Hampshire Badminton Association Ltd County Newsletter

A range of participation programmes will be implemented over the coming year, to work towards the adult participation target. There will be a vast selection of opportunities from corporate leagues, Back 2 Badminton, Return to Sport and targeted programmes for specific groups. This will be evident in all Community Badminton Networks (CBN) across Hampshire and the IOW.

One of the targeted programmes that will be running in the area is a Women and Girls programme through Catch 22

(Charity based company). The programme will be offering 8 weeks’ worth of hour and half sessions across 3 key areas in Southampton. This programme will develop a number of new coaches which will allow for sustainability of the programme as well as creating new female coaches in the area. This will look to start in May.

A successful Back 2 Badminton programme held at Oasis Mayfield Academy has developed in to a regular pay and play session. This coincides with a junior session, both of which have good attendance. It has now however come to the scenario where this needs to evolve into a club. Unfortunately the hosts at Oasis do not have the capacity for this to happen through them, they are however happy to allow for the sessions to continue at the Academy.

The CBN steering group for Southampton have been tasked with contacting clubs within the area, to see if a club wishes to use these established sessions as a satellite for their own club. It will also be raised at the senior clubs AGM for Southampton and Winchester, in the hope a club will be able to engage with the Academy. The AGM will be used to also establish which clubs are looking to engage with new members, to provide exit routes from participation programmes that are run.

Lastly congratulations to Topflight Badminton Club who won senior team of the year at the Sport Hampshire and IOW awards evening.

No Strings Badminton (NSB)

The NSB franchise which was held by Southampton Council has now come to an end. These sessions were held over three sites, including Bitterne Park, Chamberlayne and St Mary’s. Discussions are currently in place with Active Nation and Solent University respectively about the renewal of the franchise for these sites. The previous sessions held at Bitterne Park proved to be successful and it is hoped they will continue through Active Nation. Due to National success through National partner agreements with major Leisure providers there will be NSB sessions taking place a Fleming park from September through DC Leisure.

'Change 4 Life' badminton clubs have been established in partnership with the Youth Sport Trust. This modern network of clubs is based at school and college sites and engages young people who do not currently play regularly. These clubs currently take place after school hours and are owned by their participants who are involved in running them. Eventually they will develop links with community club to encourage lifelong participation. Within Southampton the following schools currently run the programme.

Bitterne Park School

St Georges School

St Ann’s Convent School

Great Oak

Sport Unlimited

Sport Unlimited is an innovative youth sports programme which cascaded funding to local communities via the county sports partnerships network. This funding was for Young people 14-19 and has recently come to an end.

As a result of this funding, delivery took part at Tauntons College. The sessions resulted in college students being able to receive coached Badminton sessions for a 10 week block. Students engaged through this programme then took part in the Colleges team. Development of this programme is continuing for the coming academic year.

Management

The CBN group has recently come together and discussed a range of opportunities for the area. As a result it was decided that in order to move forward an audit needed to be produced. The audit will determine what current provisions for Badminton there are in the area and the opportunities that could be available. The group will look to engage with clubs as well as Universities to attend future meetings. This will look to strengthen the current structure of the network and will help with the development of pathways for those that wish to move into a club environment. A development plan has been produced for the area which sets out guidelines for maintaining the improving level that Southampton holds.

Over the coming year a number of programmes will be run in both Portsmouth and Havant. Initial programmes to run are corporate leagues. The programme will at the outset be run in Havant and then taken across to Portsmouth. Back 2 Badminton sessions will be established at Paulsgrove Community Centre in the coming months with the view to developing a club based at the centre.

As part of the Premier League 4 Sport programme, Portsmouth Football Club has worked with two clubs in particular in the area. These clubs have benefited and been able to maximise opportunities as a result. Congratulations to both Shot Choice Badminton Club and Henry Court Juniors Badminton Club who have both achieved Premier Club Status (Club Mark). This is a great achievement for both clubs. Like Southampton, all senior clubs in Portsmouth will be approached to establish if they are willing to take on new members from participation programmes that are running in Portsmouth and Havant area. It has also been highlighted that there is a need for an adult club within Havant.

There are no current sessions being run in the Portsmouth area. However, there has been interest from Leisure Providers in the city as well as in the surrounding areas such as Havant. Ongoing talks regarding getting these sessions in place are going on at both a Regional and National level. As well as Leisure Providers the NSB franchise will look to be hosted in both Higher Education and Further Education sites across Portsmouth and Havant.

As previously mentioned the Premier League 4 Sport programme has been a success. As a result of the programme there has been an increase in opportunities across the areas providing Badminton for Young People. The programme is coming to a finish, however it is felt due to its success it will continue for a further 2 years. Below highlights schools in both Portsmouth and Havant that are currently engaged in the Change 4 Life programme.

Mayfield School

Milton Cross School

Staunton Community Sports College

Purbrook Park School

Sports Unlimited

Sessions have been held at Colleges in both Portsmouth and Havant through this funding stream. The sessions proved successful with a number of students involved in the sessions joining affiliated club at John Pound Centre.

Sportivate in essence is the new funding stream that has replaced Sport Unlimited. Sportivate will give participants aged between 14 and 25 the chance to receive six to eight weeks of coaching in a sport of their choice. The programme will be delivered through the network of 49 CSPs working with a range of local partners. A bid has been put together for Portsmouth College and is currently being reviewed. If successful this will see new sessions being held at Portsmouth College catering for ages from 14 up to adults. The sessions will be delivered over a three hour period on a weekly basis. These sessions will look to become sustainable after the initial eight weeks have been completed.

A development plan has been produced for Portsmouth and Havant CBN. Two steering group meetings have taken place involving key partners from both Havant and Portsmouth. Rather than it being just a focus on Portsmouth, Havant has now been included within this steering group as they border each other and programmes can run across the two. It was felt this would also strengthen the network and as a result has seen an increase of interest.

Programmes that have run previously have been successful with a number of adults in sustained Badminton. This has been evident through Return to Sport programmes which have seen high numbers in attendance. As a result of this more Return to Sports and Back 2 Badmintons are set to run in the coming months. The introduction of corporate leagues across the area is imminent with the inaugural league taking place at Hart Leisure Centre. There will be a number of other programmes to run with a key focus around adult participation.

Fleet Falcons are currently working towards Club Mark status. They are progressing well with this process and it will only be a matter of time until they achieve the accreditation. Issues over the retention of 16-19 year olds in the area have been highlighted, especially when it comes to competitive opportunities. To counter this issue the development of 16-19 focus clubs is to happen; these will then be entered into leagues to help bridge gaps between senior and junior clubs.

Hart Leisure Centre is currently the only leisure provider in Hampshire to host the NSB franchise. The sessions as a result are going well with an average attendance of 10 people on a weekly basis. There is a lot of interest for this opportunity in the area and Rushmoor Council will be looking to purchase the franchise in the near future.

Alton Leisure Centre will be hosting the NSB Franchise come September. This has been a result of the National success through National Partner agreements with major Leisure Providers. In this instance once again with DC Leisure.

Young People Programme

The following schools in the area are running the Change 4 Life programme.

Robert Mays

Court Moor School

Eggars

The CBN steering group have successfully met. This was positively received and further invites will go to other key partners in the area to help strengthen the steering group further. Like the other CBNs there will be a focus around bringing more clubs into the steering group. It will not be long until the CBN moves into an improving level. A development plan has been produced for the area setting out the guidelines in achieving this, to which the area is not far away from accomplishing.

Hampshire & IOW Schools achieved the following;

Robert Mays – Winners KS4 Girls

Thornden – Came 3rd within their group for KS3 Girls

Westgate – 3rd KS4 Boys

Cams Hill – 3rd KS3 Boys

Thanks to the HPC players Ben Tier and Panuga Riou for helping throughout the summer and for coaches Darren Pollard and Sarah Burgess who helped make the camps so successful.

This tournament was a great success and very beneficial for the development of players, allowing a greater number of players to participate. The draw was seeded according to the national ranking list where some juniors experienced playing against senior players. The players who lost in the first round entered the Plate (aka Consolation) event. The standard of play was very good and the matches were well contested. The final of the men’s Plate event was a battle of pride. Adam Dochniak and Rory Lindsay both from Dorset fought to the end. After three hard sets Adam was the winner.