GB Wheelchair Rugby announces renewal of its partnership with RMA Sport.
David Pond, Chief Executive of GB Wheelchair Rugby (GBWR) announced this morning that the sport is renewing its partnership with RMA Sport, the sport wheelchair manufacturer based in Bridgend, Wales. RMA Sport first partnered with GBWR following the London 2012 Paralympic Games when it teamed up with the sport to design and manufacture affordable sports wheelchairs to support GBWR’s vision to grow the game and make it accessible for more disabled people. Since then the two organisations have journeyed together, with the number of GBWR teams expanding from seven in 2012 to thirty today and with wheelchair rugby development programmes delivered in spinal injury units, schools, military rehabilitation centres and in a number of charitable foundations attached to able-bodied rugby clubs. This growth could not have occurred without the chair development, innovation, and investment that RMA Sport has committed. The company has provided rugby chairs for individuals and clubs throughout Europe, to the Invictus Games teams, Lord’s Taverners Junior Programme, and the Welsh Rugby Union. In addition to the provision of chairs, RMA Sport will continue its sponsorship of GBWR community events.
Alongside its junior and club chair offer RMA Sport offers a custom designed elite chair which is the choice of GB athlete Aaron Phipps who along with his teammates is getting ready for the Tokyo Paralympic Games. Aaron commented,
‘RMA Sport is a great bunch to work with. I am currently on my fourth model of chair as together we have continually revised small elements of its design to enable me to maximise my performance. RMA are much more than chair providers – I always feel they are one of us, sharing the ups and downs of our performance journey’.
The renewed partnership will also see RMA Sports engineer Tom Dalton join GBWR as Head Mechanic from 1 September this year. Tom will lead the engineering task for the GB team, supporting them at all training camps and competitions.
RMA Sport Director Simon Dalton said:
‘we are extremely proud to extend our association and partnership with GBWR. The company is delighted to have been successful in its tender bid to continue to work with the governing body at all levels within this exciting and fast-growing sport.
The GBWR partnership was the first of its kind for RMA Sport and was instrumental in the development and future success of the company’s sports programme. We value the rapport and friendship that has been developed over the years with the management, staff, players, and clubs who are affiliated with GBWR.
We are looking forward to building on the success achieved to date and look forward to growing the partnership with GBWR further over the next four years’.
David Pond commented,
‘The RMA tender bid was impressive and reflected the deep understanding the company has of our sport and the vision it shares with us to build wheelchair rugby communities and help address the many inequalities disabled people experience’.
