Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) brought together 40 colleagues and retail partners who volunteered for an afternoon of ‘Unified Sports’ to support its longstanding charity partner Special Olympics Great Britain.

The Unified Sports programme is unique to the Special Olympics global movement and brings together people with and without intellectual disabilities to compete alongside each other in the same team.

The event took place at Mapperley Sports Village, in Nottingham and saw CCEP colleagues join athletes and coaches with intellectual disabilities from Special Olympics Nottingham, alongside seven independent retailers from across the UK for four sports sessions throughout the day, including basketball, curling and rounders.

Holly Firmin, Senior Community Partnerships Manager (GB) at CCEP, said: “This marks our second Unified Sports event of the year and it’s fantastic to see so many people getting involved.

“Events like this are a brilliant opportunity to bring people together to practice inclusion and truly learn about the value of diversity by interacting with the athletes, hearing about the challenges they face, and how participating in sport makes such a difference in their lives. I’m grateful to our retailer partners who also took the time to get stuck in, and I’m looking forward to the next event!”

Serge Notay, owner of Notay’s Convenience Store in Batley said: “Sport really does bring people together and helps build understanding and connection. For me, it was also really heartwarming to see what an impact Special Olympics’ Unified Sports events have, both on their athletes and volunteers. It really gets you thinking about what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes, especially for someone in my field who interacts with so many people every day. This is my first time volunteering at one of these events and I will definitely be back!”

In addition to its support for Unified Sports events, CCEP is committed to developing the skills of Special Olympics GB athletes outside of the world of sport through its unified business programmes.

Seventeen athletes have worked as part of the three CCEP Unified Business projects delivered to date. These projects have included the design and creation of a Christmas gift box, lanyards, drinks bottles and snoods for athletes competing at the Berlin 2023 Special Olympics World Games and the Folgaria 2024 Special Olympics GB National Winter Games.

“Not only are colleagues at CCEP committed to supporting Special Olympics GB, they want to be part of our mission to drive change,” said Laura Baxter MBE, Chief Executive of Special Olympics GB.

“They want to learn more about the challenges that people with intellectual disabilities face every day, but also help them on their journeys to develop new skills and confidence which allows them to live a more independent life.

“We’re incredibly grateful to Holly and the team for being the first partners to drive the Unified Sports and Unified Business opportunities, and we’re very excited as to how it can develop further.”

Special Olympics GB is the UK’s largest provider of all-ability sports training and competition for children and adults with an intellectual disability. Across its 98 accredited clubs, regular opportunities to participate are provided for more than 6,600 athletes, which are delivered by a devoted team of 3,800 volunteers.