As I write this article, my first in far too many years, I note it’s the first day of the World Badminton Championships in Delhi, India. Good luck to all competitors as history is about to be made.

Additionally, turning my attention to the UK, I’m reflecting on the past and looking forward to the new season ahead. I have mixed feelings about the up-and-coming season harbouring feelings of hope and also worry for the future.

Club and league badminton has been under threat for decades. The hand of Covid dealt many clubs and leagues crushing blows with the fallout being disastrous in some areas. Entire clubs and leagues disappeared, junior coaching took a massive hit with parents encouraging their children to take up new hobbies, leaving badminton behind.

In the first part of this article I’ll focus on juniors and part two will cover league clubs in more detail…

Whilst junior badminton around the country continues to take place and overall, tournament entries are high, it’s noticeable that entry levels in girls events continue to suffer, mirroring league badminton with falling numbers of participants. Would it help to run female only coaching sessions for juniors, and have more female coaches or parents assisting when there’s a shortage of coaches?

The creation of Performance Centres across the country was hailed as a massive step in the right direction for British badminton. Many have subsequently ceased as coaches found it increasingly difficult to attract players. Without good attendance and a constant flow of new, raw talent, the pressure to remain open was and continues to be challenging. This, coupled with rising costs, which I’ll talk about later, further added to the challenges facing these centres.

I was both for and against Performance Centres. Initially, they were singles biased which I was against. Some had to be open two nights per week, demanding attendance from the students, placing pressure on parents financially and logistically. They also stopped the children attending clubs, and perhaps this was the largest contributor to the decline of club badminton at the time notwithstanding the growth of the internet and computers in most homes.

Taking children away from league clubs removed their traditional pathways to learning and improvement. Whilst I welcomed the Performance Centres approach with focus on fitness and coaching, the children missed a key ingredient which club badminton gave them…the ability to learn how to beat uncoached players who were wise and could read the game.

So whilst the young players may be technically better skilled, they learned to play coached players and be taught the responses a coached player would most-likely play. However, a wise opponent may do something completely different and the skill of adapting to the unexpected has in some respects been lost, or is diminishing.

The art of learning to win against unpredictable players, or playing against uncoached but deadly grooved shots, that almost defy logic, challenges players to think and respond fast. We don’t see so much of this these days, do we?

Many Performance Centres have disappeared over the last 5-10 years.

• Some have been replaced by Academies.
• Some of the head coaches simply changed the title of the Centre and made changes to the criteria for entry to better suit their needs.
• Some retained the old raw, emerging etc classes.

These are now income earners for coaches and to be honest, with the work involved both in planning and administration, the coaches deserve the money. Around the country, some are thriving. Success on court attracts more students, and these Academies ensure they promote via social media. Others are struggling for numbers, the same problems as the Performance Centre before.

I coach a number of junior players. I do not run an academy and have no desire to do so despite the potential for greater income. I don’t want the hassle, so I applaud all coaches who work in or run these academies.

For every head coach, there needs to be numerous other level 2 and level 1 coaches to assist. It has to be so well organised and demands incredible commitment by so many. So again, I salute all those involved in junior badminton and I hope you continue to support for many years ahead.

One aspect of working with juniors I decided upon, was that I would not promote myself via their success.

I have many juniors playing in Badminton England tournaments and they have won titles and/or medalled. They have all received lots of praise from me and their parents without the need to show pictures of them wearing their medals on my social media. If parents wish to post the pictures then I’m fine with that, but I continue to keep their identity private and away from my social media.

As you can imagine, the cost of tournament entry for these talented juniors is rising and it must be challenging for parents to manage these costs, coaching costs whether at an academy or private coach, together with the cost of travelling up and down the country to attend the tournaments.

The cost of running academies has sharply risen over the last few years.

Court costs alone appear to be rising so fast and why do we have these ridiculous 50 minute sessions?

I appreciate that in leisure centres badminton may follow on from say 5-a-side football for example, but why do the centres allow the football to finish their session on time and overflow into badminton time, and yet expect badminton to end early so they can set up another sport on time. It appears to me badminton is abused for the sake of other sports.

Let’s move swiftly on to the other threat to badminton…the cost of shuttles.

Since 2020 shuttle costs have virtually doubled. Yes, we’ve been told there are wars (Ukraine and now Iran) which impact oil prices and drive up distribution costs. I get that. The response from shuttle suppliers is to increase prices. However, when oil prices stabilise or reduce, it’s funny how we don’t receive a reciprocal decrease in shuttle prices. Instead, manufacturers enjoy the additional profits.

In conclusion of part 1 of this article, I’m hopeful that junior badminton is supported and continues to develop. There are so many coaches working hard throughout the UK, and worldwide to bring wisdom and skills to young talented players who clearly have a love for badminton and this must be encouraged and funded in order for our beloved sport to prosper.

Good luck to all players, coaches and parents for the season ahead.