Switch the Play was originally set up with the aim of putting the individual’s needs at the heart of everything we do. Our aspiration from day 1 was to try and ensure that accessing our support services would not be something that is driven by an individual’s ability to pay. We have been working hard alongside organisations who support the duty of care of sportspeople to ensure this has been the case but we also felt that we could go further. That is one of the reasons we converted to a charity.
It is important to us that we do our bit in supporting sportspeople through the highs and lows experienced during athlete transition. We know how hard moving to a life outside of elite sport can be which is why we want to offer emotional, mental, educational and financial support to those who need it.
We ensure that fears about finance do not constrain people from benefitting from our support. We offer a range of financial support to athletes in the form of:
• Free membership of our athlete membership network Switched On,
• Free and subsidised service offering to members, for example free attendance at Transition Days, subsidised open masterclasses, or coaching and mentoring packages.
We are also developing a grant scheme for sports people to be able to access financial support for their personal development to help their preparation for and ultimate transition to life outside of sport. If you would like more information about our grant scheme please contact us.