Haven Holidays have renewed their sponsorship of rhythmic gymnasts, Francesca Jones and Keziah Gore. Last year the company signed up the two girls using the services of Catch Sport.

The athletes, who will continue to benefit from significant funding from the holiday company, will remain the faces of Haven Holiday’s, “Fun and Fitness Pre-Schools Sports Equipment Giveaway” campaign.

The innovative scheme, which is designed to encourage young children to get the exercise habit from an early age by providing much needed equipment for under 5’s at pre-schools, proved a huge success in its first year. Many hundreds of pre-schools and nurseries participated, making excellent use of the box of sports kit which was chosen to help meet curriculum requirements for early years sport and exercise.

Francesca and Keziah made four appearances in 2009 to support the campaign as well as contributing regular diaries of their progress for the company’s website, http://www.havenfunfitness.com/.

Naomi Woodstock, PR, Charity and Sponsorship Manager for Haven Holidays said, “The campaign was a great success with pre-schools and young children all around the UK. Frankie and Kezi were a delight to work with and provided excellent role models – even the youngest children were entranced by their routines.”

Naomi added, “We followed Catch Sport’s advice in choosing a discipline that was accessible for young children and would provide an opportunity for close up displays. Rhythmic gymnastics was an excellent choice.”

Both girls are delighted by the renewal of their contracts and the continued support from Haven Holidays. Francesca said, “I really enjoy working with Haven on the Fun & Fitness campaign – it’s a great way to encourage younger children to get involved in sport and exercise. The sponsorship has made a real difference to my career as it has been a difficult time for funding and I really appreciate Catch Sports’ help.” Keziah added, “I have really enjoyed being involved with Haven this year. The launches where we performed gymnastic displays and helped the pre-school children with simple activities were a lot of fun. Haven’s sponsorship has been a great encouragement and help to me in my gymnastics. It has enabled me to compete abroad, receive regular massage and physio care, to get professional choreographers giving me new routines plus all the expense on clothing, equipment and travel. The continued support takes a lot of pressure off and is a big encouragement as I now go into Seniors hoping for the World Championships in September."

The contract renewals were handled through Catch Sport. MD, Karim Bashir said, “It’s great to help make a lasting sponsorship partnership happen. This renewal is testament not only to the original matching work we assisted on but also Haven’s ability to work with the athletes and the girls’ enthusiasm for this fantastic campaign. Long may it continue.”

This year the girls have performed fantastically well in their sport; Keziah won the all-round Silver at the GB Nationals as well as a clean sweep of Gold medals at the Individual Apparatus Nationals and made the final at the World School Games. Francesca won the British Championship and Welsh National titles, competed in World Cup and Grand Prix events for GB and was selected to compete in the European Championships.

ENDS