[05 JUN 11] CRUSADER NEWS

Donaldson: Dream is still alive

 

                                                    

 

 

 COVENTRY Crusaders Basketball Club managing director Robert “Dip” Donaldson is looking into the success of the club’s sister charity, the Crusader Foundation, to help set the operating foundations for a successful men’s first team.

Donaldson, along with Crusader Foundation director Scott Neely and trustees Oliver Charles and Andrew Hillier are discussing how they can forge closer links between the basketball and community organisations, which are separate entities.

The men’s first team is currently seeking sponsors and players ahead of the new season in National League Division Four which starts in October, after last season’s team had to forfeit their Division One status due to financial difficulties.

The club need to find at least £15,000 to compete in National League Division Four, which starts this October. This is to pay for things such as hall hire, table officials, referees, travel costs, match programmes and merchandising.

And while no sponsors are yet confirmed to allow head coach Marcus Garvey to lay down concrete playing personnel for next season, Donaldson revealed he was analysing the operational side of the Foundation to see if the basketball team could take some lessons from the their sister charity’s success in order to achieve additional income streams.

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This past season the Crusader Foundation’s presence has flourished after Scott Neely, community coach Brian Porth and several Crusaders players delivered a “Hoops 4 Health” healthy living programme to 29 primary schools – that’s double on last year. All of this was made possible by networking with sponsors such as Subway, the Health Improvement Programme partnership between the NHS and Coventry City Council; as well as Sport England and CSW Sport.

Speaking from Colorado in the United States, Donaldson was keen to stress that “the dream is still alive” of not just having a men’s first team, but a successful one that gains promotion to Division Three at the first time of asking.

“We’re looking to bring the Foundation and the basketball side closer together to see the best structure we can develop for the club,” confirmed Donaldson. 

 “The Foundation does all of the good and the great in the community. The basketball team operates the profiling of the Foundation and the pyramid of players coming through.”

 As part of club efforts to communicate more openly with the Coventry community, Donaldson is now on twitter to interact with the community, and will give weekly updates on where the club is at with sponsors and player recruitment. To follow him, you can find him by searching @DipDonaldson.

Posted by Adam Manning.

 

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