MERKUR Community support England Hockey’s Olympic Legacy vision

The MERKUR UK Community project which is funded by the company and its high street customers is supporting an initiative aimed at identifying the nation’s Olympiads of the future following a £10,000 award to promote England Hockey’s ‘Pick up a Stick’ campaign whose motto is Play: Celebrate: Inspire.

With the opening ceremony of the 2024 summer Olympics taking place 26 July in Paris, England Hockey is aiming to harness the momentum and profile of the Games to drive awareness of the sport and in the process to create an Olympic legacy based on increased participation at all levels.

Tony Boulton, MERKUR UK’s Director of Public and Political Relations has overseen the launch and implementation of MERKUR Community. Confirming the latest award, which takes the total generated by MERKUR Community to over £60,000 since its launch in January 2024, he said: “As a global celebration featuring athletes from 196 nations participating in 329 events across 32 sports the Olympic Games provides an unrivalled opportunity to engage with current, lapsed and most importantly generations of new players.

“England Hockey oversees the sport’s management and development, spanning from grassroots initiatives to elite-level activities and the MERKUR Community funding will go towards facilitating coaching courses so clubs can train additional members to deliver hockey sessions in the local community providing equipment for the ‘Adopt a School’ campaign and developing a tool kit of interactive digital resources.

“We are absolutely delighted to be able to help fund the work of England Hockey and encourage greater numbers to play the game regardless of their previous hockey experience.”