75 YEARS OLD AND A CHAMPION!!

Posted on December 16, 2019 by Steven Fritze

The latest North Tyneside Social Badminton Tournament, held in the 8 court sports hall at John Spence Community High School in North Shields, attracted yet another record entry, with 87 players entering.  There were one or two last minute injuries, but over 80 players turned up on the day to take part in what was another highly successful and enjoyable tournament.  There was a huge range of ages – from 15 to 75!!  Players came from all over the region to take part, and one player even travelled from Scotland to partner his girlfriend!  It was really good to see more new faces as well as several familiar ones.  There were some family pairings too.  The atmosphere was once again really friendly, and social, yet competitive, and quite a few spectators turned up to watch and support, including the injured Jo Donaldson (Jo normally wins a trophy or two!!) who thoroughly enjoyed watching many excellent games.  The overall standard for the tournament was very good, considering these tournaments are for players who do not play on League or County teams, and who generally play for fun socially.

Continue reading →

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Success for Our Juniors in Northumberland Bronzes

Posted on November 23, 2019 by richard.taylor

A full report will follow in due course but we need to register a number of medal-winning performances by Northumberland’s juniors in Saturday’s Under 13 and Under 17 Bronze tournaments.

In the younger age group, gold medals were won by Oliver Heron, Stephen Glennie and Matthew Jefferson and additional silvers and bronzes were taken by Sophie Cockett, Chalida Prapunwong, Stephen, Matthew and Ollie.  In the Under 17s, golds were won by Lucy & James Dodd, Charlotte Graham and Amy Ward, with silvers and bronzes going to Ollie Edmondson, Jack Tilbury, Sonny Ho, Matthew Short,  Charlotte, Amy, James and Lucy.

Well done to them all and to the rest of our players who provided a number of good performances.

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Durham County Badminton Association, in partnership with Simpson Group, would like to invite badminton players of all standards to enter the first Durham County Men’s Doubles Open Tournament!

Posted on November 22, 2019 by Steven Fritze

Date: Saturday 29th February 2020
Venue: Belmont Community School, Durham (DH1 2QP)
Start Time: 9.30am
Cost: £10 per player

The tournament is open to players from all areas and of any standard.

£300 prize money will be provided by Simpson Group (£100 each for winners & £50 each for runners up)!

TO ENTER:

Email hollyrobson91@hotmail.co.uk with your name, your partner’s name and the County you both represent.

*Please note, all entry fees will be collected on the day of the tournament

Entry deadline: Tuesday 25th February 2020

The tournament will be run in a round robin style format with group winners progressing to semi-finals then a final so players are guaranteed at least three matches.

Only the first 16 pairs to enter will be accepted into the tournament, entries will be taken on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.

Badminton England gradings and rankings will be used to determine seeding for the tournament, Yehlex shuttlecocks will be used for all matches and all matches will be played as the best of 3 ends to 21 points with setting.

Please see the attached poster for full information and please circulate to any players within your clubs, counties and networks who may be interested in entering this tournament.

Download (PDF, 2.41MB)

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McMullen at the Double!

Posted on November 19, 2019 by steve.abbott

The annual “Restricted” tournament, restricted in the sense that only those people qualified for Northumberland can enter, formed the ‘A’ grade of the opening graded tournament of the season with some 70 entries in total across all the grades. It was expected to be a battle royal between the county’s two leading men, Garrylee McMullen and Philip Pahatouridis, across the three disciplines but they were not to have it all their own way.

The mixed doubles final saw Garrylee paired with Lauren Young and Philip with Rachel Frobisher and their first tussle did not disappoint with the former leading 11-7 at the interval in the opening set before being pegged back to 16-15. They held on well though to take it 21-18. In the second set both pairs responded well to falling behind several times, the most telling recovery being from Garrylee and Lauren who rallied from 17-15 down to reach match point at 20-18. More resistance from Philip and Rachel saw them save two match points to level at 20-all but Garrylee and Loz were not to be denied as they held on to win 22-20.

 

The ladies’ doubles saw the top two seeds reach the final with past winner Rachel Frobisher, and her regular county partner Lauren Young, up against defending champion Eleanor Laws, this time paired with Elmfield club colleague Cara Vincenti.

The opening game was close with Eleanor and Cara just in the lead at the interval at 11-10. They gradually edged further ahead 14-12, then 18-15 before a run of 3 points on Cara’s serve saw them home 21-15. Back came Rachel and Loz forging ahead to 9-3 in the second set before reaching the interval with the lead at 11-7. Elle and Cara recovered in turn and a further good run of points on Cara’s serve saw 10-13 become 15-13 before it was Eleanor’s turn with a service run from 16-14 to the brink of victory at 20-14. Two match points were saved but they held on to clinch it 21-16.

 

The group games of the men’s doubles produced some of the best games of the day with top seeds Ryan Jelley and Eddie Burgess unbeaten in their group despite a scare against Philip Pahatouridis and Jamie Tinnion who they defeated only 21-18 in the decider. The other group featured three pairs who won 2 and lost one with Garrylee McMullen and Michael Charlton just edging it on sets difference over Rex Lee and Yap Yi Xuan from Newcastle University, despite having lost to them 12-21, 21-17,21-19. Despite beating Rex and Yap in three sets, defending champions Malcolm Lightbown and Steve Swan were pushed down to third, again on sets difference.

Unfortunately, an injury to Yap’s knee meant they could not take their place in the semi-finals giving Ryan and Eddie a walkover with the second semi being between Garrylee McMullen and Michael Charlton and Philip Pahatouridis and Jamie Tinnion. This produced one of the tightest contests on the day with the opening two sets being shared, both with a score of 21-19. The decider saw Garrylee and Michael being the steadier of the two pairs and, once they had established a lead, they held on to take it 21-16.

The final started scrappily with neither pair playing that well but Garrylee and Michael just had the lead at the first set interval at 11-10. The lead kept changing hands until a run of just 3 points on Eddie’s serve got his side ahead at 16-13 and, with Ryan gaining more control in the forecourt, they took the opening set 21-17. Buoyed by that success they rapidly led 9-3 in the second before Garrylee and Michael rallied to only trail 11-8 at the interval. Ryan and Eddie gained control again though and raced away to 17-9 and then 19-10 before a late rally pulled them back to 19-17 but they kept their nerve to run out winners 21-17.

 

A disappointingly small entry in the singles nevertheless produced the expected final with both Phil and Garrylee getting through without the loss of a set.

These two normally produce a close contest and this was shaping up in similar fashion with Garrylee leading 11-8 at the first set interval. He edged further ahead to 14-10 before two errors in length by Philip and two cross-court winners from Garrylee saw him race ahead to 18-10 and he took his chance to run out 21-10.

The second set was not dissimilar to the first with Garrylee again edging it 11-7 at the interval and, maybe sensing that his opponent was not at his best, he produced an excellent spell of attacking play to stretch away to 17-7 and there was no way back for Philip making it two out of three for Garrylee.

Full Results: –

Men’s Singles: – Garrylee McMullen beat Philip Pahatouridis 21-10, 21-9

Men’s Doubles: – Eddie Burgess & Ryan Jelley beat Michael Charlton & Garrylee McMullen 21-17,21-17;

Ladies Doubles: – Eleanor Laws & Cara Vincenti beat Rachel Frobisher & Lauren Young 21-15,21-16;

Mixed Doubles: – Garrylee McMullen & Lauren Young beat Philip Pahatouridis & Rachel Frobisher 21-18,22-20.

 

 

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Coaching CPD: Disability Badminton Workshop – North East

Posted on November 19, 2019 by Steven Fritze

As part of Badminton England’s investment into coaches and supporting their development, we are inviting all members of our Coach Accreditation Scheme to attend a Disability Badminton Workshop in the North East, FREE of charge!

This workshop is open to Level 1, 2 & 3 coaches and aims to develop coaches’ knowledge, awareness and confidence to deliver badminton sessions to a range of various impairments disabled participants might have.

The workshop aims to cover the following areas:
• Understanding movement and hitting for wheelchair badminton
• Understanding the implications for coaching badminton to disabled participants with standing lower impairments
• Understanding the implications for coaching badminton to disabled participants with standing upper impairments
• Understanding the implications for coaching badminton to short stature participants

Workshop Date & Time:
Sunday 26th January 2020, 1pm – 4pm

Venue:
Newcastle Eagles Community Arena
Scotswood Road
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE4 7AF
On-site facilities: On-site parking and changing rooms

*All learners must be aged 16 or over on the day of the workshop and hold a badminton coaching qualification.

CLICK HERE for more information or to book a place!

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Under 15 Gold Final for Lucy

Posted on November 17, 2019 by richard.taylor

Seeded 2 in the Under 15 Gold girls singles at Milton Keynes this weekend, Lucy Dodd justified her seeding by making it through to the final.  Having won her two group games, she had a quarter final victory by 12 and 11 to reach the semis (and an overnight stay).  Sunday morning saw her facing Rhea Ramakrishnan of Middlesex in what turned out to be a very close match, which Lucy took 16-21, 21-19, 21-19.  The final saw her up against 5/8 seed Amelia Ngooi of Essex but this one slipped away from her 19-21, 7-21.
A great effort, Lucy: well done!

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Level 1 & Level 2 Coaching Certificates arranged for the North East

Posted on November 11, 2019 by Steven Fritze

A Foundation Award (Level 1) for Assistant Coaches in Badminton and a Coach Award (Level 2) Certificate for Coaches in Badminton have now been arranged for the North East and are open for bookings!

The coaching qualifications have slightly changed as the current Level 1 Award will be replaced by the ‘Foundation Award’ which will be a 2 day course and the current Level 2 Qualification will be replaced with the ‘Coach Award’ which will be a 5 day course. These qualifications will also be linked more closely to Badminton England programmes such as Essentials, No Strings, SmashUp! and The Racket Pack.

Foundation Award (Level 1) for Assistant Coaches in Badminton

Course information:
Dates: Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th January 2020
Times: 9am – 5pm on both days
Venue: Tyneside Badminton Centre (Bowness Road, Slatyford, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE5 2TA)
Cost: £215 for Badminton England members and £225 for non-members

Booking link: https://badmintonengland.azolve.com/Workbench.mvc/Show/6?ref=6ACB8B41CD6E833454DC22F108BE292AF1CB39E3

Deadline for applying: Friday 6th December 2019

* All learners must be aged 16 or over on the first day of the course.

 

Coach Award (Level 2) Certificate for Coaches in Badminton

Course information:
Dates: Saturday 18th & Sunday 19th January 2020, Saturday 15th & Sunday 16th February 2020 & Saturday 14th March 2020
Times: 9am – 5pm on all five days
Venue: Tyneside Badminton Centre (Bowness Road, Slatyford, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE5 2TA)
Cost: £355 for Registered Coaches, £370 for Badminton England Members & £380 for Non-Members

Booking link: https://badmintonengland.azolve.com/Workbench.mvc/Show/6?ref=5A0DDA722C167DB054AE99C4FF65743D753FCB33

Deadline for applying: Friday 20th December 2019

* All learners must be aged 18 or over on the first day of the course.

Places are limited so please don’t delay in getting booked on!

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Bronze Medals at York U17 Silver

Posted on November 3, 2019 by richard.taylor

Several of our Under 17 juniors travelled to York last weekend for the Yorkshire U17 Silver tournament.  It was a tough event with some strong competition but bronze medals were brought home by Tim Bodani & James Dodd in the boys’ doubles and by Charlotte Graham & Tim Bodani in the mixed.

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Under 15 Anglo-Scottish

Posted on November 3, 2019 by richard.taylor

Over the weekend of 12th and 13th October, Northumberland’s junior badminton team took part in the annual Under 15 Anglo-Scottish tournament at the Tyneside Badminton Centre.   This usually brings together up to eight counties playing off for the trophy but this year there were only four other teams taking part from Lothian, Cumbria, Yorkshire and Lancashire. Read on for Team Manager Gillian Cockett’s report on the weekend. Continue reading →

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Badminton England National Volunteer Conference 2020

Posted on October 31, 2019 by Steven Fritze

Building on the success of the inaugural volunteer conference in 2019, Badminton England are excited to announce that the conference will be returning for 2020!

The aim of the 2020 conference is to improve the experience of volunteering within badminton, so volunteers feel more valued in the community and by Badminton England. We want to arm our volunteers with the appropriate tools and knowledge to play a key role locally in increasing the number of people playing badminton. The 2019 conference focused mainly on volunteering, and key aspects of recruiting, retaining and rewarding volunteers within clubs and leagues. Following feedback from the first conference, the 2020 event will look include more aspects of club development and support, giving attendees the choice of a wide range of learning topics with practical tips which can be implemented within their local club, league or county association.

Tickets for the conference are priced at £10 per person which includes a full day’s attendance at the conference (including two workshop choices), lunch and a ticket to watch the Yonex All England Semi-Finals (evening slot), 5pm – 10pm.

Workshops:

1. Developing Leadership Skills

2. Developing Your Sports Club

3. Safeguarding & Governance

4. The Volunteering Journey

5. Using Social Media Effectively (Intro to using Social Media – Morning & Advanced Social Media Methods – Afternoon)

*Attendees must be Badminton England members, aged 14+

Date: Saturday 14th March 2020

Time: 10am – 4pm

Venue: The International Convention Centre (ICC), Broad Street, Birmingham, B1 2EA

CLICK HERE for more information and to book a place!

Booking Deadline: Friday 6th March 2020

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