Target reached!
The more money we are able to raise to fund our project, the quicker we can get Defi...
Doing it Defiantly!
Eastbourne, East Sussex, United Kingdom
Aim
Create a fully accessible and inclusive sports and community hub in Eastbourne - Doing it Defiantly!
We. Are. Defiant Sports!
Our aim is to support people to “Connect through sport” by offering sessions and activities overcoming barriers to participation.
Image description: Loretta (reft) and her son Callum (right) at the monthly bowling social event.
Defiant sports started with our Managing director, Loretta, fighting to get her son, Callum, into sports he loved with the limited opportunities that were offered. Callum, who has Cerebral Palsy, Autism and impaired vision, was often left feeling like he wasn’t able to fit into the boxes set by tennis groups that were available. After watching him struggle through the lack of opportunities, his lack of self-esteem and increased isolation she took it upon herself to create the opportunities herself.
Currently located in The Crumbles, the move to a bigger and better location is crucial to the development of Defiant Sports and its ability to provide the services and activities that many in East Sussex rely on as their access to sporting. We have gained a lease on part of the current Fort Fun location, quadrupling our space!
However, many residents of Eastbourne and surrounding areas have seen the current state of the derelict site and with the looming plans for our current site, we want to get Defiant Sports up and running at our new location as soon as we can.
Image description: Joel, Sam, Maddie, Loretta, Callum and Aaron standing in a line within the Defiant Inclusion Hub under chalk drawn pictures above their heads. All are smiling, showing thumbs up. Sam has a Pride flag wrapped around his shoulders.
Impact
We currently run over 15 sessions each week, ranging from youth clubs, adult social sessions, seated multi—sports, boxing, cricket, basketball as well as various tennis sessions for all abilities, including private lessons. We also offer in school sessions, after school clubs and bespoke sessions throughout Sussex. And it doesn’t stop there - honestly, we could go on and on!
Our coaches have numerous sporting qualifications in a variety of different sports and are are always looking out for more ways to learn new skills! Currently they have qualifications for tennis, boxing, cricket, basketball, boccia, and dodgeball to name a few!
Image description: Children taking part in a tennis warm up/skills drill in between two purple tennis courts.
Image description: two boys with their thumbs up standing one behind the other at a dodgeball session.
We have grown our participant numbers as we have grown as a company and rely on our fantastic young people and their families to help us with new sessions that fit their interests and needs.
We are very aware that there are not as many opportunities in sport for everyone and we want to change that for people not just in Eastbourne but for all of East Sussex. Providing a safe and secure environment for young people and families so that they can meet new people, learn new skills and develop lasting friendships with likeminded people, all whilst having fun!
With a new venue, we can do this and more.
Image description: 13 participants, 4 coaches and a guide dog at the Tennis For All tournament run by Defiant Sports. Participants are stood in front of a net on a tennis court in a line holding their arm up to cheer.
Why are we crowdfunding?
Most of our sessions are run from our current Inclusion Hub but we are excited that we are moving to part of what is currently the “Fort Fun” location. We are absolutely buzzing for this but one rather large problem stands between us and our new space in the new location.…
It has been left for over a year with no use and little to no upkeep, it has left the majority of the equipment and facilities broken or not fit for use.
We are crowdfunding to be able to change the area from a moss filled, run down, empty space to an accessible, inclusive and safe space for all.
Image description - picture shows the back of the water area. In the middle is a boarded up purple building with silver covers on the openings with graffiti over it. On the right of the picture is the back of a big blue water slide curving round, joined to a play structure. On the ground, the flooring has turned green with moss and has come away in some areas, showing the concrete.
Image description - run down area of the back of the play area. Flooring has turned grey with spots of green. In the background is a “helter skelter” slide with a contained climbing area. A small building structure/stage to the right of the image with only 1 wall at the back.
We want to use the money we raise to get Defiant Sports up and running in our new location as soon as we can so that the young people and their families can continue to rely on us to provide fun activities in a safe environment.
How we’ll spend the money raised
We have been lucky that a few local companies have removed some of the current structures, including the water structure. But we are still a long way off from where we want to be.
We want to put the money to sorting out the current area. This includes; purchasing shipping containers for our offices/inside space, rewiring the space, creating our MUGAs (Multi-Use-Games-Area). We also want to improve our wheelchair accessibility by creating a wheelchair accessible play park and accessible beach to name a few things.
Just a small roof repair will cost £1950 which unfortunately is only one of many things that need some TLC!
The image below is a draft of what we want to do with the space! This is an ever changing picture but doesn’t it look exciting!
East Sussex Community Wellbeing Fund - 2023 has provided £1,500 of match funding
This project successfully funded on 6th April 2023