BaseballSoftballUK launched the Facilities Fund in 2021; since then, more than £40,000 has been awarded to teams across the UK to improve their grassroots facilities. We're taking a look at some of the funded projects, and how the Facilities Fund has helped change the game for grassroots clubs! Without further adieu...

Club Name: Guildford Baseball Club

Funding Awarded: April 2023 (This is Guildford's second successful application - see the Facility Feature for their Kings College project here)

Project: Batting Cages for the new facility at Kings College in Guildford

“The batting cages have allowed me to train to the level where I batted .800 in my debut season” – SC

How did your club match funding for the Facilities Fund? We had raised funds for the original development of a new baseball facility at Kings College, constructed in 2022. As part of this, we had planned to build a 2 lane, full-length batting cage adjacent to the diamond, for both practice and pre-game warm-ups, so there was already some funding in place as part of this overall project. Additional funding came through running paid events for schools and organisations such as coaching and softball evenings. We also held Family BBQ-type events within the club, and there were also miscellaneous activities such as our end-of-season awards that were used to top up these funds further. We also benefited from some lump sum donations from local organisations that we were in contact with.

Did you spend all of the funding? How was it allocated? Yes, we did as the overall cost of the batting cages was in excess of £10,000, so it contributed to this.

“Allows multiple activities to happen at the same time across the facility” – BS

Has your project helped grow and sustain participation as well as increased satisfaction among participants? The project was only completed at the end of last season but has already proved beneficial to members (both adults and juniors), who have been able to have batting practice and pitching practice sessions in a purpose-built facility rather than using the diamond. It has also proven beneficial in pre-game warm-ups, as having two cages, means both teams can warm up at the same time.

What has the Facilities Fund award meant to the club? It allowed us to proceed with the batting cages, as funds were low following the construction of the main part of the project (the diamond), due to a large number of cost increases as a result of Covid lockdown, which had almost doubled the amount the club had committed to the project

“Players turn up early at practice to use the cages” - MB

If your club or team is interested in finding out more about the Facilities Fund, click here.

Thanks to Michael Burdett for supplying photos and content