CJI Funding Award – Introducing Chepstow Chickens
Earlier this week, we sat down with the widely known, Charlie & Tim Day, to learn about their new club, Chepstow Chickens, and how the British Dodgeball ComeJoinIn Funding Award has helped them; from what made them start the club, to their aspirations for the future. You can hear from the Chepstow Chickens below.
What is the name of your club?
Chepstow Chickens Dodgeball Club
Where is your club based?
Chepstow, South Wales (on the border, part way between Bristol and Newport)
When are your training sessions?
Training sessions are every Wednesday evening, 8-10pm, in Chepstow Leisure Centre (with the exception of the first Wednesday of each month).
What players are welcome at your club?
Everyone who is 16+
What was your initial reaction to being awarded the funding?
The new balls were great, as we were previously borrowing old balls from neighbouring clubs. It was also a relief to have some fallback, in regards to the cash flow. It means that we can afford to rent the hall, regardless of how many players show up. Having a regular membership can be tricky in the early stages, as it is difficult for people in the community to commit each week, when they haven’t yet become invested in the sport.
How are you going to use the ComeJoinIn Funding?
We are primarily using it to support the hall rental costs, whilst we work on establishing a stronger player base.
What was the application process like?
It was very straightforward. It only took me a few minutes to fill out the form and then some follow up, corresponding emails.
What made you create your club?
We have found that Chepstow does not have many sporting clubs for adults. We wanted to both provide a new sporting activity to those in the area, whilst also increasing the overall number of players in the region.
Also, there are not many dodgeball clubs in the area, relative to other regions. Many of those clubs also have the same player base, with people travelling to multiple sessions in different areas. Many of these players are then having to travel a long way to reach these clubs. Chepstow is quite centrally based between South Wales and the South West of England, so it provides quite a good central point for regular players to be able to attend.
What are your aspirations for the club?
We would love to get enough regular, local players to be able to enter a team into a regional league. We would also love to increase the number of women who play the sport in the region, as there are currently not many of us. To be able to get a full women’s team together would be a real achievement.
What are your next steps?
At the moment, the push is to advertise as much as possible in Chepstow and in the surrounding towns/ villages.
Any additional comments?
If you ever find yourself in/ around the area (we are part way between Bristol and Newport), feel free to drop either Tim or I a message, or have a look at our facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/691194295385406, to see what is going on. We’d love to have anyone who would like to play.
We would like to say a massive thank you to Charlie & Tim for taking the time to talk to us and giving us an insight into their new club and to how our #ComeJoinIn Funding Award has helped them. Good luck with your upcoming sessions and we look forward to seeing at regional leagues soon!
We love supporting new clubs and our ComeJoinIn Funding Award allows us to do just that. In our first round of funding we awarded over £5300 and we have just finished our second round! If you are looking to set up a new club, then make sure you look out for our next round of funding, get in touch via hello@britishdodgeball.com or head to our dedicated ComeJoinIn Page for more information.
