Leicester Baseball Clubs awarded 2022 facilities funding

Posted: Tue, 19 Apr 2022 11:14

Leicester Baseball Clubs awarded 2022 facilities funding

BaseballSoftballUK is delighted to announce the seven recipients of the 2022 Facilities Fund, with £10,558.24 being directly invested in grassroots facility development projects this year.

As part of BaseballSoftballUK's (BSUK) Two Sports, One Ambition Strategy launched in August 2020, BSUK reaffirmed its commitment to help grassroots baseball and softball organisations across the UK to become stronger, safer and more sustainable. A key part of the commitment was creating the Facilities Fund to support Chartered clubs and leagues to develop and improve their facilities, with BSUK committing £50,000 over five years, starting last year, to allow clubs and leagues to use the investment not only to support facility development but also act as a lever to attract further match funding.

This year, the Facilities Fund was supplemented by a donation from artist Andy Brown, who generously donated 10% of the profits from the 2022 British Baseball Calendar to the cause. The additional amount of £118 from the calendar sales was distributed as part of this year's funding award.

The Facilities Fund once again attracted a great deal of interest, generating a significant number of high-quality submissions. Working through their BSUK relationship manager, clubs and leagues were supported as they worked through their applications ahead of the February deadline for submission. With the Fund oversubscribed for applications, the role of the independent assessment panel was crucial in helping investment decisions.

Successful applicants

BaseballSoftballUK would like to recognize and congratulate the work of the club administrators and volunteers who spent considerable time developing their submissions.

BaseballSoftballUK is delighted to announce the following awards:

  • Brighton Baseball Club - £2,000
  • Herts Baseball Club - £2,851.63
  • Leicester Diamonds & Leicester Blue Sox (joint application) - £2,250
  • Norwich Iceni Baseball Club - £2,096.61
  • Worcester Baseball Club - £360
  • Wragby Warhammers Baseball Club - £1,000

As a result of the direct investment of £10,558.24 by BSUK, the seven recipients will collectively benefit from an additional £20,000+ of investment from partnership activity. All six of this year's projects will focus on grassroots baseball development.

Funding will be made available to the clubs from today, 8 April 2022. BSUK's Development Team will continue to work closely with these clubs to support their facility development and monitor the investment awarded to them.

BSUK is also committed to work with unsuccessful applicants to seek other funding investment for their facilities and to support them in submitting applications during future Facilities Fund application windows.

Chris Rawlings, Head of Development at BaseballSoftballUK, commented on the submissions, remarking, "This year's submissions were just as strong as last year's, and the selection committee had a very tough task in awarding funding. The six projects receiving funding today are a further step towards improving facilities across the United Kingdom, and we are very proud of all the clubs who submitted for the fund this year."

Luis Arrevillagas, BSUK Development Manager added, "We are thrilled to be able to distribute funding to six deserving projects this year – one more than last year. The Facilities Fund has become a key grant for improving baseball and softball in a tangible way in a very short time, and we look forward to seeing the result of the award funding put to use!"

Abigail Battisto of the Leicester Diamonds added, "This investment is going to massively improve Leicester's home of baseball. We are just all so thankful for this award!"

Applications for the third round of the Facilities Fund will open in October 2022 and clubs are advised to work closely with their BSUK relationship managers from now to get their club ready for it.

For more information on the Facilities Fund, get in touch with your chartered relationship manager or email facilitiesfund@bsuk.com or click here.

(Source: Baseball/Softball UK)

Tags: Baseball, News, Partner