost in the early stages of their career. SportsAid has the same objective and passion to make a difference, so it makes sense to work with the experts to ensure our funding goes to the athletes who will benefit most. Following a very successful 10 year anniversary celebration, we felt the time was right to join forces with SportsAid to ensure that our contribution is in line with the overall vision for the future of British sport.”
Tim Lawler, Chief Executive of SportsAid, commented:
“We are delighted to announce our partnership with OCS – a company already committed to funding talented youngsters. By working together we can offer even more awards to talented young athletes.”
The 2008 OCS Young Sports Person Awards will be held at the Brit Oval on 27 November.