Support TVC Women for the 2022/23 Season!

Who are we?

Thames Valley Cavaliers (TVC) Women's Basketball squad are a self-funded squad of 25-30 women and girls playing across two teams. There are many expenses included (such as court hire, coach, referees & officials per game, transportation to away games, etc) which have been forecasted to total around £15,000 over the entire season. 

We are actively seeking sponsorship and you can find our sponsorship information pack here. We have also created this Crowdfunder with the hopes that our friends, families, colleagues, supporters, and others will support the growth and sustainability of our Women's programme here at Thames Valley Cavaliers.

Our recent accomplishments

Our Women’s success speaks for itself and is surely something to be celebrated. From moving into the top BE division after our first season, to completing last season in 3rd place, finishing both cup and playoff runs as semi-finalists, earning ourselves an invite to compete in the WBBL Trophy for the first time in history (22/23). We’ve done so much in so little time but could do so much more - and quicker - with your support.

Community Impact

We seek to create a pathway for young aspiring female athletes to develop their game and play at an elite level with a local community-based team. We also aim to create a safe space for ladies and young girls, seeking opportunities to stay fit and healthy and find a new recreational hobby with like-minded people. 

We have introduced a 2nd team for this purpose to provide a safe, and competitive learning space for young and developing elite athletes and for others who want to continue competing at a competitive level just for the love of the game. To make this happen, we are currently spreading our resources thin across our 1st and 2nd teams, and we plan to use the funds to ensure a sustainable, solid, affordable programme can be built.

Your decision to sponsor a women’s basketball meets an ever-increasing audience for women’s sporting events & basketball overall. Sponsoring women's sport can make good business sense for key brands – whether at a premier level or supporting grassroots community sports activity - In this scenario, you would be supporting both. By supporting early talent, companies help increase the number of girls and women participating in sport within our communities - and this has huge benefits in increasing confidence, teamwork, and physical & mental health, and the potential to create future star players.

Why are we crowdfunding?

Our entire Women‘s programme is the only self-funded team within our organisation. As a result, they are totally dependent on every single athlete’s commitment to training, competing, and paying to support us. Our Women’s commitment to our programme goes above and beyond, with members working full-time responsibilities as employees, students, and/or parents – Their dedication to train, compete and succeed is second to none. In many cases – especially in today’s economy - there are talented hopefuls who simply cannot afford the costs of playing while working and/or studying.

We have a very diverse group of up to 30 ladies and girls within our programme, splitting costs such as court hire for training and fixtures, and game day costs such as officials (referees, table officials, statisticians etc.) – Due to the unaffordability of the season per player, we’ve had to strip out other important, but variable costs such as transport (petrol to games per car as it is cheaper than hiring a minibus – We now split each round trip per car) kit (our current kit is ill-fitted and outdated) and coaching (one of our players is our volunteer Player-Coach [whilst paying fees!!]) as we cannot afford the cost of a coach. With these mitigations in place, this works out to around £350 per player. On top of this, players still require licensing (£50 for UK National, £525 for a Non-British player), and some require FIBA clearance if they previously played outside of the U.K. (see cost example, below)

How we’ll spend the money raised

We'll use all funds raised to:

• Subsidise our women's and girl’s fees
• create more training and playing opportunities
• cover additional costs such as travel to games, coaching etc.
• Get a new home & away kit

Join the huddle! 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 and our sponsorship information pack on your social media pages and with your friends/local businesses 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!

Finally… Sponsor us!!

As mentioned above, we are actively seeking sponsorship with marketing packages available (including bespoke packages to fit your business). We have a large (and continuously growing) reach - our fans, schools, universities & colleges, and our website & social platforms - this enables us to connect with 30,000+ people through various touchpoints. You will find more information here.