Diageo City Challenge in aid of the Stroke Association

Our guest blogger today is Chryso Savva, our Digital Marketing manager who attended the Diageo City challenge event.

On Sunday, 5th of June, 18 teams from the world of business journalism battled it out on the football pitch in order to raise money for the Stroke Association.  

Before the tournament kicked off, the teams were addressed by Sonia Timlett, a young woman who is recovering from a stroke.

“I’m going to speak quite slowly because I had a stroke 2 years ago and it affected my communication skills; my reading, writing and speaking. For me it is quite difficult because you don’t know that reading and speaking is so important and the thing I want to tell you is eat healthy; exercise; and live life as full as you can with no stress because stroke can happen to anybody”, she told a crowd of 150 journalists.

It is true we often find ourselves feeling stressed out and we do not appreciate the most important things we have: and that is our health. We neglect to ensure that we maintain our health and protect ourselves from injury.

Marie-Laure, co-founder of the Power Yoga Company, did an amazing job ensuring teams were properly stretched before they kicked-off, by teaching them specific power yoga postures perfect for footballers.

Marie-Laure, co-founder of the Power Yoga Company did an amazing job ensuring teams were properly stretched before they kicked-off

You should have seen the looks on players’ faces before and after their yoga session. I think a lot of men have the perception that yoga is a women’s thing. Judging by the many thanks Marie-Laure received and the fact some players came back for extra stretches (the Guardian were particularly enthusiastic) the session went down well. They may not be swapping “thank you” for “namaste” anytime soon but they certainly enjoyed it.

We were really glad to be in the event and help raise money for such a good cause but after Sonia’s moving speech I realized how glad I am to have yoga, and the calm it brings, as part of my life.

Thank you for reading!