• Bridgestone New Zealand has celebrated Olympic Day with a donation of sporting goods to an Auckland high school.
• The Worldwide Olympic and Paralympic Partner aims to inspire students to chase their dreams.
• Bridgestone's Olympic and Paralympic Partnership forms part of the Bridgestone E8 Commitment towards a sustainable society.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (23 June, 2022) — Worldwide Olympic and Paralympic Partner, Bridgestone, has celebrated Olympic Day by donating sporting goods to an Auckland high school, with the aim of inspiring students with the Chase Your Dream message.

Bridgestone New Zealand has invested $5,000 into specialist equipment at James Cook High School, providing them with dug outs that will provide shelter for winter sports teams and their opposition, and indoor netball goals that has doubled the school's capacity for training out of the elements, as well as upgrades to the outdoor volleyball courts.

Olympic Day has been celebrated around the world since 1948, commemorating the birth of the modern Olympic Games on 23 June 1894 at the Sorbonne in Paris. It aims to promote participation in sport across the globe regardless of age, gender, or athletic ability – a sentiment Bridgestone echoes with its Chase Your Dream campaign around the world.

According to Director of Sports at James Cook High School, Wade Brunsdon, the donation from Bridgestone has allowed the school to increase participation rates and provides greater accessibility for students.

"Without Bridgestone's kind donation, participation would not be as high as it is due to lack of funding. The improvements we've made through Bridgestone's donation has meant we're able to double the number of indoor netball games and training sessions and provide shelter from the elements for our winter sports," Mr Brundson said.

"The update to our volleyball court has also proven to be incredibly popular with students as volleyball is our second most played sport behind netball, and we're delighted to see the courts used before and after school as well as during day breaks.

"We're grateful to Bridgestone because their investment in our school's sporting equipment allows us to encourage our students to pursue their sporting dreams, and we can now provide even more access to the sports they are passionate about," he added.

The sporting goods donation is an extension of Bridgestone Corporation's global Olympic and Paralympic Partnership through to the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024, which has been brought to life locally through community driven activities such as this.

The Olympic and Paralympic Partnership also embodies the recently launched Bridgestone E8 Commitment, which is how Bridgestone will realise its long-term, 2050 vision of providing social and customer value as a sustainable solutions company through the values of: energy, ecology, efficiency, extension, economy, emotion, ease, and empowerment.

Bridgestone's global Olympic and Paralympic Partnership is aligned to the value of emotion, the commitment to inspiring excitement and spreading joy to the world of mobility, while Bridgestone New Zealand's local activities adds the pillar of empowerment, contributing to a society that ensures accessibility and dignity for all.

"We're proud to be a Worldwide Olympic and Paralympic partner and to be able to celebrate Olympic Day in such a meaningful way by giving back to our community through this donation," said Bridgestone's Director of New Zealand Business and Marketing, John Staples.

"This activity speaks to our history as a company by echoing the acts of Bridgestone's founder Shōjirō Ishibashi, who invested significantly in his local prefecture in Japan for the benefit of his society.

"Our own Olympic and Paralympic-themed activity has been centered around giving back to our society and demonstrating Bridgestone's global commitment to making meaningful contributions towards a sustainable society," Mr Staples added.

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