Login with email
Our aim for Challenge Week is to raise as much money as possible to improve the overall quality of our club. With any donations you are able to make, we will be able to increase the number of training sessions, subside transport, and provide equipment of the highest quality, such as shuttlecocks and professional coaching. Any donation is greatly appreciated, and will be instrumental for the development of our society.
University of York Badminton Club (UYBC) is one of the largest sports societies at the University, but it is also one of the most unique. We are a twin society: our Team represents the University in the BUCS League and the York and District Badminton League, and our Club is a social club that allows our students to come together and play badminton more casually. Additionally, we have recently established our Development Squad, which seeks to provide extra training and support for players who have the potential to represent the University competitively. As a club, we pride ourselves in our inclusivity, providing an environment that encourages badminton players of all abilities to enjoy the sport.
Our Team have been performing extremely well this year, with promotion in the BUCS League for a couple of our teams looking very likely. Moreover, we historically perform well in Roses and BUCS Nationals. However, we know that our Team is capable of much more: we have a great drive to improve, we are committed to training regularly and intensely, and we have a great competitive edge. This is why your donations will be greatly influential, as it will allow us to provide the equipment and training that reflects our Team’s motivation. With the money fundraised during Challenge Week, we want to book more court time, buy higher-quality shuttlecocks, and provide an increased number of professionally coached training sessions. The cost of running the Team has been increasing over the past couple of years due to the cost of living crisis, particularly transportation costs and buying shuttlecocks, so your donations will help to keep costs low for our members in a time of financial instability.
Reflecting on the cost of living crisis, improving our social Club sessions is also key, as these sessions provide an escape from the different stresses that come with student life. With your donations, we will be able to provide more sessions and increase the number of racquets and shuttlecocks provided so that as many of our students can participate in some casual, fun exercise.
UYBC would like to thank you in advance for any donations, however small, that you are able to make. It will be greatly appreciated.
Your donations would be put towards subsidising our biggest expenses: transportation for our Team’s matches, providing shuttlecocks, and court costs. Our ambition is to raise at least £1500 during Challenge Week, with the first £500 being matched by YuFund, raising a total of £2000.
For subsiding transportation, we would put approximately £700. Transport costs are one of our biggest expenses. Any donations you are able to provide will help to remove the need for match fees (which we have had to implement over the past years because of these expenses).
Likewise, for buying new shuttlecocks, we will put approximately £400, and for court costs, we will put £400. Upgrading the shuttlecocks we provide, for both Team and Club, will be instrumental in improving the quality of the training experience. In turn, this will simultaneously improve our performance in competitive leagues, as well as improve playing experience for our social Club. Similarly to subsidising our transport costs, your donations will help to decrease the cost of hiring the courts, which means that we can seek to book further courts, especially during times such as exam periods where we aren't provided training times, to provide more opportunity to play for our members. These values may be rearranged depending on final values!
Some other areas we wish to fund with donations would be:
Your donations will be greatly impactful in a multitude of ways, and this is not limited to the more practical side of running UYBC (such as subsiding transportation costs and equipment, as we have mentioned above). Your donations will have a profound impact on making UYBC even more inclusive and accessible.
The key aim for our Team this year is setting our sights on dominating Roses. Historically, UYBC has competed well against Lancaster, and we don't intend to drop the ball. Any donations you can contribute will be put towards funding coaching sessions with Max Flynn, an England Badminton player. He has been indescribably important in improving the standard of training, and he would be an asset to help train our current cohort to the best of their ability. Furthermore, having a professional coach helps to improve the morale of our Team, strengthening team-bonding and maintaining motivation. Additionally, your donations will also be put towards helping the newly instated Development Squad, an initiative that improves accessibility to those newer to the sport, but who still want to be coached with a competitive edge.
Competitive sport, at any level, is so important for providing our students with an outlet, or an escape from different pressures that we all experience as students. Improving our training sessions, for both Team and Club, will encourage more students to partake in regular exercise in a safe space, with the additional bonus of being competitive and fun!
Being part of any sports society at the University of York can be a defining aspect of student life, and evokes a sense of pride for representing the University. One way this sense of pride is present is by the high demand for Team kits. The cost of Akuma kits are high, but with your donations, we will be able to subside the costs, and make the purchase of Team kits more accessible. Our aim is to provide all of our players with a kit that represents their pride in UYBC.
Across Challenge Week, we have an extensive list of fundraising challenges that we will complete in order to raise as much money as possible.
Arguably the highlight of the week will be our Alumni All-Stars versus Current Team Titans Royal Rumble Tournament, being hosted on the 10th March (9am-3pm, located in the Sports Arena). This will cost £10/player and will be a great day of competitive badminton!
We have the ambitious idea of hosting a 24-hour Badminton Match during Challenge Week, as well. This will be taking place at the Railway Institute on the 16th-17th. This involves having an on-going badminton match that lasts for 24 hours!
We are also planning a few fundraising challenges that we will incorporate into the week. This includes a waxing challenge, which sees some of our male members shaving their legs dependent on donations given (once members taking part are confirmed, a donation of £3 with the name of the member with the word “wax” in the comments will show us what cause you sent it for) , and a sponsored head shave - Ravi, our Club Pres, at £1000 in donations.
At £500, you will see some of our members dress up in fancy dress for an entire day, and at £600 you will see a few members who have volunteered to be tied together for an entire day! These are funny ways our members have thought to give incentives for people to donate.
Some smaller fundraising challenges that we can complete inside of training sessions, include:
Other ways we plan to raise money is by encouraging our Team and Club members to partake in a sponsored distance run or distance cycle.
We will also be taking part in YUSU’s endurance race, which will see us sub in and out over a period of 6 hours to see how far we can run as a collective University.
Instagram: uoy_badminton
Facebook: University of York Badminton Club
Email: badminton@yusu.org
We would greatly appreciate any donation that you are able to make, great or small. Your donation will be fundamental in helping us to unlock our fundraising challenges, which will help us to reach our goal even faster.
If you are looking to support an individual member of UYBC or challenge, please put a message with your donation saying who!
There are no worries if you are not able to donate either! Spreading the word by signing up as a Challenge Week Ambassador for UYBC, and sharing our social media posts to your own socials would be greatly appreciated, so that as many people as possible can read about our efforts!
When your club reaches 50 donors you will unlock £100.
When your club reaches 100 donors you will unlock £100.
When your club reaches 25 Friends and Family donors, you will unlock £100.