Sporting legend and Commonwealth Games England President, Denise Lewis OBE, helped launch Team England’s partnership with npower, who are encouraging the nation to show their support for the team in this year’s Commonwealth Games.

With exactly 10 weeks to go until the opening ceremony of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia, Denise launched npower as Team England’s Official Partner with pupils from Dorrington Academy School, Birmingham.

The school is in the shadows of the Alexander Stadium, which will be a host venue for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Local company npower, a large employer in the West Midlands, have been generating excitement in the region as the countdown to the 2018 Games begin and are aiming to inspire the public to give Team England the Power of Support, to drive the team to their most successful away Games yet.

Denise Lewis OBE, President of Commonwealth Games England said:

“I’m delighted to be here to launch npower’s partnership with Team England, the support they give is invaluable in helping our athletes achieve success at the Games.  I know first-hand the power fan support can have on performance and the nation’s support will genuinely help Team England over in Australia.  The Games might be far away, but everyone can get behind our athletes and npower’s “Power of Support” campaign will be integral to that, encouraging everyone back home to be a part of the Team England family.  Seeing the excitement from the kids today has been really special and I hope we have inspired something in them, not only to get behind Team England but also to go on and achieve their dreams themselves.”

Denise, together with Commonwealth Games and Paralympic gold medallist Dan Greaves, spent the morning teaching pupils about the Commonwealth Games before putting them through their paces in a P.E. session.

Head Teacher at Dorrington Academy Miss L Barratt said:

“It has been a fantastic day and has created such buzz among the children having gold-medallist Denise Lewis and Dan Greaves here. Not only have the children learned about why the Commonwealth Games is unique, they have also learned how big a role they can play through giving their support to Team England.

“We also have students who are overcoming disability challenges. They are an inspiration to us on a daily-basis, but today has been truly inspirational for them as they’ve been shown how much is possible if they continue to follow their love of sport and aim to fulfil their dreams of representing their country at the Commonwealth Games. We’re all really excited now to watch the action in Australia in April, before it comes to Birmingham in 2022.”

npower will be the Official Partner of Team England across the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, Australia and will be launching some exciting plans over the coming weeks.

Ed Madden, npower’s Head of Marketing said:

“We are extremely proud to be supporting Team England at such an exciting time for the Commonwealth Games.  As the only major event to feature able-bodied and para-athlete competitions together and an equal number of medal events for men and women, it particularly resonated with us. It celebrates the best of sport where diversity and equality are embraced and celebrated. That was such an important factor in npower’s support for the Superhero Series and our partnership with Commonwealth Games England raises this to another level.

“It is especially fitting to be here in Birmingham today, the host city of the next Games in 2022.The West Midlands is an important hub for npower and we hope our support can truly make a difference to the team. We want to encourage the public to get behind our athletes, their Power of Support will be priceless and we hope it will help power Team England to its best performances yet.”

Paul Blanchard CEO of Commonwealth Games England:

“Commonwealth Games England are delighted to welcome npower to the Team England family.  Team England is a true representation of England from all parts of the country and all walks of life. We are proud that our team includes para-athletes competing on the same team as their able-bodied team mates. npower have shown a genuine enthusiasm to create a partnership which backs the team from the very beginning, through Prep Camp and on to the Games themselves and we are extremely proud to have them on board.”