Catch Sport has been in the making for some time and I hope the next few paragraphs clearly illustrate my vision and passion.

It is my intention to build Catch Sport into a company that will deliver a full range of high quality sports based services and solutions. Initially focusing on athlete funding my goal is to establish, build and maintain the UK’s largest online database of elite athlete profiles.

My aim is remove the financial burden that hampers the UK’s most promising young athletes as well as those who already have an established reputation in their sport. In order to generate sponsorship interest in the corporate world I have developed an ONLINE PROFILE template for athletes to complete.

Organisations who are interested in funding athletes can submit their requirements to Catch Sport by completing the SPONSORSHIP CRITERIA pages. Our specially designed in-house software will then identify the most appropriate athlete(s) for each organisation. It is my belief that this approach will not only remove some of the administrative burden of sourcing funding outlets but also maximises the opportunity to find mutually beneficial arrangements.

Catch Sport will source funding for athletes on a long-term basis. I know from my own experiences as an international fencer that most sports funding is provided on an ad hoc basis. (E.g. funding from your sport’s federation should you qualify for major championships; one off private funding from local business; support from school/university/clubs.) Whilst this funding is valuable and useful it is not conducive to producing successful international athletes for years to come.

Sport in the UK needs long-term investment so that we are able to compete for medals at major events in the future. After the fantastic news that Lord Coe led a successful bid to host the 2012 Games I expect there to be major government support in upgrading the infrastructure surrounding sport. Of course some funding will be made available to our top athletes.

Catch Sport's approach is to fund large numbers of athletes across all sports to increase the pool from which our major championship contenders are picked. This approach works!

At the 1992 Games the Australian team won 27 medals in total (7 Gold, 9 Silver and 11 Bronze). In 1993 Australia was announced as the host country for the 2000 Games. They had 7 years to build the Athlete Village, develop stadiums and improve their medal tally. Fortunately the whole nation got fully behind its future status and there was a dramatic increase in public and private sector funding. The increased medal tally at the following Games in 1996 (41 medals; 9 gold, 9 silver and 23 bronze) is testament to this.

By the time the Games arrived in Sydney in 2000, the country was brimming with confidence and rightly so. Their medal tally improved by nearly 50%. The Australian team won 16 Gold, 25 Silver and 17 Bronze medals (total: 58) on home turf and finished a proud 4th in the final medal table.

So long term investment works! Britain has a proud sporting heritage and now that we know we are going to host the 2012 Games it’s time the country re-established itself as a global sporting giant.

Public Sector funding into UK sport has been increasing for the last few years and this is set to continue. Catch Sport will work closely with the public sector and individual sport federations to ensure a consistent message. In addition my aim is for Catch Sport to develop an online “community” of sporting individuals and potential funding organisations to promote private sector investment.

So what next?

For Athletes: Register! If you’re an athlete looking for funding it’s simple. Complete your ONLINE PROFILE. The only cost to you is your own time. Catch Sport is not an organisation currently looking to represent athletes and therefore athletes are able to post their profiles at no cost. A fee will be derived from any subsequent sponsorship arrangement. This will provide athletes with a no risk route to funding. Catch Sport will market you and promote you to it’s portfolio of funding organisations.

For Sponsors: Register! If you are an organisation that is looking to find an outlet for your marketing budget it’s easy. Register your details and requirements. Catch Sport will then search its database to find the athletes who are the closest match with the SPONSORSHIP CRITERIA you have submitted. All athlete ONLINE PROFILES will have the same format allowing any funding organisation or individual to view and easily compare. This will make it easier for suitable matches to be established more efficiently.

Thank you for taking the time to view this page. I look forward to working with you in the future. Should you have any questions you can contact me at karim.bashir@catchsport.com.

Should you have any general comments, recommendations or suggestions please email info@catchsport.com.