FBD Insurance launches "Sound Support" campaign to support Team Ireland athletes on their Olympic journey

Campaign includes bespoke music tracks using sounds from the training sessions of FBD Ambassadors Kellie Harrington, Chloe Watkins and Nhat Nguyen

FBD has today as proud sponsor of Team Ireland launched the “Sound Support” campaign. With family and friends of Team Ireland unable to travel to support Ireland’s athletes competing at the forthcoming Olympic Games, FBD wanted to ensure that Team Ireland members feel and hear the support of their friends, family, and the Irish public even though they will be nearly 10,000 km away. In partnership with Jape (Richie Egan) and Team Ireland sports psychologist Jessie Barr, FBD created bespoke tracks for Kellie Harrington, Nhat Nguyen and Chloe Watkins. The tracks also feature snippets of recordings from some of their final training sessions as they prepare to take on the best in the world in Tokyo from July 23^rd to 8^th August and messages of encouragement from friends and family.

The tracks are available to listen to here on the “FBD Sound Support” playlist on Spotify. Videos capturing the reactions Kellie, Nhat and Chloe had to listening to the tracks for the first time have also been released and can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97HVQPNjs2E. In addition, FBD will be sharing voice recordings of Sound Support from the public with the athletes and across the FBD social media channels in the lead up to the games, as well as during the games for added support.

FBD Insurance, Ireland’s only home-grown insurer, is the primary sponsor of Team Ireland, and is proud to have supported a number of Team Ireland athletes on their Olympic Journey. As part of its sponsorship FBD has also supported a number of aspiring Olympians through the Dare to Believe Schools Programme and the Make a Difference bursary programme to up and coming athletes announced earlier this year.

Jessie Barr, Team Ireland Psychologist said: “From my experience as an athlete and as a Sports Psychologist, I know first-hand how important friends, family members, official support team staff and fans’ support is to an athlete. Whether it is words of encouragement after a tough session or cheering from the stands at a competition, knowing you have the support of others is so important. FBD Sound Support lets the athletes know that we are right behind them as they seek to inspire the nation on the biggest sporting stage of all – the Olympic Games.”

Speaking at the announcement, Sponsorship Manager at FBD Insurance Brian Healy said: “As proud sponsors of Team Ireland, we have been so inspired by the dedication and commitment of Team Ireland in pursuit of their Olympic ambition. As Ireland’s largest home-grown insurer, support is what we do. All of us at FBD are delighted to have been able to support our Team Ireland ambassadors and to share with them both a memento and symbol of our support for what they are setting out to achieve in Tokyo.”

Commercial Director with the Olympic Federation of Ireland, Catherine Tiernan added: “Team Ireland have dedicated years of their lives to compete at the Olympic Games. The forthcoming Olympics will be quite a different experience compared to previous Games for our athletes. The steps taken by FBD with Sound Support is indicative of the incredible support FBD have provided to us since coming on board as the top tier sponsor in 2018. Sound Support will positively impact on the athlete experience at the forthcoming Olympic Games and we would once again like to thank FBD Insurance for making this possible.”