Wates announces sponsorship of Paralympic champion
Leading social housing maintenance provider, Wates Living Space has announced its sponsorship of the world number one Paralympic table tennis champion and Rio 2016 gold medallist, Will Bayley MBE.
Wates sponsorship was announced at Total Housing 2018 in Brighton, and will focus around the themes of performance enhancement and continuous improvement, both of which are essential for successful business and athletes alike. The collaborative partnership will see Will working closely with the business to drive its charitable partnership fundraising efforts and help to inspire its staff through a series of speaking events across the UK.
David Morgan, Managing Director, Wates Living Space, said:
Will is truly an inspirational person, and we are honoured to welcome him into the Wates family. His personal story of overcoming huge adversity through serious illness to then go on to achieve such high sporting accolade really is testament to his courage, determination and absolute commitment to succeed.
Whilst I dont expect there to be any hidden table tennis champions amongst our team, there is much we can learn from Will as a professional sportsman and apply it to the way in which we operate. We are very much looking forward to working with him to help inspire our own teams to do great things and be the very best that they can.
It is an absolute privilege to be supporting Will in the run up to Tokyo 2020 and his quest to not only retain his gold medal status but to be the first person to ever win two Paralympic gold medals for table tennis in a row for Great Britain.
Addressing Total Housing delegates at a Wates drinks reception, Will provided a snapshot of how he became the best paralympic table tennis player, in his class, in the world. Having achieved silver at the London games nearly six years ago spurred him onto win the gold at Rio, explaining that his motivation comes from every hurdle being an opportunity.
Will Bayley MBE, Paralympic Champion, said:
“I am delighted to join the Wates family and am looking forward to our journey together all the way to Tokyo in 2020.”
Will was born with a rare congenital disorder which required many operations in childhood. At seven, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma and it was during his recovery that he was bought his first table tennis table, a journey which has led to him becoming a three-time Paralympian, with his first appearance coming at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing.
