London Saints Dodgeball Club growth and inclusivity project 2023
2
The Pitch
Focus Areas
Delivery plan
Budget breakdown
| Accessibility fund for player travel and league cost | £750 |
| Coaching and refereeing certifications | £250 |
| Extra equipment, including balls, court markers, nets, pumps, training equipment and facilities hire | £500 |
Beneficiaries
40 people
Expected impact
The project will help increase the availability and quality of dodgeball for our players. We will give our players opportunities to develop as coaches and referees to raise the standard of dodgeball among our players, existing and new. As sporting goals, we want to build on the success of our first British Dodgeball medal with promotion from National League 3 as well as success in other leagues. This funding will help with the costs of league entry: 2 squads into South East Regional Leagues, 2 in National Leagues, and 1 in Mixed League. By being able to help players costs, dodgeball becomes more affordable, increasing access and encouraging new players to join training sessions and matches. We have 25 members of the club. By the end of the 2023 season, we aim to have 40 members. For the women’s teams, we want to be able to enter women’s sides into Regional Leagues, and have a women’s squad for National Leagues by the 2023 season at the earliest, and the 2024 season at the latest.
Track record
To date, we have been entirely self funded. As outlined in our pitch video, most funding available for clubs in dodgeball goes to youth projects, and as an adult-only club, we have not had the opportunity to take advantage of external funding before. However, the club has grown and always been run sustainably. We have been able to organically afford the necessities of training and playing, often at player expense, both financial and time. We have organised as a community sports club and been able to survive financially since our inception just before the COVID-19 pandemic, however, in our first full season as a club (the pandemic ending our first season prematurely), we are looking forward to growing and establishing the club as a mainstay of the British Dodgeball scene. We have managed to grow and afford this inaugaural season through player recruitment, fees and membership, but funding would allow us to expand our remit and kickstart a new era of growth for the club.