With the Community Sport and Recreation Awards coming up at the end of this week, the Sport and Recreation Alliance caught up with sports technology company Sport:80, who explained why the ‘Inspiration of the Year’ Award is such a meaningful one for them, and the importance of recognising grassroots sport’s most inspirational people.
At Sport:80, we are incredibly proud to be a long-term partner of the Sport and Recreation Alliance, and we are always keen to show our support for their flagship awards.
Our mission is to design, deliver and support innovative technologies that enable the growth of sport, and by working with the Alliance we have been able to significantly build our reputation.
We formed the partnership in 2018, and since, it has allowed us to put ourselves forward as experts in our industry. As is the case with any thriving sports organisation, this would not have been possible without the fantastic people and organisations that the Alliance celebrate, so sponsoring an award is really the least we could do.
As we always say, we are a technology company but first and foremost we are sports people. We participate, compete, coach and watch sport on a daily basis. We have led professional sports clubs, managed amateur teams, delivered major sporting events and worked for international and national governing bodies.
We see these awards as an additional opportunity to invest in the industry which our team is so passionate about, and celebrate individuals in the sector who have continually inspired others throughout the past 12 months.
Like so many others, our love for sport has been inspired by people at grassroots level who dedicate so much of their time, energy, and lives to engaging their local communities in sport. That’s why the Inspiration of the Year Award is particularly meaningful to us.
In fact, if it wasn’t for the series of inspirational people our Founder and CEO, Gary Hargraves, met working in the business of sport, Sport:80 would probably never have existed!
Now, through our extensive suite of innovative technologies and our flagship product, the Sport:80 Platform, we are able to support dozens of NGBs in the UK, US, and Ireland whose grassroots organisations continue inspiring communities across the globe.
With our product suite, NGBs can stimulate participation, increase revenues to boost the growth of their respective sports, promote diversity and inclusion, maintain a safe and fun environment for youth sport, and so much more.
Our passion for the industry, inspired by the incredible people that facilitate grassroots sport, has driven many important decisions at Sport:80 in the 10 years since we were founded. We are committed to continue supporting them in every way possible so that they can keep inspiring generations of people with a passion for sport.
This is, of course, more important now than ever. Facing mounting pressures, grassroots sport is in a worryingly vulnerable position, and without the inspirational people driving participation, its impact will lessen.
We must protect grassroots sport at all costs, and recognising the phenomenal efforts of those who continue inspiring others is a small but absolutely crucial step.
From the Sport:80 team, good luck to everybody nominated for the Inspiration of the Year Award, and thank you for your incredible contributions to your clubs and communities during the last year.
Alliance members can find out more about Sport:80, and how they can benefit from the organisation’s services, by heading to: https://www.sport80.com/uk
Find out who takes home the Inspiration of the Year Award this Friday at the Community Sport and Recreation Awards by following us on Twitter and Instagram.
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