Adidas Builds Adizones For 2012 Legacy
adidas has announced the creation of five giant multi-sport outdoor venues called ‘adiZones’ has part of a £1m legacy initiative to support the brand’s domestic top-tier sponsorship of the London 2012 Olympics.
The adiZones, which form part of adidas’ overall £100m investment in the Games, are designed to encourage young Londoners to participate in sport and will be located in each of the five Host Boroughs for Olympic venues in 2012 – Tower Hamlets, Greenwich, Hackney, Newham and Waltham Forest.
The Tower Hamlets ‘adiZone’ opened this week as the first new outdoor venue.
The adiZones will be free for the community to use as part of adidas’ pledge to create a legacy from the London 2012 Games by helping to break down the barriers that prevent people from getting active making sport participation accessible.
The adiZones are permanent installations measuring 625sq metres and their locations have been carefully selected in partnership with the Local Authorities of the 5 host boroughs, to renovate either disused or run down areas within the boroughs.
The facilities will incorporate basketball, football and tennis areas, a climbing wall, an outdoor gym and an open area to encourage dance, aerobics and gymnastics.
A team of adiZone Activators will engage local communities, schools and sports clubs while local coaches will be encouraged to attend the sites where they will be able to spot talent and encourage them to join local clubs and sporting organisations.
Each adiZone will be maintained by the local Borough and it is hoped this first investment from adidas will be matched by the government backed National Sports Foundation to further develop the surrounding area with sporting facilities.
Nick Craggs, Director of Marketing, adidas Area North explained: ‘When adidas announced our London 2012 tier one sponsorship we committed to encouraging and inspiring London’s youth to participate in sport.
‘The adiZones in the five Host Boroughs are an initial step towards creating a real legacy and demonstrating the adidas commitment post the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games. It is important that free sporting facilities are made available and accessibility if we are truly going to get the nation participating in sport.’
London 2012 Chairman Sebastian Coe welcomed the adiZone programme, stating: ‘We deliberately set out to bring commercial partners to the London 2012 table early on in the process so we could work with them to develop meaningful programmes to support their investment.
‘The fact that adidas has taken on our vision of inspiring young people through sport in such an innovative way justifies that decision and we look forward to seeing the programme roll out wider in the coming months and years. It is fantastic to see adidas getting out into the communities with an initiative which will have a real legacy in London and has the potential to make a real difference in young people’s lives.’
Read this week’s SIG Column for more of the thoughts of adidas’ Nick Craggs on the real legacy that London 2012 is looking to create…
