Sponsorship

General footbag-related topics that don't fit elsewhere go in here.
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Tjuggles
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Sponsorship

Post by Tjuggles » 16 May 2016 23:11

I have two questions:

1. Does anyone know how many (if any) schools (universities) have sponsored a player to compete?

2. How would said universities benefit from sponsoring a player to compete?

Thanks!
TJ Boutorwick

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Re: Sponsorship

Post by AdAstra » 17 May 2016 07:24

While I don't know, I do know that many schools (universities) have a club sports policy that allows funding for events and competitions so while not necessarily a sponsorship, provides the money for the student players.
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Re: Sponsorship

Post by Tjuggles » 17 May 2016 23:26

Hey,

Yeah, I was thinking that a sports club getting money for events etc was analagous to getting sponsored.

The reason I ask is I may be able to get some money to attend an event through the rec center here at Victoria University of Wellington. I looked over the form I need to fill out and remember seeing something about needing to mention how the university will benefit from putting money towards a player going to compete. I thought that other than getting their name out (e.g., by wearing the uni's logo on a shred shirt), I could say that this was the first time that a uni has sponsored a player to compete ever...but want to be sure it is true before I say it.
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Re: Sponsorship

Post by boyle » 18 May 2016 03:36

I haven't heard of any direct uni sponsorships, not for footbag anyway. It's really common for larger sports. My team (University of Canberra) is major sponsor for a number of teams in the city, and some of them train on the campus too.

The more likely thing is creating a club in the uni, but it depends how they distribute the funds. What event would you go to? I imagine they wouldn't give you enough coins to go to Worlds, but they may give a helping contribution.

When creating a club you usually have to have a minimum amount of members, and have a bunch of paperwork in order, but this depends on each place. If they have funds for individuals, those are usually easier to apply for. The other question will be if they have any "definition of sport", like if the sport has to be recognised by the IOC for example. Hopefully it's just a general "excellence" sort of thing and you should have a good chance at it.

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Re: Sponsorship

Post by Tjuggles » 18 May 2016 14:36

boyle wrote: The more likely thing is creating a club in the uni, but it depends how they distribute the funds. What event would you go to? I imagine they wouldn't give you enough coins to go to Worlds, but they may give a helping contribution.
I am also thinking about creating a club, and as you say there are criteria for creating one here as well (I think I need 20 students' signatures), however the funds I am referring to come from a different program, an 'extreme athelete program' or something like that.

The plan is to go to Japan Nationals, since the timing works out nicely with my schedule, although Worlds would also be nice (but much more expensive). I think they said upwards of 1500 NZD would be available, which is pretty much the plane ticket from NZ to Tokyo.

Thanks for the inputs by the way!
TJ Boutorwick

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Re: Sponsorship

Post by boyle » 18 May 2016 17:12

Good luck with that, would be a nice boost. I think focus on the fact that footbag is played in many countries and there is a lot of online viewing around the world of the different videos, I think that would be a good angle to take on.

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Re: Sponsorship

Post by Tjuggles » 18 May 2016 18:21

boyle wrote:Good luck with that, would be a nice boost. I think focus on the fact that footbag is played in many countries and there is a lot of online viewing around the world of the different videos, I think that would be a good angle to take on.
Good point. That made me think of a related point: A combination of more people finding out about the uni through videos, as (I think) you said, and the fact that so many footbaggers are young, like uni age, means that they may be more willing to make the trip out to NZ to study. Or something along those lines.
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Re: Sponsorship

Post by Tjuggles » 29 Jul 2016 16:38

UPDATE: I have officially received support from Victoria University of Wellington! They gave me $1000 NZD to go compete (and judge) at the Japanese Footbag Championships. The funding comes from student levies to support elite athletes who face "combined responsibilities and challenges associated with high performance sport participation alongside a university education" (quote from a document I received about the support program).

How I did it:

Essentially, I busted my ass 5 days a week at the gym kicking, at roughly the same time everyday during peak hours (anywhere between 2-4pm). I have built rapport with the staff at the gym, and talk with them whenever I go there (not with the intention of getting cashflow, of course). Late 2015, one of the employees mentioned that the rec center manager had taken note of me playing everyday and was interested in sponsoring me. I ended up waiting months to contact him, but eventually did and he gave me the forms and the information I needed to apply. I filled out the forms, sent them to the director of the rec center, and then met her for a short interview. At the interview, we talked about footbag, the sport, my history, etc.


What we do is difficult and taxing both physically and mentally. It takes a certain skill to be able to continue pushing for improvement after dropping the bag thousands and thousands of times as we do, and our sport is unique. I'm happy that institutions are starting to see that now.


Semi-relatedly, there is an award called the Blues award which, according to the website, "is one of New Zealand’s most prestigious and long-standing awards that recognises a university student’s performance in representing their region and/or New Zealand at the pinnacle of their sport while successfully progressing their academic studies". I have applied for this award, so hopefully something comes of it. As part of the application process, I had to send them a sample video. I took a short one the other day so used that:
TJ Boutorwick

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Re: Sponsorship

Post by boyle » 30 Jul 2016 01:10

Do you qualify as representing NZ, even though you won't be technically representing NZ? Massive congrats on getting that grant, that's a fair whack of money. Do you think if all goes well, they might give you another one next year to go to Worlds?

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Re: Sponsorship

Post by Tjuggles » 30 Jul 2016 22:46

boyle wrote:Do you qualify as representing NZ, even though you won't be technically representing NZ? Massive congrats on getting that grant, that's a fair whack of money. Do you think if all goes well, they might give you another one next year to go to Worlds?
Technically I am representing the university, so all good there.

Regarding next year, I think its possible to apply every year which is sweet, except I need to be a student and I don't think I will be by then...
TJ Boutorwick

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