FLŌA is delighted to partner with the Ellie Soutter Foundation
The ES Foundation is opening the first shop in Les Gets, Ellie's home in order to raise the awareness of The Foundation and assist in its fundraising activities.
As well as FLŌA, Oneskee, Summit Worldwide and a number of other emerging brands, The ES Foundation shop will sell high quality branded merchandising #riding2win.
After several months of discussions with Ellie's father, Tony, FLŌA is delighted to be partnering with the foundation and helping grow the shop through providing stock and help with marketing
Following the tragic death of Team GB athlete Ellie Soutter on her 18th Birthday, her family set up the ES Foundation in her memory to supporting talented young winter sports athletes through funding initiatives and coaching them through the pressures of professional competition.
The Ellie Soutter Foundation hopes to provide a safety net for inspiring talent, just like Ellie. As much as possible, the foundation seeks to alleviate these pressures, so athletes can focus on their performance without constant financial worry.
The purpose of the Foundation is to identify and provide support for young people born in the United Kingdom, who have a demonstrable talent for winter sports and would otherwise be unable to maximise their potential because of a lack of financial resources. This will be achieved by providing grants for equipment, training, travel, competing and accommodation.
Supporting Young Athletes
Snowboarder Mia Brookes, 12, was one of the first athletes to receive sponsorship. Brookes, a member of the GB park and pipe squad, won big air gold at the Brits - the British Freestyle Skiing and Snowboarding Championships - last year.
"I am so stoked to get the backing of the Ellie Soutter Foundation, their support will help me to push forward with my snowboarding over the coming years and I hope to make Ellie and everyone involved with the foundation proud." she said.
Mr Soutter believes his daughter could have been struggling with the pressure of competing in high-level sport and set up the foundation in her name to help end the "vicious cycle" around young athletes' funding.
Ellie, from Oxted in Surrey, won a bronze medal for Great Britain at the 2017 Youth Olympic Winter Festival and carried the British flag at the closing ceremony.
In the month of her death, Ellie was named in the senior GB squad for the snowboard cross Europa Cup circuit and was tipped for a place at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Fergie Miller
Author
Fergie, the founder of FLŌA, founded and spent ten years at Base Camp training over 2,000 ski & snowboard instructors before spending 8 years working in tech startups, including at over 5 accelerators covering Seed to Series A, before returning to action sports base layers and creating the FLŌA brand.