Our Partners
Our Partners

Saracens are proud to work in partnership with a range of companies and suppliers, all striving for excellence in their field.

Lead Partner
StoneX
StoneX provides institutional clients with a complete suite of equity trading services to help them find liquidity with best execution and end-to-end clearing.
Principal Partner
Shawbrook
Shawbrook is a specialist savings and lending bank, offering personal loans, residential and commercial mortgages, business finance, and savings products.
Principal Partner
Castore
Castore is the world's first premium sportswear brand, for the discerning athlete who values attention to detail & precision performance features.
Principal Partner
Hy-Pro
Dedicated sports brand creating durable training equipment to improve your core skills across all aspects of sport.
Trek
Trek
TREK bars, which deliver natural, long-lasting energy with no artificial ingredients, believe in providing better snacks for the environment. Their 100% plant based ingredients show their ambition to keep ingredients as close to their original form as possible, keeping the best nutritional value, in every bar.
Principal Partner
Enmo
Provides premium protective activewear and technical gear to enable people of all abilities to enjoy their sport
Principal Partner
Zinc Sports
Keep pushing to create unforgettable experiences, for children, adults, and anyone in between. Zinc the UK’s No 1 Scooter Brand.
Partner
Greene King IPA
As the country's leading pub retailer and brewer, we welcome our customers into our 2,700 pubs, restaurants and hotels across the UK.
Seasonal Membership Banner 2048x293
Seasonal Mobile

Georgia Lees: "Working on COVID wards whilst playing netball was a huge challenge"

08.03.21
Loughborough Lightning v Saracens MavericksVitality Netball Superleague 21/02/2021

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Health Service (NHS) has taken a greater presence in everyone’s daily lives.

The NHS and it’s staff members have been a mainstay in the news over the last 12 months as they look to help us recover some sort of normality. Those on the front line have been appreciated in the form of Clap for Carers and on social media, but the real reason they do it isn’t for appreciation.

This is the case for Saracens Mavericks’ Georgia Lees who only started working in the NHS during the middle of the pandemic.

The wing attack has had to mature quickly just months after completing her studies to ensure she can help those in need to assist her colleagues in hospitals. She had studied Sports Science at Brunel University and stayed on to do a Masters in Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences before working for Bupa for two years. She has since studied to be a Physician Associate at the University of Hertfordshire. Recently, Lees has been working in A&E as a Physician Associate and has found the situation rewarding even if a little hectic.

“I’m currently working in A&E at the Luton & Dunstable Hospital and that’s where I did my training as a student and was just very lucky to be kept on there afterwards. I thoroughly enjoy it and every day is different. The past few months have been more of a challenge. Coming straight out of being a student into a pandemic where you’re working in healthcare, you get thrown in the deep end and you swim or sink."

“So, for me actually that’s been a good learning experience because the opportunities I’ve given because they’re short on staff or there’s more patient load than normal, you have to step up and take those opportunities when they come. So, for me as a person who’s newly qualified, it’s actually been a really good experience for me and I’m quite happy it’s worked this way out in a way.”

The former Surrey Storm player has won two Vitality Netball Superleague titles and has impressed in the early stages of the 2021 season with Mavericks. The 27-year-old has provided some of the most impressive moments of Mavericks’ great start and is managing to do so while balancing her career with her netball.

“So, when I was studying, it was much easier to manage because obviously everything was on campus, everything was on site. It was hard to manage with the placements and their deadlines with training, that’s when I found it quite tough. Now I’m in a contract at work, I’m in a contract with Mavericks as well so it’s quite tricky to juggle. This week, I was literally running from my car to training as I finished work just 30 minutes before but it’s just been manic at the minute."

“I’m really lucky I’ve got a lot of support and I’m living at home with my parents at the minute whilst we’re saving for a house, so my mum’s really good at making sure I’ve got everything I need and it kind of feels like I’m back at school again trying to juggle everything. It’s tough but I’m just kind of used to it now, so it’s just become one of those things."

The stresses that might come with balancing the two pale into comparison when it comes to the rewards working in healthcare bring. For example, Lees was able to update family members on the conditions of their relatives while they are unable to visit due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“It’s been really rewarding, it’s a tough job but I’m really privileged that I’ve had that opportunity. It’s a very rewarding job, not all the time, but nine times out of ten your patients are always very happy with you that they get to go home and you’ve helped them to get better. I remember when I was a student on the COVID wards and what I found really really tough was coming to terms with these patients that couldn’t have their relatives with them. I found that as a concept really hard to come to terms with even though I knew it was the best thing for stopping the spread and protecting their relatives."

“So we used to just call the relatives just to give them an update because the doctors were so busy, the nurses were so busy because they had all these other jobs that they needed to do that we couldn’t go because we weren’t qualified. What we could do was just ring their wives or ring their daughters or their sons just to give them an update, even if it wasn’t anything to say they’ve made a huge turnaround and they’re better. It was just to let them know that they’re okay or at times to let them know that they have got worse but at least they’re updated with that. It makes the world of difference.”

With all games on Sky Sports and following the success of the Vitality World Cup 2019, netball has never been in a better place in the sporting landscape as has women’s sport in general.

Lees feels the same way about gender roles in the NHS. No longer are men associated with doctors and women with nursing.

“I think that is a changing issue within the NHS, I don’t think it’s quite there yet. Last weekend when I went in for my shift, at the front desk in A&E there were just five girls sitting there, two of which were doctors, there were three Physician Associates. It’s definitely something that I think is identified within the NHS, people are quite aware of it. I’m lucky enough to work with some fantastic female consultants who are at the top of their game. There are females working within those top positions whether it be consultant or a senior nurse or matron, they are definitely working within those positions which is fantastic to see."

“I think sometimes I’ve had barriers before with patients who will only want to be seen by a male doctor and that’s quite disheartening to hear because you think well, we’ve just done exactly the same training. I definitely think it is an ongoing issue within the NHS but, luckily for me, it’s not something that I feel like I face every day or I feel like I’m at a disadvantage because I’m a woman and I do have those role models there within my workplace, who are in those top, senior positions and who are women.”

On International Women’s Day, Lees feels it’s important to recognise the impact that role models like her can have on upcoming netballers. Lees - who chooses to challenge the fact you can’t strive for a career and a pursue sport at an elite level - has reached out to those younger than her seeking for advice through charity and community work.

“I have had a few messages through social media of girls at that age of 17 to 18 where they’re looking to go to university but they’re kind of at that NPL level with their netball or regional level with their netball. They don’t want to give it up but they want to go to university and their focus is their studies but they want to play sport alongside that. I’ll always be honest with them and say it’s not easy, it is really really tough. There will be times where say you’ve got a Superleague game at the weekend and you’re at university and you’ve got a deadline that’s due. You can’t do it all."

“If you see women having success then it inspires young girls to know that they can also have success whether it’s in sport or any other area of life. To have female role models in the media with their successes being celebrated is important for young girls growing up."

“For us, that responsibility sits quite heavily on our shoulders to make sure that we are promoting ourselves and the sport and ourselves as athletes in the right way. Netball is huge for that and it’s important that it’s getting seen on Sky because it’s a weekly source that young girls can tune into to see their sporting role models.”

Photo Credit: Ben Lumley Photography

News Template

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS | EALING TRAILFINDERS VS SARACENS MEN

A YOUNG SARACENS MEN'S SIDE SHOWED THAT THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT, DESPITE FALLING TO DEFEAT IN AN ENTERTAINING FIXTURE AGAINST EALING TRAILFINDERS. You can watch all the action from the match below.   EALING TRAILFINDERS 29-19 SARACENS MEN (PREMIERSHIP RUGBY CUP ROUND 1)  

04.11.24
In association with
StoneX StoneX
News Template

MATCH REACTION | Alex Austerberry (PWR Rd 5)

Director of Rugby Alex Austerberry was left disappointed, as his side suffered a first defeat of the season away at Exeter Chiefs. Saracens had taken the lead midway through the first half, before the hosts turned the screw and Austerberry credited the Devonians for how they had performed against his side. “First and foremost, Exeter […]

04.11.24
In association with
StoneX StoneX
Screenshot 2024 11 02 At 15.55.14

MATCH REPORT | Ealing Trailfinders 29-19 Saracens Men

Saracens Men started their Premiership Rugby Cup campaign with a defeat as they were beaten 29-19 by an experienced Ealing Trailfinders side at Trailfinders Sports Club. The Men in Black, who had nine debutants in their matchday squad got some valuable game time and the much-needed experience will stand them in good stead in the […]

02.11.24
In association with
StoneX StoneX

Partners

See all partners
cross