A Melton based company is working closely with Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of this summer’s World Cup in South Africa.

SAQ®, which stands for Speed, Agility, Quickness were hired by leading advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi to work on a contract with Castrol, one of the major sponsors of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Representatives from the Leicestershire company flew over to Madrid to meet the 2008 World and European Player of the Year as part of their work on the Castrol ‘Challenge Ronaldo’, ahead of the this summer’s tournament.

SAQ have been involved in the development and delivery of the training programme as members of the public have entered competitions to take on the Portuguese international in an exciting one-off skills challenge.

The company’s International Managing Director , Alan Pearson, visited the Spanish capital to launch the programme at Real’s Ciudad Real Madrid training ground, which translates as Real Madrid City.

Cristiano Ronaldo was joined by selected journalists and reporters from across the planet. Press and film crews from different countries and regions including America, Australia, Asia, South Africa and Europe, descended on Madrid to get a glimpse of the former Manchester United winger in action. They were soon put through their paces by Cristiano, Alan and the Castrol challenge before being given the chance to interview the footballing superstar.

During the past 20 years, SAQ has developed a number of groundbreaking movement-based programmes locally, nationally and internationally. They have worked with elite clubs in rugby, football, cricket, rugby league and hockey, and provided training, education, consultancy and specialised equipment to teams, managers and coaches from a number of top clubs.

A few of the top level teams they’ve worked with include Arsenal, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen, Leicester Tigers RFC, Bath RFC, the English, Irish, Welsh and French Rugby Unions, Australian and New Zealand Super 14 Clubs and the International Rugby Board (IRB).

SAQ have also worked with leading County Cricket clubs such as Essex, Leicestershire, Somerset and European Championship winners, Reading Hockey.

Alan Pearson, who has been given the role of Castrol Performance Analyst and will continue to be involved in the build up to the World Cup, insists that working with Cristiano and Castrol is just the tip of the iceberg.

“The company’s main customers are schools, amateur coaches, parents, trainers and health professionals. We provide programmes and nationally recognised awards for achieving fundamental and developmental movement targets within the education system.

“We look at reducing obesity and diabetes and its prevention in the community by increasing physical activity levels. The company also works on general health and healthy eating programmes for families, special educational needs programmes and early years intervention programmes.

“Being recognised by the elite as one of the best programmes of its
kind in the world is fantastic and we use it to cascade the
programme to all areas of the community, where it makes a massive difference.”

Photos courtesy of Denis Doyle/Getty Images

For more information on SAQ International, visit their website www.saqinternational.com.