Emily has very close connections to Cork.

In one of this year's most surprising collabs, supermodel Emily Ratajkowski is sponsoring a local basketball team in Bantry Co. Cork. Bantry Basketball Club's coach, Pat Curran, reached out to Emily's father, who is a friend of his, to see if she'd be interested in helping the club out. Mr Curran said that over the past year, fundraising for the team had been difficult. The coach sent a text to Emily's parents - who have a summer home in Cork - and within five minutes Emily agreed to sponsor them. The club took to Twitter to share that they've been sponsored by the model's clothing brand. "Thanks to Emily Ratajkowski @emrata for her new sponsorship of our boys under 15/16 team through her clothing brand @inamoratawoman." https://twitter.com/bantryhoops/status/1417843026374844420?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1417843026374844420%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rte.ie%2Fnews%2Fregional%2F2021%2F0721%2F1236485-bantry-basketball-club%2F According to Pat, Emily's dad John used to play for the club in the 1980s. The supermodel has a close connection with the Cork town, after spending periods of her childhood holidaying there. Four years ago, while visiting Cork, Emily said that Ireland was her "second home". This isn't the first time the supermodel has signaled her support for local basketball. In 2018, she tweeted, "Congratulations Colaiste Pobail Bheanntrai - All Ireland champions!" https://twitter.com/emrata/status/973669161216954368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E973669161216954368%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rte.ie%2Fnews%2Fregional%2F2021%2F0721%2F1236485-bantry-basketball-club%2F Emily has also talked about her childhood summers in Cork. During an IG Q&A, a fan asked what her favourite memories of summer in Ireland were, and she said: "I got stuck playing in a bog!" and shared a throwback photo. https://twitter.com/newschambers/status/1417872917082386434 The basketball coach told RTE that Emily and her family are "just normal people" when they hang out in the Cork town. "It's funny to see all the reaction and tweets," he said. "People think it's gas. But they're just normal people when it comes to Bantry. Nobody takes any notice, nobody bothers anyone." He added: "She has very good friends here and they're all connected to the basketball club."