Sponsorship crisis!!!!!! - i need help

phatboy-lister · Post by **phatboy-lister** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 5:15 pm

can anyone help me or does anyone know anyone else who could sponsor me?

Geebs · Post by **Geebs** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 6:43 pm

Gaining sponsorship is hard work, it is harder now than it was years ago as there is not the same tax advantages open to companies to offset sponsorship deals too.

I did put some clues on how to gain sponsorship in a previous thread on this forum, basically it is down to a lot of letters, emails, phone calls with a lot of negative result's until you hit the right one.

You need to have a portfolio prepared of all your achievements, newspaper/magazine articles featuring you, what you have planned for the future and what the sponsor will gain out of it.

Come and talk to me one clubnight and I will give you some more pointers.

Laters

Hippo Lips · Post by **Hippo Lips** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 9:50 pm

surely with having world class coaching and money to follow,this is enough (and a #### of alot more than most paddlers get) to be supported and not need sponsorship?

perhaps you should be more grateful of what you are getting at the moment....

Geebs · Post by **Geebs** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 12:34 am

Hippo Lips wrote:surely with having world class coaching and money to follow,this is enough (and a #### of alot more than most paddlers get) to be supported and not need sponsorship?

perhaps you should be more grateful of what you are getting at the moment....

I think you will find that all this talk of money that goes with WCS is a not what it appears as the athletes have to do more training, attend camps, training weekends, gyms etc. all this costs money and the funding from the WCS/WCP does not cover anywhere near as much as people think.

The one very positive side to the program is the coaching, but to access that means travelling in phatboy-lister's case a round trip of nearly 180 miles in an evening after finishing a full day at school and arriving back home at gone 11 at night, call that fun!

frontman · Post by **frontman** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 8:49 am

Ha - only 180 miles......

days gone by were when myself and backman2 woud leave work at 5.00 - get to HPP by 7.30 - train tor 1.5 hrs (and watch Backman & frontman2 have their customary argument after their 160 mile round trip) & back home by midnight on a wednesday night (round trip of 250 miles) and that was on no sponsorship or funding at all......
and then probably head off to Tryweryn on the Friday night for the weekend training up there.

These whippers now don't know how easy they have it......

Sometimes you need to do what you can and if you moan about it, are you doing it for the right reasons?

Hippo Lips · Post by **Hippo Lips** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 5:29 pm

well oh dear me... the poor love has to attend camps what a ball ache. at his age i would have jumped at the chance to attend camps to have this expert coaching.

and as the great scott shipley says, its not the amount of training you do...its the quality. so doing a couple of sessions a day and attending school is not really that much compared to those who have full time jobs is it???..........

if it aint fun, simply stop doing it.

phil-cooke · Post by **phil-cooke** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 7:40 pm

hey leave the poor boy alone whats now is not what was back in the day (if ya no what i mean) im just older than fatty here. i train once or twice a week, that satisfies me. we live closer than phatboi and my parents complain. i would have liked to have the same coaching as phaty but canoeing has progressed so much recently i was/am to old. (15 huh realy old)

no need for all this fighting the boy needs a sponsor not some1 slaggin him off on here. matty ill give u £1 every year if u put big G on ur boat :p lol

btw i am looking for a sponsor aswell :;):

phatboy-lister · Post by **phatboy-lister** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 9:22 pm

thankyou phil for putting some sense into all of this slagging of me and same to you geebs and i would personally like to say to hippo lips if u ent got nuffink nice to say then dont say anything at all. did the question at the beginning of this forum involve you? no! it asked for some help and advice on sponsorship and maybe even clinching some.
Im a nice guy and dont like to upset people but i do a #### of alot of work along with a fellow athlete to try to close the gap between us and the top paddlers in our age group and i know that he does a lot of work aswel. i am aware i have had alot of support from alot of people on the bank and i thank them aswel but i need help financially for my parents sake because they suffer for what I need just like most other parents do for their kids to become athletes, when we filled out a sponsorship form earlier in the year it became apparent that we spend well in advance of £10'000 a year just on travel/equipment/coaching(yes believe it or not we still pay for the coachingn it ent cheap)/etc. so i want the money to give to them to help with expenses like petrol money not for myself for them, so if you have anything else to slag then do it to my face at races next year because frankly im not bothered by your opinion because its unneccesary so get ur facts rite!!! thanks again to geebs and phil!!!

Hippo Lips · Post by **Hippo Lips** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 10:34 pm

Firstly you asked people for help or their opinions or both, so that’s what you got of me, granted mainly my opinion.

i find it hard to believe that you spend well in advance of 10,000 pounds on training, where do you train??? Sydney? and do you fly Oliver fix in especially from Hawaii?? if these expenses are too much for you or your family to cope with then just simple don’t do as much; there.. It aint rocket science.

for example i now of paddlers that have had to make do with the fathers old cags and decks, some being probably as old as you, just for the fact that they couldn't afford to buy any new kit.

I spoke on this thread to make a sweeping generalization of many young paddlers who are receiving funding from one world class programmes or another...they all tend to in my eyes not fully appreciate just what they are receiving and to which many paddlers that have to fund and coach themselves can only dream of. Being taught the basic at a young age is a fantastic basing for any paddler.

I didn’t come on this thread to slag you off, and if you notice I actually haven’t, I’m just trying to make you aware of what you have and make you realise how grateful you should be.

P.S. if you’re not bothered by what I’ve got to say then what’s the point of me talking to you at the next years races??......

Fairweather Paddler · Post by **Fairweather Paddler** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 11:53 pm

Nowhere in the first post was there a request for opinions!!! You just chose to give yours!!!

£10,000 a year for training and entry fees, including travel and accommodation costs is in fact quite conservative.

I think it shows great initiative that people are prepared to open up and admit that they need help.

These are youngsters who are going to be representing us in the future - they are putting in a lot of time and effort, as well as money. It is a shame that as a country we do not fully support athletes and that they have to resort to this level of begging.

Geebs · Post by **Geebs** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 12:15 am

Hippo Lips wrote:P.S. if you’re not bothered by what I’ve got to say then what’s the point of me talking to you at the next years races??......

Sorry but if you can not give a true account of yourself apart from living in "Hippo Land" why should anything you say be taken seriously?

This forum on the whole has had serious discussions by sensible people who understand the sport and are willing to add sensible advice and commments.

£10,000 per year is about right if not conservative on the cost of training in addition to any grants (which are negligable) that may be available to represent GB, I know this for a fact as I have supported my daughter that plays for the GB polo team and has done for the past 3 years.

One of the only way that this cost can be reduced is to achieve sponsorship in one form or another, whether it be money or kit, even discount on kit purchase helps, but at the end of the day to represent your country it costs the individual a small fortune if you are a canoeist, one question is, is this right as in other sports there is more money available from the NGB's to help athlete's

phatboy-lister could well be representing GB at the Olympic's so I hope that he can count on yours and others support along with the rest of the team?

frontman2 · Post by **frontman2** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 8:15 am

Ah, frontman, those were the days eh? Racing up to HPP straight after work, traffic jams on the motorway, rafters in the way, getting in half a session then having the lights switched off halfway down a run! Happy days!
Seriously though getting sponsorship from outside of the sport is very difficult. You have to be persistent and more importantly, you have to offer the potential sponsor something in return, be it carrying an advert on the boat or doing some sort of promotional work. It is not a one way street. It's also just as good getting lots of small amounts of support from a number of places rather than just searching for that one single big sponsor. Small, local companies are good for that.
Try and reduce costs of training by doing as much locally as possible instead of having to be in say Nottingham all the time. Training with other like minded paddlers can be very efffective at improving performance as well. You don't have to have a paid coach at every session.

Fairweather Paddler · Post by **Fairweather Paddler** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 10:12 am

Food for thought for those who are knocking the need for sponsorship - where would David Beckham be now if it wasn't for sponsorship? and football attracts a lot more financial support, and coaching than canoeing ever will!!

Sorry to point out the obvious, but felt it was time for a reality check. :O

PaulR · Post by **PaulR** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 10:27 am

I would definately agree with frontman2's comment that its usually local businesses that are best suited for paddlers that (i'm sorry to say)havent achieved much in the way of world cup medals, although your achievment for promoted into prem at your age is in itself not an easy task. however not many businesses understand our sport fully or at all.

if you do have a part time job it might be worth while asking the owner/manager if they can support you in anyway...??

finally, hipo lips...push off mate

Train2Win · Post by **Train2Win** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 10:34 am

When I was a junior, and after making the GB team, I applied to many places asking for sponsorship, with not much success. I made a portfolio with my achievements, ambitions and included a couple of action pics, to get across what the sport's about.

I think that you're best chance is to apply locally. Ask local businesses for a small amount of support. This is more likely to be successful than going for big companies who on the whole tend to go for more mainstream sports and prefer to sponser teams rather than individuals.

Good luck!

P.S. Hippo Lips, £10,000 is a conservative estimate of costs per year, think of all the costs from racing 10-15 times a year, all with entry fees accomodation, food, travel. Then you have to pay for a boat, paddles (maybe 2-3 sets), kit, training cost on HPP or Tryweryn, trips abroad etc. etc. Petrol (if you're not living near HPP) can cost over £5000 alone!

Don't knock the lad for being funded, I'm sure he is grateful for what he gets, but I don't think he's on a £10,000 funding band (unless its one of the senior team writing in lol). Another point - sponsorship raises the profile of the sport, which can't be a bad thing!