Who can fail to be impressed by the superhuman effort of the athletes at this year’s Olympics and Paralympics?

These athletes have had not only the challenges of staying safe from COVID, but the extra, major,  one of having arranged for their training to peak a year before they actually get to compete. The sheer mental strain of having worked so hard for something, just to find you have to refocus for another year must be immense.

All leave a legacy and inspire. There is always a short spike in numbers participating in sports straight after the Olympics, but it’s the Paralympics which have the most effect on people giving sport a lasting try. Whilst the elite athletes achieve things most of us could never aspire to physically, our Paralympians do the same but leave us with no excuses not to try. If they can and do, despite the hand that life has dealt them, what excuse do the rest of us have?

Research (ComRes) suggests that these athletes’ success may also have a direct impact on breaking down barriers and shifting perceptions of disability, thereby increasing opportunities for all disabled people: 84% of UK adults believe the ParalympicsGB athletes’ achievements have a positive impact on society; 74% perceive ParalympicsGB as inspirational; and 82% of disabled UK adults see the Paralympic Games as creating positive media coverage of disabled people.

The 2018 Paralympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, was the most successful in ParalympicsGB’s history with seven medals.

That’s some achievement. As a child I used to go and ‘help out’ at the Paralympics at Stoke Mandeville hospital. Attending the 2012 Paralympics in London was beyond inspirational and a clear sign of progress. Nine years later, I can’t wait to see our team. There is always more to be done, of course, but we at easyStorage are keen to celebrate that progress.

We’ve not yet reached the point where, as easyStorage, we can sponsor Team GB (one day?) but we do like to believe that we are the Olympians of the storage World.

This fantastic video by windsurfer Tom Squires shows just how much kit even a simple sport like (able-bodied) windsurfing can create. Of course with all the freebies mentioned, sports kit will be somewhat less for us mere humans, but even so, great video for making a point, especially given that Paralympians may need even more kit to support them.

For most of us, sports are seasonal. Football has its season. Water sports definitely have theirs. Field and track sports clearly demonstrate that even a sport that looks like it only needs a pair of shorts, a T-shirt and some running shoes isn’t quite that simple (see kits bags, waterproof jackets, water bottles, Sudocrem…)

Over time we’re covered a few ways to manage the seasonality of that kit on our blog:

• Winterising boat equipment

• Storing summer equipment

(Stay tuned for more!)

More than the storage practicalities for sports people, however, and inspired by the sheer humanity of the Paralympics, showing us what ordinary people can achieve when they put their minds to it, we thought we’d create our own medal ceremony for our own, very human, teams:

Lifting Things Safely

First part of the Olympics in Athens in 1896, weightlifting is as much about technique as it is about strength. For 2021 we’re rooting hard for the UK Para Power Lifting Team.

Our easyStorage teams are constantly moving around belongings for our customers, loading things into our easyPods and then unloading the pods for storage. Fortunately, they’re well trained in the techniques to keep them – and our customers belongings – safe.

Our ‘moving teams’ earn a place on the easyStorage podium.

Logistics

The logistics of the Olympics are incredible. The hosts have 10 years to plan and country sized budgets are allocated to what becomes a symbol of national pride.

Our own franchisees, by contrast, have the Herculean task of organising their teams to be in the right place at the right time on a daily basis, balancing this with the normal humdrum things that come with running a business (accounts, insurance etc).

They do it all with considerably less budget (easyStorage offers self-storage at around half the price of traditional self-storage) than Olympic organisers, considerably more often than Olympic organisers, yet they still deliver with massive smiles on their faces.

They definitely deserve a medal – daily!

Customer Service

Our easyStorage teams bring home the gold when it comes to customer service. You can see our 4.8/5 review scores here: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/easystorage.com

The teams are determined to get that to 5/5, and there are very few customers who experience glitches.

So yes, we’re proud of the Olympic efforts made both in front of customers and behind the scenes to make self-storage easy for all.

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