By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
THE national rugby teams of the Philippines have been doing a good steady job in carving a mark for the country in the sport internationally and they continue to be inspired doing so with support from various groups which believe in them, including Tempur, the maker of high-quality bed mattresses and pillows.
Renewed as brand ambassadors, the Philippine Volcanoes and Lady Volcanoes shared that they are very appreciative of the support they have been getting from Tempur through the travel sets they have been furnished which come very handy in training.
“We are happy with the support they give us. It is a recognition of the progress we have made in our program. It really inspires to do better as it shows our sacrifices to raise the level of play of Philippine rugby are not being laid to waste with groups like Tempur coming on board to support us,” said Jake Letts, General Manager of the Philippine Rugby Football Union Inc., in an interview with BusinessWorld during their renewal of partnership with Tempur in its showroom in Greenbelt 5 on Aug. 27.
Mr. Letts, who previously played for the Volcanoes, shared that their partnership with Tempur is a “perfect fit” with the two groups sharing a common vision of only delivering the best even as he said that Tempur products have been a big help with their players’ recovery and rest after every training.
“Tempur and us are a perfect fit because what we do is a high-performance sport and our athletes train a lot especially if they are in a national training camp for international competition and rest for us is very important to recover and give us that edge. And we get that from Tempur,” Mr. Letts said.
“It’s just the way they (Tempur) are put up and the way that we are built. It’s important for us to partner up with companies that share our vision and share our values of only putting out the best,” he added.
On the part of Tempur, it said that it is satisfied with its partnership with the Volcanoes, which started in 2017, seeing how it communicates well what it is about as a brand.
“The Volcanoes are the first team we have sponsored and we find many commonalities with the team as well as it caters to our target market. While rugby is not yet popular here, the Volcanoes are doing well in international competitions and in introducing the sport to the Filipinos. It is definitely enhancing the brand,” said Mayen Yuzon, business manager at Focus Global, Inc. (FGI) handling Tempur, in a separate interview.
FGI is the distributor of the United States-based Tempur brand of mattresses and pillows known for high-quality memory foams.
Mr. Letts said they would continue to bank on the support of Tempur as they compete internationally in the coming months.
The Philippine Volcanoes are gearing up for qualification in the Asia Rugby Seven Series happening in September in Korea, China and Sri Lanka.
They are also preparing for the Olympic Qualifiers in November in Korea as well as the Southeast Asian Games in December happening here in the country.
The Lady Volcanoes, meanwhile, recently bagged the gold in the 2019 Asia Rugby Women’s Sevens Trophy in Indonesia.
