16.07.2018, 16:56

Young Sportspeople Meet Australian Paralympic Star

Industry & Regulatory News, Company News, Contract Awards, EMEA

A selection of outstanding young sportspeople met Australian Paralympic tennis star and OCS ambassador Dylan Alcott ahead of his exhibition doubles match with South African Lucas Sithole against Brit Andy Lapthorne and American David Wagner at Wimbledon over the weekend.

 

Dylan, who was left paraplegic following surgery to remove a tumour in the first few weeks of his life, has won gold medals in both basketball and tennis at the Beijing and Rio Paralympics respectively, and uses sport as a platform to tackle the stigma surrounding people with disabilities.  He also serves in an advisory capacity supporting OCS Group's Passengers with Reduced Mobility (PRM) programme in Australia and New Zealand.

 

Accompanied by their families, five OCS Young Sportspeople, including a para-swimmer, sailor, para-horserider, gymnast and para-table-tennis athlete, travelled to Wimbledon to meet Dylan and hear his story, share their own experiences of training, competing and winning, and pit themselves against each other in a game of online tennis.

 

The OCS Young Sportsperson (YSP) Award is now in its 20th year and has made bursaries of more than £500,000 to over 225 young athletes, 27 of whom have gone on to win Olympic, Paralympic and World Championship medals for Team GB.

 

The awards give promising young athletes recognition and support to help them with the burden of training, travelling and competing. The independent recognition and financial assistance provided by OCS makes a huge difference at the start of the athletes’ journey when, often, parents and guardians are their only sponsors.

 

Bob Taylor, CEO, OCS Group UK & Ireland, said: “As a family-owned business we’ve always nurtured home-grown talent in our business, and it is hugely rewarding to assist the UK’s future sports stars in their journey to success. Sport is the ultimate unifier, and as a global business with 87,000 employees worldwide we really value this message. As a friend of OCS and Wimbledon first-timer, it seemed only right to bring both Dylan and this year’s YSP cohort together. It proved to be a fantastic, and inspiring, day.”