Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) – the UK’s largest leisure charitable social enterprise dedicated to improving health, wellbeing and opportunity in the communities it works in, is supporting the next generation of athletes to the tune of £1.2 million, via The GLL Sport Foundation (GSF).
Applications for the programme are open until February 20th 2022, and athletes from Wales are encouraged to apply.
Last year, 112 talented young athletes from Cardiff, including Welsh Rugby star Elinor Snowsill, benefitted from a cumulative £44,800 worth of free gym and swim memberships – thanks to leisure charitable social enterprise GLL, which manages centres across Cardiff Better Leisure Centres on behalf of Cardiff City Council.
The foundation provides athletes across 65 areas of the UK with financial help, physiotherapy, a ‘Better’ Gym membership and more. In the wake of a difficult two years, GLL continued with the programme in 2020 and 2021, investing in the development of local talent aspiring to follow previous supported athletes such as Elinor Snowshill, Jake Heywood and Zoe Backstedt.
In 2022 GLL is investing over £1.2 million into local athletes aiming to follow in the footsteps of Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic medallists such as Joe Choong, Matty Lee and Tully Kearney. GSF athlete Joseph Choong won the Gold Medal in the Modern Pentathlon at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games.
Commenting on the support he has received from the Foundation over the years, he said: “I have been a part of GSF since 2013 – they’ve been there to support large parts of my career and now seen me through to become an Olympic Champion. The importance of the GSF can’t be overstated. I look forward to helping the programme inspire younger generations into the future.”
63% of supported athletes were aged under 21 and the programme supports athletes across all Olympic, Paralympic, Deaf and Special Olympic sports. Most importantly 96% of the athletes supported do not receive any other funding.
Athletes from across the UK can apply for support through the GLL Sport Foundation via the online portal at: www.gllsportfoundation.org. Applications close 20th February 2022.
