Chris Scott and Seb Roger receiving their GLL Sport Foundation Awards

The recent Sussex Parallel Youth Games, held at Olympos Burgess Hill, were also the setting for the presentation of this year’s GLL Sport Foundation Awards. These financial and training grants for talented athletes, provided by the GLL Sport Foundation, total over £400,000 and this year 19 young athletes in the Crawley area were presented with awards to help towards furthering their sporting achievements.

Freedom Leisure, which runs K2 Crawley in partnership with GLL, will be supporting these young individuals, who have shown exceptional potential and long-term commitment to succeeding at an international a level in their chosen sport. The young athletes using K2 Crawley’s state-of-the-art facilities represent a broad range of Olympic disciplines, ranging from athletics to swimming, basketball to cricket and hockey to gymnastics. All these sponsored athletes will benefit from up to £1,250 to be spent of training, travel and equipment during the next 12 months. 

The 19 young athletes receiving GLL Sport Foundation support for 2010 are as follows:

Councillor Lenny Walker, Cabinet member for Leisure and Culture, said: “I was delighted to attend the GLL Awards and meet our sporting stars of the future. I hope the grants they receive help them to achieve their goals in the coming months and, who knows – maybe we’ll see them at London 2012 or a future Olympics.”

Peter Bundey GLL Sport Foundation Chair said; “The aim of the Foundation is to provide practical and tangible support for talented young athletes.  After the first two years of these awards, it has become clear that the support given to these young athletes is having a tremendous impact. The success of the scheme has already surpassed our expectations and we have been able to promote these young people as role models within their communities. This is very important to us and we will continue to positively support this message.”

On behalf of Freedom Leisure, Crawley Borough Council and the GLL Sport Foundation we would like to thank two of these talented athletes, Seb Rodger and Chris Scott who attended the event to promote the awards and inspire other young people.”

This is an extremely exciting opportunity for each of these young athletes and the team at K2 Crawley will continue to provide support, encouragement and motivation to help them all achieve the sporting ambitions over the coming years.

To find out more about the K2 Crawley call 01293 585 300 or visit www.freedom-leisure.co.uk  

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Media contacts:

Tanya Hillman or Kylie Rathbone at KBC PR on 01825 76 36 36 kylie.rathbone@kbc-pr.com or Karen Burrell, Freedom Leisure’s Head of Sales & Marketing on 01825 747710 Karen.Burrell@freedom-leisure.co.uk

Notes to Editors:

Freedomleisure is a not for profit leisure trust managing 19 leisure and fitness centres across Sussex and Kent, including K2 Crawley, one of the country’s flag-ship leisure centres. From July 2009 new additions to the portfolio included Olympos leisure centres in Burgess Hill, East Grinstead and Haywards Heath, and entertainment venues Clair Hall and Martlets Hall.

The GLL Sport Foundation was founded in 2008 with Sally Gunnell OBE as Patron.  It plans to give in excess of £1.5m to young athletes in selected areas of London and the South of England in the run up to 2012.  Further information on the Foundation and details on how to apply for the next round of funding can be found at www.gllsportfoundation.org

• Launched at the House of Commons in 2008 by Olympic Gold Medallist Sally Gunnell OBE, the Foundation is the brainchild of charitable social enterprise GLL.
• The GLL Sport Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation.  Operating under the patronage of Sally Gunnell OBE, it is supported by GLL, Bunzl Vending Services, Technogym, Insite, Zurich Insurance, Powerade, Accessplus, Noah, Margolis, Birdsall, Gladstone, McCabe, Ford Williams, Tennant Group and Crystal Palace Physiotherapy & Sports Injury Centre.
• The GLL Sport Foundation work in partnership with Sportsaid to co-ordinate talent identification and funding recommendations.
• Other funding awards does not prevent athletes from applying to the GLL Sport Foundation.