MURTC Students Crowdfunder 2022

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Who are we?

Middlesex University Real Tennis Club has, for over 20 years, been an integral part of the university’s sports community. With a diverse membership base of students and external members from many walks of life, it has offered students the chance to play a fascinating sport in a welcoming environment, and make long-lasting friendships and connections. 

The MURTC Student Team is comprised of young women and men from around the world, both undergraduate and postgraduate. The team regularly competes against teams from around the country, and aims to continue this schedule of fixtures for the next academic year. A tightened restriction on funding has made this, at present, unfeasible, and so the student team are working on fundraising initiatives over the summer period. This has included a fundraising tournament and dinner, and also a sponsored bike ride in late July. This bike ride will be completed by two of the team members, spanning 100 miles in one day, forming a tour of four historic Real Tennis courts in the south of England. The aim of these combined initiatives is to raise £10,000 for the team by the end of September. This total would fund in its entirety kit for the team and court hire fees for the academic year, and a team tour during the year. This tour has taken place in previous years as a great success, allowing the team to visit other courts around the country, and play against numerous student teams. The club and the team are very keen to keep the real tennis student community alive at Middlesex University, and so we will be extremely grateful for any contribution to our fundraising effort this summer.

Why and how are we crowdfunding?

The demand for student real tennis has never been higher at MURTC but to keep students playing at the rate that they are currently playing, we will need to extend the budget by £10,000. The club will kindly be putting in around £12,000, but with the demand for tennis as high as it is that will only go so far. Taking matters in to our own hands, we aim to raise the shortfall with this campaign and with your help.

To raise the funds we are planning a variety of fundraising ideas. One of these is in the form of a challenge: a bike ride spanning 100 miles and playing at four real tennis clubs on the way. Starting at 6:30am, Reuben and Austin will be on court at MURTC for their first hit of the day. They then head south, playing at Hampton Court Palace (RTC) and Petworth House Real Tennis Club before completing the trip at Seacourt Tennis Club at Hayling Island. 

UPDATE: This was successfully completed! Check @murtcstudents on Instagram for more info.

We are also planning a Real Tennis Marathon, in which students will play from open until close (6:15am-11pm) against both members and other students! This will take place on Thursday the 29th of September, with updates throughout on our Instagram at @murtcstudents.

How we’ll spend the money raised:

The money raised will primarily be used on court fees for students to continue to play real tennis. Should we raise the full £10,000 goal we will invest £9,000 in to court fees and the tour. This is minus the £500 shirt sponsorship reward, should this reward be taken. This allows students to play against members and each other, forming friendships whilst falling in love with the game! 

The remaining £1,000 (or more if we hit our stretch target!) will be invested in competitive games, both home and away, against other University teams. We are aiming for monthly fixtures, and to form a women's team that play other university women's teams. 

How you can play your part:

There are three simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge and claim your reward. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards yourself. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out on our social media pages, and our many thanks to section below!

Many thanks to our donors so far!