Cambs U16 team triumph against Herts 2

Excellent news from the Cambs U16 junior squad, who played Herts 2 on 10th November, and came out 14-6 winners 😁🏸💪💪👍

Many congratulations to the squad, and to Team Manager Perveez for guiding the team this season.

This is a great result for our juniors, as we work hard through the new Pathfinder Project to give them a more systematised training programme this season. It also shows that the various coaches in the County committed to bringing on our youngsters are having a real impact.

More photographs are available in the Gallery.

Open junior trials 30 June 12-2pm

The county is running a trial for children who are at County level or looking to train to become county level to eventually play for the county.

The trial is on Sunday 30 June from 12-2pm, at Cambridge Regional College and will cost £5 per player - please bring the exact amount.

Please let Perveez Mody (U16 Team Manager) know if you plan on attending: perveezmody@gmail.com

The plan for the new season is that players who are selected will be able to attend training sessions, which will hopefully run once a month from September at Swavesy Village College:

- Runs at 6:30pm-8:30pm, every fourth Thursday night, at Swavesey Village College (4 courts);

- Cost £10 per session (should be 7 or 8 sessions depending on how the dates fall), paid up front (cost includes shuttles and coaching).

The session will run on a 4-weekly rotation:

- Week 1 - Senior/Masters;

- Week 2 - U14 and younger;

- Week 3 - Senior/Masters;

- Week 4 - U16 and older;

More details will be given to those selected to train with the County.

Cambs Badminton Association Jun Tournament 21 April 2018

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Players at the Fun Tournament on Saturday

On Saturday 21 April Cambridgeshire Badminton Association and Cambridgeshire Schools Badminton Association held a Junior Fun Tournament at the One Leisure Centre in St Ives.

Children in the U11, U13 and U15 categories from around the County competed in a fun competition designed to give less-experienced players a taste of competitive badminton.

The winners were as follows:

• Under 11 boys singles: Nikita Larin
• Under 11 girls singles: Poppy Gracey
• Under 11 boys doubles: Ted Stephenson & Nikita
• Under 13 boys singles: Joe Shears
• Under 13 girls singles: Calina Sdrobis
• Under 13 boys doubles: Joes Shears & Zihong He
• Under 13 girls doubles: Calina & Hannah Cook
• Under 15 boys singles: Ryan Hodges
• Under 15 boys doubles: Robbie Melton & Mayur Gangi

Photographs of the winners are available on the Gallery pages.

Many congratulations to everyone who played in such an excellent atmosphere, and thanks to Sandra and the team from CSBA for running the day.  Keep an eye out for more tournament like this around the County over the next year.

Cambs hosting National Schools Championships on 8th March - Helpers needed

On Thursday 8th March the Cambs' Coaching Coordinator Philip Gray is helping to run the National Schools Championships here in Cambridge.

The winners of each tournament will go to Regional Finals on the 19th and 20th March.

There are two tournaments on 8th March in Cambridge: 

• 10am-1pm for KS3&4 boys
• 1.30-4pm for KS3&4 girls

The competition is at the Cambridge University Sports Centre (https://www.sport.cam.ac.uk/about-us/find-us).  If any players or supporters of badminton in Cambridge were available for part of the time to help out that would be extremely helpful. 

Basically people are needed to keep an eye on the games, in particular keeping score and helping with the rules. Also with making sure the right children go to the right courts etc.

Do drop Philip an email (coaching@cambridgeshirebadminton.org) if you can help even if it’s just an hour or two.

Badminton England seeks to attract 1,000 more women and girls into coaching by 2021

Following Badminton England’s recently published commitment to improving diversity, this initiative addresses the gender imbalance and lack of women and girls playing the sport at a recreational level and the depth of talent along our performance pathway. Badminton England also hopes this initiative will increase the number of female role models within coaching with the aim to attract, retain and develop more women and girls in badminton from an earlier age. 

Currently women make up 35% of UKCC Level 1 learners, 32% of UKCC Level 2 learners and 29% of UKCC Level 3 learners, whilst overall accounting for 30% of all accredited badminton coaches. Whilst these figures are above the UK average figure of 17%, this initiative will further increase the percentage of women and girls qualifying through our coach education system and working with players of all ages and abilities across the country.

Central to the new initiative will be:

• Bursaries to support women pursuing their coaching qualifications at grassroots level
• A programme to identify, support and nurture female coaches to support and position female coaches throughout our talent pathway
• Developing female coaches to be ‘performance ready’ to join our national coaching team
• Identifying and supporting women coaches to deliver Women and Girls Academies and develop their coaching skills
• A review of our coach education delivery, ensuring an improved coach education provision and learning experience for women
• A mentorship scheme to support women coaches across the sport

More information will be released in due course however as we start to shape this initiative, Badminton England is keen to hear from female coaches who are willing to share their experiences; what has worked well for you and what can be improved.

Badminton England would also be interested to hear from women who are thinking of becoming a coach or improving their coaching knowledge and experience. Whether your interest is at grass roots level or working within our talent pathway, we would love to hear from you so please contact coaching@badmintonengland.co.uk.

Female only badminton / Junior junior coaching sessions

THIS ARTICLE IS FROM 2017 AND NO-LONGER VALID

Aspire Badminton Club is looking at setting up a female-only badminton coaching session.  Based at the new Trumpington Community College, they would like anyone interested to contact them at girls@aspire2.club

Download the poster for more information.

Aspire is also starting a new Saturday session from 30 September.  Saturdays will now have sessions at 1.30-2.30pm and 2.30-3.30pm.  For more information see http://www.aspire2.club/ or email Head Coach Philip at aspire.bc@virginmedia.com

Aspire Badminton Club launching in Cambridge

Great news: there is a new badminton club in Cambridge!  

The Aspire Badminton Club will be kicking off at Netherhall Sports Centre on 3rd February 2017, and run from 6-10pm.  There are a couple of hours of junior coaching earlier in the evening, and then an adult club 8-10pm.

The club is a friendly, inclusive club, which can also support players who are deaf/hard of hearing, or have any kind of disability, visual impairment, learning difficulty, special needs or autism.

For more information, see their website at www.aspire2.club

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