Who are we?
Founded in 1983, Swadlincote Dolphins Swimming Club is a friendly, competitive swimming club, catering for swimmers of all abilities and ages.
Our aim is to create well rounded young athletes through a stimulating, challenging and competitive environment. Championed by dedicated coaches and volunteers our swimmers are supported to reach their individual potential.
Since Covid we have faced falling numbers in our membership, increased fees for pool hire and a gap in children joining us because of the impact of Covid. Our club swimmers range from 7yrs old to masters swimmers across our Junior & Senior squads. We have swimmers training for County, Regional and National competitions; we strive for greatness and podium/medal success, ensuring each individual swimmer is supported to achieve their goals.
Why are we crowdfunding?
Over the past 3 years due to Covid-19 we have been faced with dwindling membership numbers, rising costs and pool disruption.
During 2022, the club posted a significant financial deficit, which has now placed the long term financial viability of the club at risk. As we approach our 40th anniversary, without significant additional funds we will not survive.
This fund is designed to enable Swadlincote Swimming Club to maintain our:
- Pool hire
- Coaches
And to:
- Replace old and broken swim training equipment
- Increase training opportunities for our coaches & volunteers
- Host community swimming events to encourage new young people into club swimming
Our pool hire costs the club over £50K per annum with year-on-year cost increases. With our drop in member numbers due to the impact of Covid 19 our club cannot sustain the increasing costs. For us it is simple - we want our young people to be able to train with their friends, maintain a high level of fitness & to achieve their goals of being the best they can be. We have the most dedicated and resilient young people in Derbyshire and we can't see our club suffer because of financial impacts out of our control. We must succeed to support our communities next generation of swimmers.
Swimming is more than just a sport to many of our members; it's a way of life. Being part of the Swadlincote Swim Family is crucial to their wellbeing, not just physically but mentally.
Swimming gives many transferable skills:
- Perseverance
- Dedication
- Coordination
- time-keeping
- confidence
It helps to keep young people fit, gives them a purpose, they make new friends and it is very good for mental health which our swimmers value greatly.
As a member of a competitive team, it means our young swimmers need to be organised, disciplined and resilient. All valuable life skills.
How we’ll spend the money raised
The money raised will go towards:
- Paying our pool hire
- Coaching costs
- Replacing broken training equipment
- Training for our coaches and volunteers
- Hosting community swimming events
We hope that all our extended swimming family, ex-swimmers and supporters and local community will be able to help us and donate towards keeping our current swimmers in the pool and provide opportunities for future athletes for years to come.
How you can play your part
There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.
1. Make a pledge. 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. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!
4. If you want to run your own fundraiser to support us, maybe a sponsored activity or similar, use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!