RYA Champion Club Programme 

Update for clubs and important changes to the programme.

The RYA can confirm that following a successful bid to Sport England as part of the RYA 2013 – 17 funding bid, an opportunity to review, update and refine the RYA Champion Club programme has arisen.

For the last 15 years, Volvo Car UK has been a great supporter of Sailing globally and in particular in the UK in part as the title sponsor of the RYA Champion Club Programme. The RYA is delighted to announce that Volvo will continue to offer considerable support to British sailing, from the very elite level of our sport to grass roots, but our sponsorship strategy has dictated a slightly different approach whereby Volvo Car UK will continue to support the RYA on a broad basis and specifically the British Sailing Team, but will no longer be the title sponsor of the RYA Champion Club Programme.  However, this has given us a timely opportunity to review the brand, the aims, objectives and benefits of the RYA Champion Club Programme

All RYA Champion Clubs were recently asked to re-apply for their status.  Those who successfully re-applied will now be needed to re-validate on an annual basis, to ensure that the integrity of the programme is maintained and that clubs continue to operate within safe guidelines.

The RYA has historically received funding from Sport England, to support the RYA Champion Club programme and to allow us to invest in clubs which are aligned with our objectives. The funding has enabled the RYA to support clubs with extra coaching days and volunteer grants.  During Sport England’s next funding cycle, from April 2013, we will continue to be able to offer support but the benefits have been refined to reflect the change in funding levels available.

The RYA Champion Club programme continues to be the very foundation of the RYA Junior and Youth Racing Programme and the very bedrock of the British Olympic Sailing Team, hence we will strive to continue to offer relevant benefits to RYA Champion Clubs as and when they become available. 

RYA Champion Club Current Benefits

There are many continued benefits to being a RYA Champion Club, some of which include: ·       

• Branding and “Centre of Excellence” Status for junior race training and racing
• promotion by the RYA as an ideal venue to take young sailors in order to get them started and develop their skills,
• Advice and Support from the RYA and your local High Performance Manager,
• Access to coaching resources,
• RYA Investment and support,
• Free access to conferences and key speaker presentations.

Any questions?

We anticipate that clubs may have questions about the refined RYA Champion Club programme, so please feel free to contact your local RYA High Performance Manager, or RYA Windsurfing and Champion Club Officer anisha.walkerley@rya.org.uk.