Continuing Our Support of Britain’s Brightest Sporting Stars

Since 2014, RBC has funded more than 420 athlete awards through SportsAid to support Britain’s next generation of British sporting stars. This year, 51 athletes across 30 sporting disciplines have received an award of £1,000 to contribute towards costs such as travel, accommodation and equipment to aid their development.

The class of 2022 and their families were invited to our new head office in London to celebrate the partnership and meet employees from across the firm. We were joined by Winter Olympic skier Will Feneley, a previous multi-year recipient of RBC’s support, and double Olympic gold medallist, Becky Adlington, both of whom were joined by their parents, and Commonwealth Games netball champion, Ama Agbeze, as they shared their wisdom on the athlete-parent relationship with families.

Additionally, athletes learned about one of the most integral aspects of the RBC and SportsAid partnership – the buddy scheme, where they are paired with an RBC employee who follows their progress and becomes an impartial point of contact to share life-skills and experiences on topics such as education and careers.

Dave Thomas, CEO, RBC Europe, said: “We were delighted to welcome the latest cohort of SportsAid athletes to RBC’s offices in celebration of our longstanding partnership. This is an incredibly important sporting year with a number of major tournaments and opportunities to compete for their country – particularly at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. We are very excited to continue our buddy scheme, and offer additional volunteering opportunities for employees throughout the course of the year. We wish the class of 2022 every success as they seek to follow in the footsteps of Team RBC alumni.”

Our support for SportsAid has been boosted by incredible employee engagement throughout the last nine years, with fundraising activity seeing over £500,000 generated for the charity through events such as RBC Ride for the Kids, the London Marathon and the Royal Parks Half, presented by RBC.

Last year, we also hosted a ‘Life Beyond Sport’ workshop, specifically tailored for athletes, to learn more about the financial services sector, career opportunities in the corporate world and the transition after competitive sport.

A number of athletes have gone on to achieve great things in their sport since receiving an RBC award. Most notably, double Paralympic champion Georgie Hermitage was among the earliest recipients of RBC’s support. Recent beneficiaries include sprinter Reuben Arthur, who won relay gold at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, wheelchair fencer Oliver Lam-Watson, a double Paralympic medallist at Tokyo 2020, and England and Team GB international footballer Lauren Hemp.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics saw nine members of RBC alumni, including Oliver and Lauren, participate across the two Games. Sprinter Imani-Lara Lansiquot and wheelchair basketball player Lewis Edwards returned bronze medals for their country. The Beijing 2022 Winter Games also featured Will Feneley, skeleton racer and Matt Weston and para skier James Whitley – all of whom previously received backing from RBC through SportsAid – as they proudly competed for their country. 

Tim Lawler, SportsAid’s Chief Executive, said: “For the last few years many people in sport have looked towards 2022 as a light at the end of quite a dark tunnel. Now we’re here, it does feel different and very exciting, especially with a home Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in the summer. Being able to meet and chat with this year’s cohort of RBC athletes and their parents, in person, was a wonderful occasion. They were full of energy, ambition and pride; it was very infectious and inspiring.

“Our partnership with RBC provides the perfect environment to celebrate moments such as these. After so many years together, RBC colleagues completely understand SportsAid’s mission and they enable us to deliver support to young athletes, when and where it is needed, in the most effective way. We’re hugely grateful for their continued support.”