Tribute to a BADMINTON COUPLE · Leicestershire and Rutland Sport launch "TEAM LEICESTERSHIRE "...

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NEWSLETTER/BULLETIN 2018/2019 Date: May 2019 Tribute to a BADMINTON COUPLE Since retiring from playing badminton Ray is still involved, he continues to share his vast knowledge of the game by coaching junior players racket skills and tactics ("which doesn't require too much movement!" says Ray). I know he now enjoys seeing the very talented young players that are coming through and is always there offering his support and experience. This is a VERY potted version of what Ray and Carol have contributed to Leicestershire Badminton, a great big thanks to them both. Carol and Ray Harding moved to Loughborough after getting married in September 1968 and have just celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. They joined Loughborough Badminton Club as soon as they moved to Loughborough and have never played at another club in all those years. Both being very keen badminton players they represented the club in the leagues for many years and have been really dedicated to developing Loughborough BC, Carol has held serval jobs, ie. Secretary, Treasurer and Fixtures Secretary, Team Selector and Team Captain. Both Ray and Carol were made honorary members in 2017. They both started playing for Leicestershire county in 1969 and reached 1st team standard. Ray became county captain in 1983 holding the position for six years. As Carol and Ray became eligible for veterans badminton, they both enjoyed playing in the teams and encouraged others to do the same. Carols good organisation skills came in handy as she volunteered her time to being the county veterans organiser from 1999 up to the present day. She tried to retire from the position last season but with the lack of anyone offering to take on the position Carol stayed on, unfortunately we will loose Carol at the end of this season as she determined to vacate the position, who can blame her after 20 years of service. A big thanks to them both for their commitment and drive encouraging players to participate in veterans badminton. Ray started playing in national veterans tournaments in 1993 and continued until he stopped in 2016 during this time he won various open county tournaments and the All England over 55s men's doubles trophy in 2002. In subsequent years he reached the finals of the All England twice and the nationals three times. Ray represented England in the European Championships in Dresberd and Sophia and also in the World Masters in Vancouver.

Transcript of Tribute to a BADMINTON COUPLE · Leicestershire and Rutland Sport launch "TEAM LEICESTERSHIRE "...

Page 1: Tribute to a BADMINTON COUPLE · Leicestershire and Rutland Sport launch "TEAM LEICESTERSHIRE " NEWSLETTER/BULLETIN 2018/2019 Date: May 2019 Tribute to a BADMINTON COUPLE Since retiring

NEWSLETTER/BULLETIN 2016/2017 Date: May 2017

My name is Ian Bosworth and last year I became the chair of the Leicestershire Badminton association, taking over from Steve Lofthouse.

First of all, I’d like to say many thanks and express mine and the committees’ gratitude to Steve for all his hard work and commitment to a role he made his own. I hope to be able to continue his good work.

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m a member of South Leicester Badminton club and have been the match secretary there for several years.

I’ve been in the role of Chair for the last year and have been given tremendous support by the rest of the committee.

As I’m sure many of you are aware, Badminton England lost their funding for the top players and this could have a cascade effect on the general badminton community.

At present, badminton in Leicestershire is strong and healthy, but it’s incumbent on us all to push badminton and encourage the youth to take up our great game.

We have great coaches, donating their time and efforts in the pursuit of excellence and I’d like to thank them for all their tireless work.

Likewise, Greg Howes and Carole Spencer do a fantastic job promoting our sport through the schools.

My aim as Chair is to ensure we remain in a position of strength, doing all I can to improve the membership and promote Leicestershire as a county, determined to produce top quality players for the future.

Thank you to all our members for all their hard work during this season.

Ian Bosworth, Chair LBA

The new umbrella association offers all young people a high quality schools sport competition programme.

Team Leicestershire is a new voluntary umbrella association which brings together all secondary schools across Leicestershire, Leicester City and Rutland and eight voluntary school sports associations, Leicestershire schools Badminton is one of the eight sports.

If you require further information please visit www.teamleicestershire.org

Leicestershire BADMINTON players seen here wearing their new "TEAM Leicestershire " kit.

Leicestershire and Rutland Sport launch "TEAM LEICESTERSHIRE "

NEWSLETTER/BULLETIN 2018/2019 Date: May 2019

Tribute to a BADMINTON COUPLE

Since retiring from playingbadminton Ray is still involved,he continues to share his vastknowledge of the game bycoaching junior players racketskills and tactics ("which doesn'trequire too much movement!"says Ray). I know he now enjoysseeing the very talented youngplayers that are coming throughand is always there offering hissupport and experience.

This is a VERY potted version ofwhat Ray and Carol havecontributed to LeicestershireBadminton, a great big thanks tothem both.

Carol and Ray Harding moved toLoughborough after getting married inSeptember 1968 and have just celebratedtheir golden wedding anniversary.

They joined Loughborough Badminton Club assoon as they moved to Loughborough and havenever played at another club in all thoseyears. Both being very keen badminton playersthey represented the club in the leagues formanyyears and have been really dedicated todeveloping Loughborough BC, Carol has heldserval jobs, ie. Secretary, Treasurer and FixturesSecretary, Team Selector and Team Captain.Both Ray and Carol were made honorarymembers in 2017.

They both started playing for Leicestershirecounty in 1969 and reached 1st teamstandard. Ray became county captain in 1983holding the position for six years. As Carol andRaybecameeligible for veteransbadminton, theyboth enjoyed playing in the teams and

encouraged others to do the same. Carols goodorganisation skills came in handy as shevolunteeredher time tobeing the county veteransorganiser from 1999 up to the present day. Shetried to retire from theposition last seasonbutwiththe lack of anyone offering to take on the positionCarol stayed on, unfortunately wewill looseCarolat the end of this season as she determined tovacate the position, who can blame her after 20years of service. A big thanks to them both fortheir commitment and drive encouraging playersto participate in veterans badminton.

Ray started playing in national veteranstournaments in 1993 and continued until hestopped in 2016 during this time he won variousopen county tournaments and the All Englandover 55s men's doubles trophy in 2002. Insubsequent years he reached the finals of the AllEngland twice and the nationals three times. Rayrepresented England in the EuropeanChampionships in Dresberd and Sophia and alsoin the World Masters in Vancouver.

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NON COUNTY TOURNAMENTSThe Derek Meakin Memorial Tournament for non-county players is held annuallyat the Hermitage Leisure Centre. It's so important that you encourage your juniorplayers to enter. These are our future adult club players!!

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MILTON KEYNES BADMINTON TRIP

Amie and I, with the help of a fewparents, took a group of countyplayers to what is becoming ourannual trip to BadmintonEngland's head quarters inMilton Keynes for coaching, andsocialising!!! On Saturday theyhad four hours of coaching fromJulie Mann and Lorraine Cole.

The ladies put the playersthrough their paces and they

were ready for awell earned chillout. Next was dinner and ontothe night out bowling. On arrivalwe were surprised to find thatthey had double-booked us ...But that didn't faze the party.Eventually the players did get tobowl but no room for the parents,what a shame, they just had toprop the bar up! Free drinks forthe inconvenience! Back to thelodge and bed.

We did have a few issues thenext day at the venue, breakfastand lunch, but again it didn't fazeus, MacDonald's was at handthe parents rallied togethergiving lifts to the players to gettheir lunches. The players allenjoyed the weekend not evennoticing the hiccups we had. It'snice to see them all togetherenjoying each other's companyand having fun as well asaccessing quality badmintoncoaching which was excellent.Julie and Lorraine knew just howto handle the group and made it

fun as well as hard work, andpress-ups for the naughty ones!!

A big thanks to all the parentsthat came along, we definitelycould not do this without theirhelp.

We have already booked againfor September (we must bemad).

Parents, a date for your diaries:August 31st and September 1st.

Carole & Amie

CENTRAL LEICESTER JUNIOR BADMINTON CLUBThe junior badminton club has been thriving as ever, with 50 plussubscriptions again for this season plus a waiting list of more wishingto join the club. We have faced a challenge with one of the venuesbeing out of action for a whole term due to exam use. This will not deterus to continue to run the Monday club. Many thanks for the volunteers

helping out running the clubs and also it’s nice to see the juniors progressing well in playingthe league matches. We have had six of our juniors playing in the Leicestershire leaguethis season. It’s all great experience in their badminton journey.

Ajay

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Over the last few years many players from the club have beeninvited to the training at Babington Academy. Some have gainedplaces in the county teams and many invited into the LeicestershirePerformance Centre, where they have all showed commitment tothe sport by training twice a week and entering nationaltournaments, and are bringing home medals. We are very proudthem.Our aim at the club has always been to encourage young playersinto the sport and give them the opportunity to be as good as theycan be, and to progress, which I am happy to say I think Amie andI are doing. However, with so many of our members training atBabington and competing this has affected our membership thisseason, the tournament players are unable to support the club asBadminton England tournaments are on a Saturday and that's our

club morning, they do come along when they can and are very keento help the other members, which is great. We currently have 35members 10 of whom train at Babington. We have recently gainednew members who are showing promise and are fitting into the clubwell. We have a club lunch at the end of each season where weaward trophies for the most improved players, last season’swinners were: Ebony, Amy, Evie, Oli, George & Eddie.My work recruiting new members is ongoing. I have worked in eightprimaries in North West Leicestershire this year encouraging moreyoungsters into the sport. Amie and I still run the Wednesdayevening badminton coaching at the Hermitage Leisure Centre forthree hours, and have some lovely young players attending whoare a pleasure to work with.

Carole & Amie

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Harborough BC now have registered a total of 91Junior Badminton England members for the2018/19 season of which 21 regularly attend the4-5pm session; 30 the 5-6pm session and 27 the6-7pm session.

For season 2018/19 all members have beengiven both free club hoodie & club shirt and theopportunity to attend the Free Meal ChristmasParty. For the younger members in the club theBadminton England “The Racket Pack” schemefor Tink, Flo & Wise awards are offered.

InJuly2018BenHighcockwaspresentedwith the“Outstanding Club Member” trophy for 2018.

Members have continued to take a pro-activeapproach in entering the Non-CountyTournaments. A special mention to Emily Hayes,Lucy Goodman, Ellis McKeown, Evie Stokes andTheo Parsons who have won trophies.

Junior ClubmemberCaitlin Sullivan has attendedthe two Badminton England “Young LeaderDevelopment Academy” sessions and can nowapply the skills learnt at the club.

The fourth internal club tournament events wereheld early this year so as not to disrupt olderplayers exams. There will be a special

presentation where 44 trophies will be presentedto winners & runner-up of U10s, U12s, U14s &U18s Boys & Girls Singles and Doubles events.Free food and drink will be provided for all clubmemebers. A glass display cabinet is now at theLeisure Centre to house the new annual Singlesevent trophies.

Steve Chapman & Elliot Baker have obtainedtheir Badminton EnglandUKCCLevel 1 CoachesAward.

http://www.harboroughlcjuniors.org.uk/ is theclub’s ownweb site andprovides details of all clubsessions, documents for all to be able to reallyappreciate what the club is about and what isavailable to young players.

All players continue to have the opportunity to testtheir skills against a BKL Badenko automaticshuttlecock launcher which is improving theirskills and providing fun.

With a Constitution, Code of Conducts updatedWelcome Leaflets, additional Level 1 coaches,and volunteers the club continue to receiverenewal accreditation as a Badminton EnglandPremier Club and Sport England Clubmark.

Ray Phipkin – Head Coach

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JUNIOR BADMINTON CLUBThe weekly Friday club night sessions run from4.30–5.30pm and 5.30–7.00pm at BrockingtonCollege. We now have 43 Junior playersregistered with Badminton England. For SpringTerms 3 & 4 a new project was carried out withBrockington College pupils taking GCSEBadminton PE which allowed them to attend theearlier session at a reduced rate as being non-club members with the intent to help with theirgrades.

Members continue to take a pro-active approachin entering the non-county tournaments such asthe LSBA Junior American Tournament and theWhitwick Badminton Tournament. We also havemembers who are part of “Team Leicestershire”and, dependant on their technical and tacticalbadminton skills, have the opportunity torepresent the LSBA in matches.

For season 2018/19 all members/volunteers,when joining, are presentedwith a free clubTshirtand younger members take part in “The RacketPack” award schemes.

The club held a new internal club tournament withgirls & boys singles U10s, U12s, U14s & U17seventswith trophies presented to thewinners andrunners-up. Also introduced was a new annual

Outstanding Club Member trophy with a smallertrophy for the winner. Callum Chapman to keep.

The club now has four Badminton Englandcoaches available to be able to adapt thestructured programme for each week of the termsession to suit the player's technical skills on therespective courts.

To develop the Junior Members of a suitableplaying standard, some are invited to stay on andjoin in part of the senior club sessions.

Parents, volunteers, coaches and especiallyplayers dedication, commitment, help andsupport enabled the clubs head coach to receivethe Blaby District Local Sports Alliance Coach ofthe year 2018 award.

The Junior club has its own section within clubweb site:http://www.southleicesterbadminton.co.uk/loginwhich provides details of all junior club sessions,and documents for all to be able to reallyappreciate what the club is about and what isavailable to young players.

The club continues to receive renewalaccreditation as a Badminton England PremierClub and Sport England Clubmark.

Ray Phipkin – Head Coach

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MELTON JUNIOR CLUB

RAY LIGGINS & COOPER CUP

Over the past three years the development of strong juniorand intermediate sections has been a priority for Melton OGsBadminton Club building on its historic traditions ofdeveloping the sport across the Melton area.

In addition to having strong attendances at the junior andintermediate sessions, held at Long Field Academy on aMonday night, the Club has been taking the sport into localschools. In the run up to Christmas over 200 studentsattended a series of coaching sessions held at Somerby,Swallowdale, Ab Kettleby, Scalford and Long Field schoolsand the New Year will see further sessions take place acrossthe Melton area. Any students seeking to develop their skillsfurther can then feed into the junior and intermediatecoaching at OGs club nights.

Commenting on this rapidly developing area for the Club,OGs Chairman Steve Mitchell said “We are fortunate inhaving three qualified coaches, Linda Hallam,Trevor Sanders and Mike Bennet, who are prepared todevote countless hours to ensure the next generation of

badminton players are well coached in every aspect of thegame. As well as teaching them the core skills of the gamewe are keen to see their leadership qualities develop whereappropriate.We have received tremendous backing from both BadmintonEngland and Leicester-shire and Rutland Sport whorecognise that, with children now having a wide choice ofactivity available to them, badminton has to compete for theirattention. Likewise Clare Marlow, School SportsDevelopment Manager for Melton schools has beeninstrumental in helping us develop a good workingrelationship with local schools.We are now in the fortunate position of being able to offerlocal students a seamless transition from junior level throughto adult badminton at our Long Field base where both thecoaching and playing conditions are of a very high standard.”Any parents or children seeking further details of thecoaching available at Old Grammarians should in the firstinstance visit the Club website on www.meltonogbc.co.uk

MELTON OLD GRAMMARIANS JUNIOR BADMINTON PROGRAMME FLOURISHES

RAY LIGGINSWinner - William

Runner up - Mitchell

COOPER CUPWinner - Carly

Runner up - Matilda

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PRIMARY SCHOOLS FINALSHugglescote Primary School crowned County BADMINTON Champions

The 2017/18 primary school competition came to a climax atBabington Academy. Five schools competed in an excitingevent, where Hugglescote Primary were victorious and won thegold medals. Hugglescote players showed their fighting spiritbattling against some strong opponents and pulling together totry and achieve enough points for their school to be in with achance of winning the County round.

Following the group stage, Fosse, Foxton and Hugglescote allhad two pairs in the quarter finals; St Bartholomew’s andMillfield with one each.

In the semi-finals Fosse (current title holders) lost their chanceof retaining the title when their top pairing, despite a spiritedperformance, went out to the more experienced Hugglescote’spairing of George and Luca 15-9. Similarly, Foxton’s up andcoming Charlie and Theo bowed out to Hugglescote’s Katie andLola 15-7.

With an all Hugglescote final the team result was already knownwith Hugglescote about to be crowned Leicestershire PrimarySchools Champions. However, the question remained, couldthe girl’s pair actually beat the boy’s pair. With greater servingand shot placement the answer was yes, as Katie and Lola won

the final 21-15, becoming the first all-girls pair to do so in thecompetitions’ finals to date.

Trophies were awarded to Lola and Katie who won the doublesand George and Luca who were runners up. It was a wonderfulexperience for the children to work and support each other in afriendly environment as a team. For some of the players, havingaccessed badminton coaching in school, this event was theirfirst taste of competition. The more experienced playersunderstood that it was a team effort and supported andencouraged their fellow players. They all did exceptionally welland did their respective schools and Boroughs proud.

TEAM PLACINGS1st Hugglescote (County Champions)

2nd Fosse3rd Foxton;

4th St Bartholomew’s5th Millfield

Some of the players are now attending the Team Leicestershireand the Leisure Centre coaching sessions, and there are goodschool links with the various Junior Clubs.

Greg Howes

LSBAJUNIOR COUNTY TRIALS

Babington AcademySaturday 22nd June

2pm - 4pm

LSBAPRESENTATION EVENING

Friday 28th June

Hugglescote Social ClubDennis Street, Hugglescote

LE67 2FP

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KATIE HOULTKatie started the season not really sure if she wanted to playbadminton or not!

She has many interests as you should at nine years old. Running,Swimming and Dance, and then Badminton. Unfortunatelysomething had to go, so one by one she stopped the other activitiesand decided to concentrate on Badminton. As the seasonprogressed so did Katie. She started entering tournaments andfound she enjoyed competing and by the end of the season sheentered the Nationals which she competed in singles and doubles.She surprised everyone and got into the semis of the singles andwonabronze medal, and the final of thedoublesandwon thesilver.What a great end to the season.

OLIVER SEWELLOli is an all round sportsman, a runner, a swimmer and aTriathlete,

and he is making a very nice Badminton player.

Oli is a very determined player who is not easily fazed. He gives

100%every timeheplaysandat theNationals it showed.Hebattled

on and on and just would not give up even when playing more

experienced players. Oli reached the semi finals in the boys

doubles. Once again he showed what he is made of, playing in a

fantasticmatch,whichunfortunately they lost , BUTawell deserved

bronze medal in the nationals.

George achieved his dream at the Nationals by winning a GOLD

medal in the boys doubles and being crowned champion. I think it's

safe tosay thatGeorge loveshisbadmintonandwants toplayevery

minute of the day, since he could first hold a racket he has always

wanted to be on the courts. It's in the blood I guess as his Grandad

Ian Clark and Uncle Anthony Clark were national champions.

George and his partner had an outstanding day of badminton and

never lost a game at the Nationals. They went into the tournament

as number 2 seeds and definitely lived up to it. They played some

excellence games and showed experience above their years. A

well deserved victory. Congratulations George.

NATIONAL MEDALS 2018/2019

GEORGE CLARE - NATIONAL DOUBLES CHAMPION

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U12s MANAGERS REPORT

The season has been a very exciting one with most of theteam being true Under 12 this year. We started the Shiresleague confident we could be a force to reckon withNationally as the team was strong in both girls and boys alike.

First match was Yorkshire 1, old adversaries and last yearswinners so we were looking to focus and start our seasonpositively and with a home venue we had high hopes. Thegames were good, but it was Leicestershire that dominatedresulting in a 12/8 win despite our first girl being unavailable.

Match two was away against Lancashire and after a longjourney Leicestershire were just too strong winning 20/0quickly and efficiently again without the presence of a coupleof our experienced players and showing the depth of oursquad giving some less experienced players an outingshowing no nerves and getting an excellent result.

Match 3 was another home match against Buckinghamshirewith a full squad ready to give it their all, a few close gamesin this one but again no match for the strength of this squadand ending the day with a 17/3 win.

Match 4, a local derby, with Nottinghamshire at home saw anearly home time for grateful parents as Leicestershire quicklysent them home after a 20/0 win.

Match 5 was a Norfolk away at the seaside for a 20/0 win anda lovely day at the beach for the team and overnight with mealfor the families all making a thoroughly memorable weekend.

Match 6, our last match was away at Warwickshire and aftera confident 20/0 win despite resting our 1 and 2 girls whowere out representing the Under 14 squad the same dayimmediately after our match in a double header. So, anafternoon in the sunshine on the park saw the team enjoyinga little downtime together with families, always a bonus.

This left us second in the Shires League qualifications aftera count of games conceded and put us strongly into theShires finals again at Stoke Mandeville stadium rankedsecond and ready to give it our all aiming to beat last years6th place finish. On arrival a lot of excitement and nervesquickly dispersed to see the U12s beat Oxfordshire easilywith a 18/2 result showing we were strong and winning all themixed comfortably. Continuing to believe, we moved on toplay for a top four finish and already beating our previousyears finishing place. Taking on Surrey and battling everygame we lost 11/9 despite some extremely close gamefinishes with only a point or two in it and seeing our girls totallydominate. Now playing for a bronze medal third place or afourth place against Warwickshire 1 who finished the leaguematches above us. Nothing was stopping us at this point, theteam wanted desperately to come home with a medal andconfidently took the match 15/5 to the excited cheers of thefamilies. Our team spirit is apparent to all and on the day ourtwo mini managers Lola and Zara took great pride andresponsibility looking after kit and taking all scores aftergames and updating the organisers desk which wasfrequently praised by other counties and officials throughoutthe day. A big thankyou to Pete Hall for also coming andhelping with coaching and management throughout the day,it made a big difference.

Overall a fantastic season and a brilliant performance in thefinals. Our squad is strong and especially in our girls havinga good six girls to choose from in selection. Competition istough for the top four places and especially as this seasonhas seen Lexie Edwards storm into a current second positionwithin the team. Our boys continue to develop in maturity andskill and support each other when confidence and nerves arean issue. Our girls are renowned in strength and ability as acounty and have given both Alex and I some headacheswhen decisions must be made about selection. We havebeen very impressed with the attitude and understanding ofthe kids not selected at times best summed up by Lola Dale,a mini manager at the Shires finals who understood theselection perfectly but also told us she was disappointed notto be selected but it meant she would train harder and try tobe in the squad next season when the madness beginsagain. A great attitude which shows our team bond and thedrive these kids have. We have been extremely proud of our‘super minis’ this season and can’t wait to do it all again nextseason and finally a massive thanks to the parents for thecontinued travel and supporting of this team we couldn’t doit without you and hope you’ve enjoyed our successes thisyear as much as we have.

Bring on the Shires finals this summer which will be veryexciting............ watch this space!

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JUNIOR BADMINTONPLAYERS SWEEP THE BOARD

NORTH MIDWAY JUNIORBADMINTON LEAGUES

The NML usually takes place at the Concord Centrein Sheffield, organised by Gail Robbins. Theleagues are run over two legs and for primary age,U13s, U15s & U17s, but unfortunately there was aproblemwith the venue this season so that could nothappen. The leagues are an integral part of thetournament calendar and always well supported bymany counties and the players love to take part inthis team event. It seemed such a shame for theplayers tomiss out, so Leicestershire offered to hostsome of the age groups at Babington.Laura Cowperthwaite offered to run the events anddates were found, but with the busy LBA Hallcalendar it was only possible to find three dates,which allowed us to host the one primary and twolegs of the U13s. The U15s & U17s did have to missout this season. All three events were successfuland were well supported by other counties, eventhough the last U13s one was played on MothersDay. Thanks to the mums !! for allowing that tohappen and thanks to many dads that managed theteams.

We managed to field two teams in each age group.In theprimaryeventwecame1st&6thplaceandourU13s teams came 3rd & 6th. We were really happyto help, its great to see so many young playersenjoying the sport. Hopefully, the competition willreturn to Sheffield next season.

Leicestershire's young players enjoyed a greatday's badminton at Babington Academy takingpart in the Primary Schools North Midwaycompetition.

Teams from Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire,Derbyshire, Yorkshire and Warwickshirecompeted for the title of North Midwaychampions.

All players must attend primary schools in theirrespective counties to be eligible to enter thiscompetition, and what a turn out, 40 youngsterscompeted throughout the day enjoying someclose and exciting games.

Leicestershire have quite a number of talentedyoungplayers sowewereable toenter two teamsas well as Yorkshire and Warwickshire.Leicestershire's first teamwere just too strong forall the other counties, they didn't loose a matchand only dropped six games out of 50 played,what a fantastic achievement by the whole teamwho worked so well all day.

Leicestershire's second team was made up ofplayers with less experience of competitions,someonly eight years old, but they battled on andshowed great spirit and improved as the dayprogressed, finishing 6th out of eight teams. Therunners up place went to Warwickshire's firstteam.

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UNDER 14s SHIRES

& COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS REPORTLeicestershire U14s were placed in a tough pool and had to digdeep to gain a place in the playoffs this year. The campaignbegan with a solid 16–4 win against a good Warwickshire 2team and offered a great opportunity to try out new parings forthe season to come. Next up, an incredibly strong Notts teamcontaining both friends and rivals for many of the players.Although losing to a 16–4 score line, the match consisted ofmany closely fought games taken to three ends separated bymarginal differences, a great challenge and learningopportunity for all involved. Next was Norfolk 2, our first matchwhere we didn’t concede a game; winning 20-0. We were thenoff to play the experienced Warwickshire 1 team. This was thematch of the season so far with many of our younger playersreally finding themselves and exceeding all expectations; theLeicestershire taking more games from the opponents thanthey had conceded in their previous five matches. The matchcame down to the last games, both to three ends, butunfortunately, although so close, we could not convert losing11-9. To get this close to the draw was a testament to the ability,effort and commitment required at this level. This meant that awin at Yorkshire 2 was the only way to achieve a playoff position.Great venue, York Railway Institute, even better badminton…An excellent team effort and convincing performances from allled to an 18–2 victory and 10th in the league finish.

Next up we will be away to Hertfordshire to play for a place in thefinals. Fingers crossed and lets be confident that our players,

whom are all growing in stature and confidence will make themost of this opportunity.

I’d like to thank all the players, and parents, involved for thecommitment they have shown this year, the spirit of the squadhas been an absolute pleasure to be part of.

Those who represented U14s in the Shires so far this year are,Carly, Sylvie, Matilda, Violet, Lexie, Fallon, Will, Mitchell, Eddie,Gabriel & Quinn.

U14s County Championships – Sunday 17th February 2019This year’s Championships saw 29 players participating acrossthe three events. This amounted to 49 singles, 28 doubles, and23 mixed rubbers, 240+ ends, 58 shuttles, 8.5 hours of courttime, 50 empty bottles of Lucozade, over 300 cups of coffee/tea,and a lot of tired bodies. It was great to see many new and oldfaces taking part this year and bringing more diversity in age andexperience to the tournament, testing themselves against thecounties best. The standard of play and conduct of all playerswas, as always, exemplary with tough physical and mentalbattles to overcome and the forging strong relationshipsbetween the players.An extra special well done to Carly who won at all threedisciplines for the second year running.A massive well done also, to all those who participated and theparents for their support and encouragement to all involved withthe event, it was a credit to Leicestershire Badminton.

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The U14s county badminton championships saw thebest entry for a number of years, players as young as nineyears old competed, all enjoying the experience of playingagainst the older players.

BOYS SINGLESWINNER: Mitchell RUNNER UP: William

GIRLS SINGLESWINNER: Carly RUNNER UP: Fallon

BOYS DOUBLESWINNERS: Mitchell & William RUNNERS UP: George & Quinn

GIRLS DOUBLESWINNERS: Carly & Lola RUNNERS UP: Matilda & Sylvie

MIXED DOUBLESWINNERS:Carly & William RUNNERS UP: Katie & Eddie

UNDER 14s CHAMPIONSHIPS

LBASUMMER CLUB

every Monday night

BABINGTONACADEMY

for more details pleasecontact

Richard on07541133683

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UNDER 18s REPORT

UNDER 16s REPORTThe under 16 team have had a great 2018/2019 season in the shires league winning all qualifying matches convincingly apartfrom 1 match where we were three players down and we came away with a 10 all draw. Thanks a lot to the players that steppedin for this match. Unfortunately this draw put us into the play offs where we played Warks 2 who we had already played inthe leagues and won 20 -0. With confidence they repeated the score, another 20-0 win, which takes them through to the ShiresFinals. Going through in 5th position will make it difficult but the team are a determined group of players and I know they willgive it everything they have to get the highest position possible.

Amie Hoult

NORFOLK MATCH

U18’s is always a big year, for many their last chance to play forJunior County. With three major competitions in the year (ShiresLeague, RIO and ICT).

SHIRES – The initial target for the year was to qualify well for theplay-offs and hopefully the end of year finals. However, the teamhave performed incredibly all year to secure automatic qualificationfor the upcoming Shires Final in May, by finishing in the top four,and will certainly go in to that full of confidence. We wentundefeated for the season, beating Nottinghamshire 16-4, Norfolk17-3, Yorkshire 2 13-7, Lincolnshire 19-1, Derbyshire 16-4 andCheshire 19-1.

Players involved throughout the season were – Jess Allen,Tamsin Betts, Izzy Pike, Jess Rodgers, Sophie Watson,Sameer Chenia, Harry Clare, Rowan Clark, Joe Goodenough,Luke Hoult and Tom Paterson-Watts.

RIO – With a Target of cracking the top 4, the team went up to Yorkready for another great weekend’s badminton at the Railway

Institute. Leicestershire immediately set about by upsetting thehosts Yorkshire beating them in a closely contested match andsetting us up for a real shot at taking our spot in the Top 4. Next upwe had Surrey who sadly proved a little too strong and we came outthe wrong end of another very contested match. We knew that wehad to win and win well against Lothian to qualify for the Top 4,however, there was no need to worry as this ever reliable teamperformed and eased past Lothian. With Yorkshire also beatingSurrey this put us in a really strong position going into day 2. Wehad to play Warwickshire and Hertfordshire, both with very strongsquads this was going to prove a real test. The players againperformed incredibly beating Hertfordshire but sadly Warwickshireproved just too strong. This all meant that Leicestershire finishedan impressive 2nd place, a sign of things to come…

Players involved were Jess Allen, Tamsin Betts, Izzy Pike,Jess Rodgers, Grace Sherwin, Sophie Watson, Danny Beynon,Sameer Chenia, Harry Clare, Rowan Clark, Luke Hoult andTom Paterson-Watts.

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U18s COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS

GIRLS SINGLESWinner: Jess

Runner up: Sophie

GIRLS DOUBLESWinners: Jess and TamsinRunners up: Sophie & Jess

BOYS SINGLESWinner: SameerRunner up: Luke

BOYS DOUBLESWinners: Luke & Rowan

Runners up: Harry & Sameer

MIXED DOUBLESWinners:

Luke & TamsinRunners up:

Harry & Jess

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RIO UNDER 18s TOURNAMENT

Team: Jess, Tamsin, Issy, Jess, Grace, Sophie,Danny, Sameer, Harry, Rowan, Luke, and Tom

Leicestershire were once again invited to takepart in this prestigious team tournament in Yorkwhich is runover aweekend.Theplayers love thisevent, and are keen to take on some of the bestcounties in the country.

The weekend started with a great win v Yorkshire8-7, the second match v Surrey saw the team go5-1 up, but sadly the wheels then fell of a little andthey lost 8-7. Leicestershire then finished the firstday beating Lothian 12-3 and going into the topbox on theSunday. The second day the teamhada tough start, they had to play the number 1 seedsWarwickshire first, they gave it their all and hadsome fantastic games but lost 12-3, the resultreally didn’t reflect the performance as all theteam played hard and tried their best.

The team finished the weekend by putting in afantastic performance to beat Herts 9-6 andended up taking 2nd place and the silver medals.

Who is thiscrazy person???

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When I first started working as the Development Officer forLeicestershire in 1999 one of the first projects I undertookwas to work in partnership with a teacher at CharnwoodCollege to formulate the schools leagues. It took a while tobuild the leagues, but after many hours of correspondingwith the schools it started to pay off. The project grew andgrew until we had built the biggest schools leagues in thecountry.

Schools competed in their respective areas, then sent theirarea winning school to compete in the County round whichwas held at Babington Academy. In the years that followedBadminton England (BE) introduced their CentreParcs schools competition, and I worked together with BEand the County Sports partnership to amalgamate theLeicestershire Schools Leagues and BE's competition. Itwas felt that having one badminton offer to the schoolswould be the best thing to do and a great opportunity to beinvolved in a national programme. Our County winnerscould now progress on to play in a Regional round and evenNational round which BE offered. This has been the case upuntil this year when Badminton England introduced anaffiliation fee for entry into their national competition. For usthis caused a problem as Leicestershire badminton have agood working relationship with the County SportsPartnership, which the schools pay an annual fee in respectof their combined sports offer.

I understand that only six schools from Leicestershireaffiliated to BE and played in the National competition, most

schools we work with declined and therefore could notprogress into the BE regional or national round.HOWEVER, it hasn't stopped the enthusiasm andcommitment from schools in the county. Our county finalssaw 40 schools getting through to the Finals which ran overfour nights, plus eight more schools taking part in the U19sLeagues. Last year’s finals were in the grip of snow storms.This year it was completely different, sunshine and no threatto the finals taking place. KS3 boys started a very busy weekof badminton; Newbridge High securing first place, justbeating Crownhills 3-2. On day two KS3 girls saw Ivesheaddominating, winning all the group stages and taking firstplace beating Brookvale/Groby 4-1. KS4 boys was a closefinal between King Edward V11 and Babington Academy,Babington winning 3-2. On day four, Loughborough High,KS4 Girls, were victorious beating Beauchamp 5-0.The following week Greg ran the U19s leagues finals. In theboys section, Ashby school dominated all their matches onlydropping one game and were worthy winners. Second placewas Uppingham. The girl’s winners were LoughboroughHigh, again a very strong side who beat Beauchamp 7-1 inthe final.Scary knowing that some of the U19 players actually drovethemselves to the finals!!! How times have changed.Another year over and some great badminton played.Thanks to all the schools that continue to support badmintonand the leagues.

Carole Spencer

LEICESTERSHIRE SCHOOLS BADMINTON LEAGUES2018/19 SEASON

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The Big One, with Leicestershire being seeded3/4th expectation was high for this team toachieve top four for the first time in over 10 years.However, the draw looked incredibly tricky.

Day 1 always a tricky day were things can go sowrong so quickly, but 3 9-1 victories over Suffolk,Sussex and Herefordshire, put us into the top half ofthe competition.

Day 2 had us drawn against Berkshire, Avon andHertfordshire. All three ties looked tough on paper,we set the tone early dismissing a Berkshire teamstacked with very talented boys and nationalmedallist 8-2. Getting the same result against an Avon team thatproved very difficult to put away. This set up the evenings matchagainst Hertfordshire, winner get Top 4. As ever with this teamwhen the pressure is on and Leicestershire won 6-4 in anamazing contest.

Day 3 Top 4, Warwickshire, Hampshire and Yorkshire.Warwickshire were first up the obvious favourites for the titlewith a squad full of top talent throughout, a very tough matchwith a hard to take score line, 9-1 loss. Next up was Hampshire,how do we react to our first loss of the tournament? Answer –Pretty well… We won this 5-5, by one rubber. Everybody againperformed well.

Day 4 Leicestershire vs Yorkshire, winner takes 2nd Place.Yorkshire were out for revenge after we had beaten them up atRIO, but this team was more than a match, too many times inthe past have we come out the wrong end of a Yorkshire scrap,not this time, a 6-4 victory. The highest finish ever forLeicestershire, an incredible achievement.

The players involved were Jess Allen, Tamsin Betts, Izzy Pike,Jess Rodgers, Sophie Watson, Sameer Chenia, Harry Clare,Rowan Clark, Luke Hoult and Tom Paterson-Watts.

The coaches were Martin Beynon, Jai Chandarana,Hayley Deas, Pete Hall and Hope Warner.

I am so proud of everything this team has achieved thisseason, not least because of the genuine team ethic that wehave displayed, every single member of this team hasperformed throughout the year.

Chris Hall

ICT REPORT - 2019

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PAST ICT COMPETITORS

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NATIONAL MEDALISTS

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NATIONAL MEDALISTS

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As the badminton season for 2018-19 draws toclose, it is time to reflect on the season and lookforward to next season. Training at the performancecentre has been excellent this year and we haveintroduced new sessions on Monday’s andWednesday's to bridge the gap between juniors andseniors and offer training for our senior countyplayers so that they can continue to improve. Manyof the PC players regularly bring home medalsacross all age groups, and we are competing well atjunior nationals. This is great to see, and I hope wecan build on that again next year.

As we continue with our journey as a performancecentre we will of course try to do even better nextyear. Next year we will be looking to offer trainingsessions for junior players that don’t quite make the

standard for our full performance centre training, aswell as aiming to improve our Team Leicestershirematch play session on a Wednesday evening.

In terms of integration of our junior, senior andmasters level county players, under theTeam Leicestershire umbrella, there is still more tobe done but I’m encouraged by the number ofyounger players that have played senior county thisyear; Ryan King,Martin Beynon, Jess Allen, SophieWatson, Jess Rodgers, Sameer Chenia, Izzy Pikeand Owen King - well done to all of them and I hopeto see others joining them next season.

I hope you all have a great summer break and doplenty of training ready for the new season ahead.

Mark King, Chairperson

LEICESTERSHIRE PERFORMANCE CENTRE

LEICESTERSHIRE SENIOR COUNTY 2018-19Overall an excellent year for senior county with our three teams doing very well. Especially pleasingfor me is watching the development of our junior players and seeing them successfully bridge the gapbetween junior and senior county. The future is very bright for Leicestershire badminton and I’m surethere will be even more competition for places in our county teams next year and beyond as our PCcontinues to produce excellent young players.Links to show how the three teams have done this year:https://be.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=0F195493-B72E-4FE5-B85F-30D3B06247DD&draw=2https://be.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=B169A029-E14A-4B60-9557-3979EC33F764&draw=10The county 1st team led by Tom Armstrong have backed up last years incredible 3rd place in thepremiership with an excellent 4th place, while Yorkshire 1st teamwere relegated!! 1st teamplayer of theyear goes to Tom Armstrong/Samuel Ricketts with 65% win ratios and Emma Ault very close behindat 64% (great to see Emma back in the team this year). Special mention to Jess Allen and SophieWatson who both made their debut this year.The county 2nd team led by Toby Moon have had a brilliant year bouncing back after thedisappointments of last year to be promoted as Champions. All too easy winning seven out of sevenmatches. Really close fight for player of the year but with a 100% record Jenny Scarlett takes it withMatt Rofe, Simon White, Jess Allen really close behind winning over 85% of their matches. With theteamona roll division 2 beware next year! 2nd teamcounty colours for: JessAllen, JunoThomas,RyanKing, Izzy Pike, Emma Butterworth.The 3rd team led by Mark Jeffreys have had a really good year in division 3 and in the end were reallyclose to coming 2nd behind our 2nd Team–3rd positionwas an excellent result and next year they shouldfight for promotion. 3rd team player of the years goes to Mark Jeffreys with an 80% success ratio(exactly the same as last year!), with Kyle Cherry and Cameron close behind. 3rd team county colours:Cameron Collins, Martin Beynon, Jess Rodgers, Britanie White, Sameer Chenia, Sophie Watson.County restricted ‘19/20: Friday 27th Sept. Singles, Sunday 29th Sept. Doubles and Mixed.

Mark KingLeicestershire Badminton County Captain

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Greg and I decided this season to give it a go and resurrect the oldWithers doubles tournament and we were very pleased with theresponse. The tournament saw 52 men and 22 ladies competingin what turned out to be a very enjoyable event. The aim was toencourage all abilities to enter, play it in groups and incorporate aplate event for non-league players, this seemed to work well. Theplayers going through to the quarters were Carl Bannister& Pete Chapman who stormed through their group winning all theirgames as did Tom Cowpethwaite & Harry Clare, Tom PattersonWatts & Danny Beynon & John Sleath & Phil Herbert. The secondplaced players in the groups that went through to the quarters wereJames Evans & Danny Sanders, Nigel Lewis & John Eason,Thomas Homme & Matt Clough and Ethan Hoskins &Rowan Clark. The competition came to a climax with a competitivefinal between youngsters Harry & Tom and experienced playersCarl and Pete. Carl and Pete won 21-14. The plate event was wonby Ravi & Nakuru Rajani, second place went to Leo Jadav &Vay Rawji.It was a shame not to see more ladies entering, but for the first year22 isn't bad. It was well supported by a group of talented juniorcounty players.

Old pals and former junior county team partners Amie Hoult & EmilyLenton graced the courts again after many years out of badminton,they even managed to get through their group and into the semifinals by just beating Issi Paterson Watts & Hritaka Modi 21 -20 inthe quarters. Unfortunately injury then struck Amie and that was theend of the tournament for this time.... they lost in the semis.

Other quarter finalists Sophie Watson & Jess Rogers playedKerry Durham and Lisa Pycroft just loosing out 21-15.Grace Sherwin & Tamsin Betts beat Jane Rayner & Steph Coatesof Loughborough Leys 21-11. Grace & Tilly then went onto win thesemi v Kerry & Lisa. Jess Allen & Tilly Dale went through to thesemis by beating Jane Astrop & Marie Whithead, then took Amie& Emily in the semis.

So the final was a youngsters affair, an exciting game saw Jess &Tilly just beating Grace & Tamsin 21-18.

The plate event was won by Shema Sivaganeshwaran &Katie Evans and runners up were Gillian Cross & Emma Powley.

We feel the tournament was a success and will be repeated againnext season, with the edition of a mixed competition. Thanks to allthe players that supported this event.

Details of next seasons tournaments will be sent to all clubsecretaries.

Carole & Greg

WITHERS MEN'S & LADIES DOUBLES TOURNAMENT

Player Quote:"It was a great tournament to

start the season off"

LBA - AGMThursday 9th May

BABINGTON ACADEMYLEICESTER

7.15pm

LBAPRESENTATION EVENING

Friday 17th MayLOUGHBOROUGH TOWN HALL

7.15pm onwards

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Report from 'TheBadmintonMan'

Greg HowesLeicester City

Development Officer & Coach

Once again less Schools but morechildrenLast year I reported that we had seen a fall inparticipation in Leicester City from around 20 to12 schools participating. Yet again we have seena slight drop in the number ofCity primary schoolstaking part in our promotions. This is hard tobelieve when there are so many testimonialsregarding what we do and so many successstories out there. I have not taught a class in theseten yearswhere the vastmajority of children havenot loved the game of badminton. So, schoolspick up the phone and book us for next year!

Badminton in generalI am now in my tenth year of organising coachingand running competitions that have mainly beendirected at schools. In the last few years thatconcentration has been more and more onprimary schools. This is where learning skills forlife start, and after all we have the largest

secondary schools badminton league in thecountry waiting for these children. Despite the fallin participation above, I am inundated with callsfromparentswanting to get their children involvedin badminton. Many of our sessions aroundLeicester are full and it is becoming quite difficultto find them places. We need two things tohappen. Firstly, we need more coaches. I ampleased to say that Badminton England is helpingus recruit more. Secondly, we need to stop theever-increasing use of sports facilities for exampurposes. Despite the academic importance ofsuch exams, this is another form of what schoolsrefer to as ‘intervention’ and defies the aim ofgetting childrenmoving rather thansittingaround.

PRIMARY SCHOOL COMPETITIONS/PROMOTIONS

Congratulations go to SSC for a magnificent double in the Mens league. Their first team finally confirmedpromotion to the topflight with a demolition of their nearest rivals, Meltonshire, ultimately winning all ten of theirmatches. Their second teamwonnine out of their tenmatches towin division 3Aand also earn promotion for nextseason. At the time of writing the topflight mens division is the closest for many years, with no team reallydominant. Loughborough Town must win their remaining fixture to post seven wins from ten matches and pipLoughborough Students. At the other end of the table Regal Arts currently at the foot, may need five wins justto survive. Other clubs having had a successful season are Trinity with both teams promoted, along withRegal Arts having secured promotion for their second and third strings.

LoughboroughTownhaswon the topflight Ladies division,whilst LoughboroughStudents secondsandPanthershave won divisions two and three respectively.

Honours are spread across the clubs in the Mixed league, but notably, Loughborough Students will have twoteams in the topflight division for next season.

Whitwick are arguably the youngest side ever to have won division one of the Hall League, whilst Croakerscomplete the list of winners by taking division two.

Greg HowesLBA League Secretary

LBA SECRETARY'S LEAGUE REPORT 2018/19

However, finishing on a very positive note, thenumber of children engaged in TeamLeicestershire’s coaching programme continuestogrow, resulting inourCounty teamsbeingsomeof the strongest in the country, at all age levels.

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Marie Whitehead has been playing for HuncoteBC for nearly 30 years. It started as a non leagueclub and then, with the encouragement of Marie,moved into entering the Leicestershire Leagues.Since that point she has played a fundamentalpart in organising and continued every year as acommittee member. The last few years she hasselected all the three Men's teams and the Mixedteams and organised all their fixtures, and hasalso captained the Mixed and Men's 2. Marieadmits shehas enjoyed it but as timehasgonebyshe has realised that she has not really reapedany of the benefit as the club still only has two ladymembers. This means club night is completelydominated by the men and their league matches,which she spends a lot of time sorting out.

Marie is not trying to be critical because as shesays "I love these guys and most of them are myfriends, however when it comes to badders theycan be selfish.

Over time Ihaveencouraged ladies tocomedownand play. However, these guys tell them what to

do and where to stand etc etc. so inevitably theyleave.

The feedback I have received is they feel they arenot strong enough to play at club level. Mydaughter camedown last year and she said it wasnot an enjoyable experience but she plays withme and others each week.

So I thought enough is enough. I want to playladies matches whilst I still can and I would alsolike to give something back because it's a greatsport and you can make some fabulous friends. Ithink ladies need a less male dominatedenvironment to develop and gain confidence.This couldalsoallow themeventually to intergrateinto other local clubs. Sometimes weunderestimate that younger women are quite selfconscious. The 'all ladies' environment reallydoes help to eliminate this.

I have time and the energy now to invest in a newventure and we definitely need ladies to getinvolved again in this great sport.

My intentions are to set up a 'Ladies Only' club".

Marie Whitehead

NEW LADIES CLUB PLANNED

Harry has been playing for the county juniorteams since the age of 11 years old, and hasprogressed so well gaining a lot ofexperience on the way through enteringmany National tournaments. He currentlytrains in the top group at the LeicestershirePerformance Centre twice a week, and is amember of Loughborough Badminton Clubplaying in Men's 1. He also finds time to playfor the Whitwick BC New Hall team which ismade up of young players from the PC.

Harry recently moved his playing experienceup by entering the Kent Senior Open with hisnewpartner Callum. It was definitely the rightthing to do - the lads came runners up! Whata fantastic achievement, and rewarding, ashe won some cash!!!

HARRY CLARE

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Leicestershire's Sophie Watson has had a busy year since becoming U15s NationalChampion at girls doubles.

Joining theEnglandPathwaySophie has jetted off to Sweden twice, Finland, Estonia, Hollandand Belgium - quite an experience for a 14 year old. In September she represented Englandfor the first timeat theU15sSwedishgames, finishing in third place in the teamevent.Hermainachievementwas inDecemberwhenshewonher first international at theCarlton Internationalin Hoensbrook, Holland - Gold medal in girls doubles.

She has competed well this season winning three bronze and one silver in the U17s Golds atdoublesandstill a year young.Shehasbeenverybusyplaying for Leicestershire too, reachingthe Shires finals with both U16s andU18 teams and second place at the ICT tournament. Shealso made her debut for the senior county in the premiership this year.

Sophie trains most days in the week at Babington and Loughborough Uni, but still finds timeto play for her local club, Loughborough Town, and captained the Ladies 1 this year to winningDivision 1 and also winning the leaguewithMixed 1. Sophie has just become a Leicestershireand Rutland 'Go for Gold' Ambassador which will help to fund her to reach her full potential.Plenty more training this summer and two England camps Sophie will be ready for anotherbusy season ahead.

SOPHIE'S PROGRESS

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RECOGNISE ANYONE?

Ongoing sessions are held regularly at Babington Academy on Saturday evenings 8-9pm.If you are beginner/improver and want to improve your game and learn the skills andtechniques, this is the course for you. It will be on a first come first serve basis and placesare limited.

To get more information please contact Ajay on:

[email protected] or visit www.lbabadminton.org

ADULT BADMINTON COACHING

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FRIENDS REUNITED ON THE COURTS

Amie Hoult (Spencer) and EmilyLenton (Brodrick) joined together onceagain on the courts in this seasonsWithers Tournament after many yearsof hanging up their rackets to bring uptheir families.

They firstmet at JuliePopes junior club,that still runs on a Saturday morning atBabington. Immediately they becamefriends and partners and representedLeicestershire and also enterednational tournaments throughout theirjunior years including being selectedfor the prestigious ICT. Then onto thesenior county teams and playing in theclubs, but as the years went on morethings got in the way of themcompeting. Amie got a knee injury

which stopped her playing, so she puther time back into the sport bybecoming a badminton coachencouraging many youngsters into thesport. Emily tried a new sport that sheexcelled in and became Captain ofEngland rounders. Then they both hadfamilies which we all know takes up agreat deal of your time, workingmums !!!!

Now approaching 40 yrs old they areeligible to play in the county mastersteams (if knees allow it). Come onladies get training, your county needsyou !!!!!

2019/20 SeasonOVER 40 Masters Teamplease get in touch

LEICESTERSHIRE RESTRICTED CHAMPIONSHIPS2018/2019 SEASON

Well done to everyone who played at the weekend, some great matches and great to see a numberof our juniors competing against our senior players.

RESULTSMens singles: James White beat Tom Armstrong 21-9, 21-19

Ladies singles: Sarita Patel beat Jess Allen 16-21, 21-18, 21-13

Mens Doubles: Tom Armstrong and Chris Hall beat James White and Simon White

21-23, 21-17, 21-17

Ladies Doubles: Sarita Patel and Zoe King beat Izzy Pike and Jenny Scarlet 21-7, 21-13

Mixed doubles: Tom Armstrong and Zoe King beat Chris Hall and Sarita Patel 21-16, 24-22.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OUR WINNERS

The intention when entering a team ofyoungsters to play in the Hall League wasfor me to still be able to play as they areyoung and can run for me! Plus to be thetaxi, and for them they would gain theexperience of playing against adults whichI felt would be of benefit to them. The teamexcelled themselves last season and wonDivision 2. This season has been evenbetter, they have been very dedicated andalways wanted to play even the singles(well at 15 years old you do). It was a nicefeeling not having to persuade people toplay, their enthusiasm and drive for thegame is infectious. They have enjoyedplaying as a team and the icing on the cakewas when they beat LoughboroughStudents who we had lost to earlier on in theseason. Division 1 Champions for thisyoung side is great and hopefully they willall be at the presentation evening to pick uptheir medals.

The Team: Harry, Luke, Joe, Tamsin,Grace, Tilly and ME! and thanks to Rowanfor helping out .

Cheers Captain Caz

My plea to the clubs:Come on & enter a team next season

WHITWICK WINHALL LEAGUE 1

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Every other year the World and European Senior(Masters) BadmintonChampionships take place andfor the last four years I have been invited to join theEngland squad of players for these tournaments. Myfirst invitation was in 2015 when I was asked to playin theOver 65 singles in theWorld Championships inGothenberg, Sweden. I had played a bit of singles intournaments that year winning the NorthumbriaOpen and achieving runner-up in the ScottishMasters. Those of you who know me will howeverknow that singles is not really my game so I declinedthe invitation.Since then I have been invited each year since for theMens and Mixed. I played in the EuropeanChampionships in 2016 in Podcetrek in Slovenia,losing to the eventual winners in the first round of theMixedandmaking thesecond roundof theMen’switha Russian partner, Oleg Chernik, my English partnerhaving suffered a stroke two months before we weredue to play. Last year the European Championshipswereheld inGuadalajar, just outsideMadrid inSpain.

My partner, Dave Chapman from Kent, and I lost inthe second round of the Men’s to the top Danish pairin three sets. In theMixed,my partner SylviaGill fromLancashire and I made the quarter finals achievingsome famealong thewaybydefeating theDanish topseeds in the second round.It has been both a privilege and a pleasure to havebeenable to continueplayingat club level and toplayin the Masters Tournament circuit and nationalcompetitions. I countmyself very fortunate that inmy50th year of league badminton I still enjoy the gameand havemade good friends both in this country andfrom abroad through the game. In particular I wouldlike to thank my county master’s colleagues whogave me, never a top player, the confidence to try atthe top level. In my age group, Over 65s, the Englishdominate the sport with English players beingWorldand European Champions in singles, men’s andmixed so just to be in the mix is a dream come truefor me.

Edward Hayes

YOU'RE NEVER TOO OLD TO COMPETE!

OVER 35s ALL ENGLANDMIXED DOUBLESCHAMPIONS

A great win for Mark King andMhairi Smith inthis seasons Over 35 years mixed doublesbeating Morten Rasmussen and SarahBurgess to three ends 17 -21. 21-14, 21-18.

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OVER 65s COUNTY MASTERS TEAM REACH THE FINALS

The Over 65 team stormedthrough the leagues thisseason and into the play offsagainst Cheshire.

The match started off verynervously as they knewCheshire were going to betoughopponents.As thedayprogressed the match wasneck and neck. Cheshiretook all three mens doublesand Leicestershire took thethree ladiesgames, sodownto the mixed. Two out of the

three games was needed to secure the win. It went down to the last game which went to three ends, andLeicestershire came out on top and won taking the team through to the finals.

Off they went to Birmingham to compete in the National finals knowing that the weekend would be a toughone.

The team played really well in the semi final against an experienced Surry side, but unfortunately lost 6-3.This meant back on the courts the following day at 9am v Avon playing for 3rd and 4th places. This matchwas much tighter, it was 4-4 going into the last mixed game, expectations were high, but on this occasionAvon won and Leicestershire took 4th place.

The team were disappointed not to win but pleased with an overall team performance on both days.

The Team: Jan, Cathy, Carole, Edward, Dave and Richard

PROUD DAD ROLESBACK THE YEARS

Amoment of weakness saw the return to a seniorGold tournament forMarkKing partneringwith hisdaughter Zoe King at the recent Notts event. Aquick check on tournament software shows thatthe last time Mark played such a tournament wasbefore modern day records began and at bestguess about 20 years ago!

The goal to win a match was achieved quitecomfortably, entertaining the crowd with a fairamount of shouting and trademark drive winnersand fist pumps from Mark (much to Zoe’sembarrassment). Picture was taken and Markwas quite happy to go home at that point, but a 2nd

match was required and that was a step too far.

Great day and a lot of fun.

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MASTERSIf you are turning of age! 40 years plusand would like more information on the

Leicestershire Masters Teamplease contact: Sue Mahmood0116 2704799 / 07879023281

This year Leicestershire entered an O40. O45,O50, 055 and anO65 team in theMasters CountyChampionships.

Several matches had to be conceded due toshortageof available players on theday.Weneedmore players interested in joining the squads foreach agegroup. Players need to be of a good clubstandard and willing to play on Sundays.

The O65 team again had a very successfulseason, winning all their matches. The squad of 5men and 4 women, beat Buckinghamshire 8-1twice, Hertfordshire 7-2 and 5-4 andNorthamptonshire 9-0 and 7-2. They have still toplay Cheshire in the play offs on the 14th April.

The O55 team, struggled for men this season,having to use some O65 men. They beatNorthants, away 9-3 and Shropshire at home 8-4,but lost the reverse fixtures and the four matchesagainst Cheshire and Nottinghamshire.

TheO50 teamwonagainst Lincolnshire7-5 twice,Norfolk 10-2 and12-0, but lost toNottinghamshire3-9 twice.Againashortageofwomenaged50-55,meant they had to be helped out every match bythe O55 ladies. We needmore women of this agegroup to come forward, WHERE ARE YOULADIES!!!!

The O45 team really struggled for players thisseasonandalthough theyonlyhad4matches, thematch against Shropshire, away, had to beconceded due to lack of available players. Theybeat Shropshire 8-4 at home losing toNottinghamshire twice, 2-10 and 1-11.Unfortunately I don’t feel we can enter an O45team next season.

The O40 team lost all their matches. The non-availability of players meant we had to concedeone match and only send two lady players toanother, again we need a larger pool of players.

TheO55andO65 teamsalsoentered theMastersCounty Challenge competition held over aweekend in January. The O55 came 2nd inDivision 1, winning onematch, drawing three andlosing one. The O65’s playing in the PremierDivision, found the opposition too strong, losing 5and winning 1.

Teams for the following season have to beentered by mid May.

Practice sessions, trials, are held at the LBA Hall,in September, usually Friday evenings, for anyplayers interested in joining the Squads, pleasecome along.

County Colours have been awarded thisseason to:

Darren Smith, Adam Sewell, Sally Turner,Caroline Grindey, Alex Sherwin andJules Vermaak.

Badminton England are also keen to improveMasters badminton, so if anyone is interested inbecoming involved in promoting Mastersbadminton in Leicestershire, please volunteer tobecome a Development Officer.

As stated in last years report, I, after 20 years asVets/Masters Co-ordinator, am finishing thisseason, and Sue Mahmood has volunteered totake over my position, I wish her good luck for thefuture.

Carol Harding

MASTERS REPORT 2018 - 19

USEFUL WEBSITESwww.lbadminton.org

(Senior)

www.leicestershireba.co.uk(Schools)

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AGE GROUP SELECTORSIn 2015 Badminton Europe international age groups were changed. The domestic age groupswere changed to align the domestic and international age groups, whilst retaining a competitionseason running from July to June. However, with age groups that do not match the competitionseason there is still a level of confusion especially in the younger age groups and for new players,and this has been exacerbated by players being a year younger under the new age groups.

As a result, the junior tournament season will be moved to an annual season from 1st January to31stDecember to support amore simplified structure. Thiswill align theagegroupswith theplayingseason, whilst remaining aligned to the Badminton Europe and Badminton World Federation.

Age Group Selector

The age group selector below shows the age group of players as we move to an annual January to Decemberjunior tournament season.

The example below, shows the effect for a current U15 age group player (born 2005)* There will be an 18-month season in 2019-20 as we transition into the new annual season.Players will end the new 2019-20 season 6 months older than the current season.

* Players will start and end the new season, starting from 2021 onwards, 6 months older than currentseason.

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LSBA - AGM

Monday 20th May

Details of venue and time tobe confirmed

LBCA CHAIRMAN'S REPORTWe, in Leicestershire, have had anothersuccessful season both locally in developingbadminton at all levels: grassroots, schoolcoaching, performance centre and countytraining. This has also led tomany successesin local and national tournaments.

This couldn’t be done without the hard workand dedication of our team of coaches andvolunteers, I would like to extendmy thanks toall those that have helped this year and asalways a special thanks to my fellowmanagement committee. The committee hasworked well during the year. I will work hardthis year to try and increase the number ofcoaches that are subscribed to theassociation as with our collective working, wecan only strive for greater things in the future.

NO STRINGS BADMINTONNow in its 7th year running at BabingtonAcademy,the beauty of No Strings Badminton is itssimplicity. There are no membership fees, nocontracts or hidden clauses to tie you down.

There is a good mix of ability and genders andeveryone thoroughly enjoys the fun, friendlyatmosphere. It is alsonice to seesomany take thenext steps from attending the sessions to movingon to some coaching or taking the plunge andjoining a competitive league club.

ADULT BADMINTON COACHINGOngoing sessions are held regularly at BabingtonAcademyonSaturday evenings 8-9pm. If you arebeginner/improver and want to improve yourgame and learn the skills and techniques, this isthe course for you. It will be on a first come firstserve basis and places are limited.

To get more information please contact Ajayon: [email protected] or visitwww.lbabadminton.org

SATURDAY JUNIOR BADMINTON SESSIONSTo fill the gap of juniors moving up the badmintonpathway at Babington Academy, I run a sessionthat runs each Saturday between 12-2pm. Thissession is to support the junior coachingundertaken in schools by Greg Howes andDaveWatts and provides a pathway in the TeamLeicestershire setup.Thesessionshavegrown inpopularity since they started in November 2017.The aim is to encouragemore grassroots playersinto the sport. Averaging 10+ turning up eachweek.

PLEASE CONTACTCAROLE OR GREG

If you would like to take any coachingqualification, start up your own JuniorClub or be a badminton volunteerCoaching opportunities for your

members

[email protected] 01530 811984

[email protected] 0116 2621476

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Ladies from DeMontfort University have taken tothe courts representing their university both in theBUCS leagues and varsity events where newfriendships have been formed.

All the ladies played badminton before coming tothe university and were keen enough to see howthat could continue whist studying in Leicester.

Unfortunately, their experiences so far have notincluded playing in the Leicestershire BadmintonAssociation’s (LBA) senior league this season.

However, that could be about to change as Gregand I have started talks with the Student clubcommittee by explaining our Leagues and howtheywork.Weare also preparing to runaDoublescompetition for them. Hopefully this will start tobuild a relationship with DeMontfort, and they willconsider entering team/s into our leagues againafter many years of absence.

Please see a few quotes from the team on whythey enjoy being a member of the De MontfortBadminton club.

Members of the team are:

BritanieWhite. Former Leicestershire junior andsenior player. Brit stopped playing after havingher daughter, but when she went back intoeducation as a mature student at DMU, herenthusiasm returned for the sport.“I have many responsibilities at home and withstudying, playing badminton was a chance torelax and have some fun.”

Holly is 21 years old andhasplayedsince theageof 11and representedher homecountySurrey forover four years. She joined the DMU team to startplaying more frequently again as well as makingnew friends.

Chloe is 21 years old. Played junior and seniorcounty in Guernsey.“What I like about the club is that you get to meetpeople from all over the country no matter whatage or experience and you can all appreciate thelove of the game.”

Katie is 20 years old, from Oxfordshire, and hasplayed forBanburyTown leaguebefore coming toDMU.“What I loveabout theclub is thateveryonecomestogether with completely different backgroundsand badminton skills and we always manage towork together as a team and enjoy our matches.”

Emma is 21 years old, and was a county levelplayer before attending DMU.“I joined the badminton club three years ago andhave met some of my best friends through theteam. They are a great group of people whosupport each other both on and off the courts.Playing against other universities has beentough, but we have all stuck together and made itthrough as a team.”

Jenny is 25 years old and is the Badminton clubChairperson. She has played for LincolnUniversity and Norfolk Beccles club.“I love theDeMont badminton clubbecauseof thepeople and the atmosphere. Everyone helpseachother, andwehavehadsomegreatmatchesand games this season.”

The team are committed. They train twice a weekon the courts, plus theyattend thegymworkingonstrength and conditioning. I think it’s plain to seethat the ladies’ friendshipshavebeen formed fromtheir love of playing Badminton!! Who wouldn’twant these girls in our LBA leagues?

NEW FRIENDSHIPS MADE ON THE COURTS

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WHERE WILL BADMINTON TAKE YOU?At the age of six years old Sophie joinedme at theWhitwick Junior Badminton Club and soon cameto love thegame.Shehad trials forCounty trainingand at the age of nine she joined LeicestershireCounty training squad, where she continued untilthe age of 18.

During this time, she competed in nationaltournaments alongside playing for the countyteam. In 2007 she suffered a serious injury whichtook her out of the game for over a year. Herrecovery hasbeen frustratingly slowandalthoughshe's had many set-backs her passion for thegame has never wavered.

She obtained her Level 1 Coaching Certificate in2012 and in the same year she was invited by BEto attend a residential for the National YoungCoaches Academy. The following year she wasone of two people in the country to be selected,again by BE, to attend this time as a mentor.

In 2009 she was invited, by her coachMartin Powell, to be a volunteer at the SpecialOlympics held in Leicester. This was to be apivotal moment in Sophie's life. At 13 years of agethis started her on a path she could not haveimagined. During the event she met a youngmanfrom Wales taking part. His name wasKevin Egan. For the following ten years hebecame Sophie's main focus and inspiration towork with disabled people and give them everyopportunity to play and love the game as she had.She became involved with many aspects of

disability sport andcontinued to keep aspecial relationshipwith Kevin and hisfamily.

She has volunteered,on many occasions,for events all over thecountry and in 2013,when the SpecialOlympics were held in Bath, she stayed andcovered the whole week of events, and was re-united with many of the friends she had madealong the way.

While at the games she made another life-changing decision, to choose Bath University forher degree course. Even knowing the entry levelswere high she was determined to get there. Thefollowing year she started her degree course inBath. As a requirement of her course she spent ayear on placement working in London at theSpecial Olympics Great Britain head office, andfinishing the year at the Special Olympics Gamesin Sheffield in 2017.

She returned to Bath University for her final yearand continued to play badminton for their team.After graduating last year she has returned to herlocal badminton club, Loughborough Leys andhas continued to compete.Sophie now works for a university in Leicester forthe Students Union and is heavily involved insport, activities and providing a wide range of

opportunities for all students.She has recently led a DisabilityAwareness Campaign at theuniversity and a number ofinclusion activities, includingcharity events and trainingworkshops in order to increaseunderstanding and to worktowards creating a moreinclusive and acceptingcommunity.What a journey! We wish herevery success in her new role.

Carole Spencer

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LEICESTERSHIRE COUNTY 1st TEAM REPORTThe final weekend of Premier division action sawLeicestershire in 3rd place, however still lookingover our shoulder due to the tight nature of ourleague this year. A tough fixture list of title chasingand reigning champs Middlesex up first, Surreysecondand relegation fightingGlasgow last didn’tease those worries.

The first tie started with singles as always, andSahil back from hismany trips abroad got us off toa flying start, and Sam equally so. Jamesstruggled to find his rhythm losing his singles. Thegirls thenhadsome toughmatches, Lauraagainstquality opposition, then Hope relishing her singleopportunity missing out in 3 ends. The men’sdoublesplayedbyCarl & Jai andTom&Chris andthe 2 mixed of Sahil & Hope and Tom & Zoe allwent to 3 ends but unfortunately we lost them all.Laura andSarita took the ladies doubles, Zoe andEmmahada toughdoubles losing in2.Final score8-3. Tough match and had us anxiously lookingover our shoulder for the next match, against avery strong Surrey Team.

The match vs Surrey looked an uphill task, theirsingles line up frightening including World top 50Toby Penty, and so it proved, the same singlesline up as the first match returned no wins, 5-0

down after singles, an old school Leicestershiredoubles recovery was needed. A shuffle of thedoubles pairings also gave us a new impetus,Carl, this time with Sam started the comeback,witha fantastic victory.TomandJai thenpairedupand laboured to a 3 set win! Laura and Saritacarried on their winning ways and Zoe and Emmawere on course to carry the comeback through,but unfortunately lost in 3 in a greatmatch. The tiewas gone but important games were still on offerin themixed.Thesamemixedpairingssteppedupto the plate and took both games to bring us aninvaluable return of 5 points!

Final match on the Sunday vs Glasgow, the teamwas confident and the boys didn’t disappoint,winning all 3 singles! The girls came up againstsome tough players, Laura struggling with herankle didn’t help and Zoe stepping in fighting butjust coming up short. Carl and Sam, and Jai andChris produced the goods in the men’s doubles,then Sarita and Hope just missed out in an epic 3setter, 22-20 in the third. EmmaandZoe thenwontheirs, and Tom and Hope and Jai and Sarita wonthe mixed comfortably making the final score 8-3.Safety secured and 4th place finish!

Another great season for the 1st team staying inthe top division in the country.

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The final county weekend had arrived for Leicester 2nds and wefound ourselves in a strong position at the top of the table before playstarted. Redemption for last year's relegation beckoned and theteam did not disappoint. Some replacements were drafted in asJuno, Ryan and Emma were all unavailable, but the very energeticIzzy Pike and old war horse Mark King (sorry Mark) proved to bemore than up for the challenge.We started the weekend against Shropshire 2 and got off to a flyingstart. Simon and Matt both comfortably coming through their singlesgames to put us 2-0 up. Due to the circumstances, there had beenwhispers of a return to the singles court for myself and I regret to saythe rumours were true. However, somehow the score moved to 3-0and this was followed by two more wins from our excellent ladiessingles players (Jess and Izzy) who both have very bright futures.Men's doubles next and Matt and Simon made short work of thesecond doubles after Mark and myself had gone down in three setswith a strange performance. Ladies doubles next and Jenny andJess did what they had done all year and won, but unfortunately forthe new pairing of Wembley and Izzy, they couldn't quite get acrossthe line and lost in three sets. Mixed to finish with and Matt and Jennyagain came through theirs unscathed before Mark and Wembleycompleted the victory with a hard fought three sets victory. 9-2 toLeicester and promotion was all but assured.Oxford 3 were the unfortunate team to face a team brimming withconfidence and again Simon and Matt got us off to a great start,although Matt fancied a bit more of a run around so took his to three.My singles renaissance continued with a victory against one of themost unorthodox players I have ever played. The ladies singles wasnext and Jess "ice in her veins" Allen again made short work of heropponent, whilst Izzy did the same on the court next to her. Men'sdoubles saw a return to winning ways for myself and Mark, althoughnot without a bit of a scare and Matt and Simon again came throughtheir game with relative ease - leaving Simon with a 100% record toprotect on the final day. Jess and Jenny won comfortably again andthe same result ensued in the second ladies doubles. Just the mixedrequired now to complete the 11-0 and Matt and Jenny won

comfortably - Jenny now also with a 100% record to protect with onematch left. Wembley and myself also won in two straight games tomake the final score 11-0 and secure the title for Leicester 2.The final day was one that we could enjoy having assured promotionand young Owen King was drafted in to replace his dad for the finalmatch against Berkshire. Simon and Matt again did the business inthe first two singles. Owen was up next to make his debut and putup a good fight before eventually losing to a bigger and strongeropponent. Jess was up next in her singles and found herself in therare position of being down at 11 in the first. A few quick words andsome great play from Jess soon saw the game turned around andnormal service resumed. Izzy also got off to a slow start, but afterlosing the first played superbly to take it in three sets. Simon and Mattfor once looked to be struggling in their doubles and with a 100%record to protect for Simon, this was no laughing matter.Unfortunately, they couldn't turn things around and the record hadgone - there were murmurings in the press that some sort of deal hadbeen struck between Jenny (also with a 100% record) and Matt, butthese have never been verified....Moving on, Owen and myself got things back on track again, as avery mature performance from the young and energetic junior endedin well earned three sets victory. Jenny and Jess again made nomistake, but unfortunately Izzy and Wembley were just edged outagain in three sets. Just the mixed to go and Jenny nearly saw herrecord lost in the last game, before herself and Matt came throughin three sets. Wembley and myself completed the victory in routinefashion and a final score of 8-3 completed an excellent season.Congratulations to everyone for a brilliant year and we look forwardto doing it all again next year to try and go up again. I see no reasonwhy we can't! Special mention to Jenny for her 100% record this yearand also to the younger players coming through who I thought werereally good this year. Also a big well done to the 3rd team forcomfortably staying up.It has been a pleasure as always to manage the team and I lookforward to next season.

Toby

COUNTY 2nd TEAM PROMOTED

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LEICESTERSHIRE COUNTY 3rd TEAM MATCH REPORT23rd - 24th March 2019

Leicestershire 3 came into the final weekend in 6thposition in the division 3 table with 19 points, oneplace above the relegation zone.

The first tie started off against Worcestershire 2,which was arguably the most important tie of theweekend as they also started the weekend on 19points. The team thrived on this pressure and gotoff to a successful start; winning all 5 singlesmatches. Sameer, Cameron and Jess battlingthrough to win in three. Kyle/Mark and Cameron/Sameer comfortably won their men’s doubles,winning both in two ends. The ladies split thedoubles, with Brit and Nat successfully winning atough hard fought match in three.We finished thematch with twomoremixed wins to leave the finalscore at 10-1, a great result against our relegationrivals.

Next upwasLincolnshire,whowere second in thetable and almost guaranteed promotion at thisstage. Sameer, Martin and Cameron all fought

hard in their singles, however were all edged outby a more experienced Lincolnshire men’ssingles line up. Sophie successfully won hersecond singles of the weekend whilst Jess wasoutclassed by a very strong opponent, which leftus 4-1 down after the singles. The men’s doublespairs fought back, with two comfortable wins byLeicestershire. However, it wasn’t enough to stopLincolnshire from victory as they went on toconvert the next two women’s doubles matches.The overall score was 6-5 as Kyle/Brit and Mark/Nat won both the mixed doubles. A superb resultagainst a team being promoted from the division.

The confidence that the team had gained fromSaturday’s matches was demonstrated on theSundaymorning against Oxfordshire 3. The teamshowed their class and defeatedOxford 11-0, notdroppingasingle set. Thispushed the teamup thetable and into 3rd position.

What an excellent end to a great season!

The school system is everchanging and with theemergence of Academies,we have had to re-engagewith new partners atBabington Academy andensure our voice is stillheard when it comes tomatters relating to the use

and improvement of the badminton hall and thefacilities attached to it.

We invited James Lillystone, the Communication &Marketing Officer, to our meeting in February.James was very happy to attend and we had apositive discussion about the way forward forLeicestershire Badminton being part of the newAcademy setup.

Carole Spencer and Greg Howes have been inregular contact with De Montfort University in aneffort to get them back in the leagues. Theirpersistence is beginning to bear fruit because theyhave agreed to put a team in next seasons NewHall League.

The senior county teams have once again had asuccessful season and I would like tocongratulate all three teams for there effortsthroughout the season.

ThePerformanceCentre is going fromstrength tostrength and we are starting to see some of ourvery talented juniors filter through to the seniorsetup.

Carol & Ray Harding have been the backbone ofbadminton in Leicestershire over the last 40 to 50years. Their contribution in that time has beenimmense and my few words here do not do themjustice, but I know that Carole Spencer in theNewsletter has done a larger and more completehistory. I just want to let them know that everyonereally appreciates both their dedication andcommitment over the years and that they will besorely missed. I do wish them a happy retirementand all the best for the future.

Ian BosworthLBA Chairman

LBA CHAIRMAN'S REPORT

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I onceagain takegreat pleasure inproviding thisendof season report. This Association work withSchools, Clubs and Local Sports Associationsthroughout the County to provide Competitive playfor children from the ages of 8 to 17 years.

Againmany thanks to all of our TeamManagers andCoaches for the management and team selectionduring our competitive campaign this season.Unfortunately I have to report that during the seasonwe had to acccept the resignation of two of our mostrespected team managers. I would like to thankpersonally, both Amie Hoult and AlainaGoodenough for the time as Team Managers. Wecould not expect more dedicated and caringmanagers. Also thanks to all parents and volunteers–wecould not functionwithout your tireless support.

I would like thank our Junior County Captain –ChrisHall, a positionhehasheld for five years.Chrisprovides a valuable connection between theplayers, performance centre and parents. Thisseason has been a testing one for team selection/management. Chris’s support and experience hasbeen invaluable.

We continue to be supported by Greg Howes,Leicestershire’s Badminton Development Officer.‘Mr Badminton‘ efforts and involvement is not onlyJunior but all aspects of Leicestershire Badminton.

Congratulations toall theplayers in their competitiveplay, both individually and at team level. Details canbe found on the LSBA website.

This is our 6th year of the formal TeamLeicestershire/Performance Centre set up. Welldone to Chris, Mark, Anthony and all coachesinvolved.

Team results so far to date:U11 North Midway 2nd placeU12 Shires Teams coming 2nd in the countryU14 Shires Teams reached the Play-off finalsU16 Shires Teams have reached the finalsU18 Shires Teams have reached the finalsU18 2nd place in the Rio tournament

The U18 ICT Team had a fantastic tournamentthis year finishing 2nd out of 32!!! This is thefirst time Leicestershire have reached this loftyposition!

The legacy of this result is that we are continuingeven further to reap the success of the ‘TeamLeicestershire'/Performance Centre set up.

More players are now making the transition fromjunior play to senior play. This is bourne out by juniorplayers pushing for places in the senior countyteams and local club leagues.

LSBAplayersalso continue todowell in theNationalAge Group Tournaments.

Wealso continue to provide junior players that are ofinterest to the England Junior Selectors.

Without players there would be no LSBA. We havea dedicated network of coaches and officials thattake every opportunity to ‘talent spot’ for young newplayers. This is done at area coaching sessions,schools leagues, trialsandclubcoaches introducingtheir players. A special mention again toCarole Spencer, Greg Howes, Terry Talbot,Graham Forryan for their efforts.

Asmentioned above this season has been a testingone for team selection/management. As a result ithas been identified that we need to look howwe canbetter manage both managers, players and parentsexpectations. In the off season we will be looking athow best to achieve this. As Chairman I wouldwelcome all coaches, players, parents and officialsto contribute to this debate.

A finalmention, not only thosementionedearlier, butto all members of the LSBA Committee who workbehind the scenes.

Please feel free to contact me on any item ofinterest, concern or ideas etc.

Dave ArmstrongChairman - Leicestershire Schools Badminton Association

Email : [email protected] : 07847271827

LEICESTERSHIRE SCHOOLS BADMINTON ASSOCIATION

Chairman’s Report for the - 2017/2018 season

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and finally ...

I would like to start with the usualcongratulations to all the League teams and theCounty Senior teams hopefully you have had anenjoyable season. Another great season forLeicestershire Juniors as all age groups win theplayoffs and qualify for the League finals, andwhat a season for the under 18 years players.Congratulations on winning Silver in the Rio andSilver at the ICT. A special thanks to all thecoaches that are working so hard to encourageand nurture our future players, and to the club/committee member’s, without these wonderfulvolunteers, badminton could not survive. Keep upthe good work.

While approaching my 70th year on thisearth, 50th year playing badminton and 30years coaching (which is a scary thought) I amstill keen to promote this wonderful game thatwe all enjoy playing and has kept me reasonablyfit for half a century. I am still coaching in theschools and still enjoying it, but we need someyoung blood to carry the work on. Coaching isreally rewarding, watching players improveunder your guidance is a great feeling, so if youthink coaching could be for you, please let meknow, I am happy to pass on my knowledge andexperiences if it helps.

As you can see from this year’s edition thejuniors are doing really well again, representingthe county throughout the country in thenational tournaments and county matches. Theexcellent training provided by the PerformanceCentre is definitely having an impact on theirsuccess, long may it last. I am sure that someof these players will be representing the seniorcounty in the future and hopefully playing in ourclubs.

Just a bit more news, Badminton England haveappointed a new Relationship Manager,Helena Russo, and Leicestershire is included inher remit. Helena has been to quite a fewcommittee meetings trying hard to familiariseherself on how our County works and what ourneeds are. She approached us with the idea ofpiloting Badminton England’s new adult socialplayer’s tournaments. We decided to give it a goand scheduled in three tournament dates to behosted at Babington. Unfortunately, throughlack of entries, we had to cancel the first one,but we are still going ahead and running theother two. These events are a chance to maybeidentify future club members which in turn couldhelp with club membership. Helena has remindedus again that there is still funding available fromBE for club development. If any club wantsadvise on how to apply please get in touch witheither myself or Greg who will be happy to help.

Well I will sign off now, another season nearlyover and the holiday season approaching and Iam off to Majorca again! And while I am there,there won’t be a mention of the “B" word.

Enjoy your summer

I hope you have enjoyed reading the 2019 edition ofthe LBA newsletter/Magazine!! A big thanks onceagain to Angie Connors for helping to put thisNewsletter together.