On 8th and 9th February, our Under 14 team braved Storm Ciara and travelled down to the Midlands to play three Shires League matches in a single weekend. The team was Chalida Prapunwong, Jasmine Osborn, Reema Rajeev, Sophie Cockett, Matthew Jefferson, Oliver Heron, Ryan Cockett and Thomas Vicente. 
The team was managed by Gillian Cockett and this is her report. Continue reading
Our Under 14 Shires League team have just braved the stormy weather to spend the weekend playing a triple-header against East Midland counties. Managed by Gillian Cockett and supported by a great team of parents, the players were
Chalida Prapunwong, Jasmine Osborn, Reema Rajeev, Sophie Cockett, Matthew Jefferson, Oliver Heron, Ryan Cockett and Thomas Vicente.
A more detailed report may follow, as and when Gillian has caught up on a lost few days, but in summary they lost 1-19 to a very strong Leicestershire team, produced an encouraging 5-15 against Nottingham and then travelled home in great spirits having beaten Derby 16-4. All the players scored wins in the various disciplines over the weekend and, although we had asked a lot of this very young team, they all showed great resilience and will have learnt a great deal.
We have never done a Shires weekend like this one but it seems to have gone really well and the players all want to repeat it. Very many thanks to them – and to the whole support team.
Over the last weekend of January, the Northumberland U13 team took part in the annual U13 Anglo Scottish badminton tournament at the Tyneside Badminton Centre. In all, five English and Scottish counties played over the course of two days. The Northumberland team consisted of Matthew Jefferson, Adam Secker, Tom Jurowski (Saturday only), Ben Gilroy (Sunday only), Ollie Beale, Stephen Glennie, Reema Rajeev, Cookie Prapunwong, Sophie Cockett, Jasmine Osborn, Fay Prapunwong and Sara Haddi. 
They were managed by Gillian Cockett and this is her report. Continue reading
A group of our stronger juniors travelled down to Thornaby last weekend and several of them came back with medals.
Tim Bodani won his group and played a great semi, only losing 21-20, 14-16, 18-20 to Scottish junior Finlay Jack taking a bronze medal. James Dodd won three of his four group games and there were wins for Jack Tilbury and Sonny Ho. In the girls singles, Charlotte Graham, Amy Ward and Ellen Davison each scored one group win.
Tim and Charlotte have a successful doubles pairing in the mixed and built on this again to reach the final, losing to the top seeds 12-15, 15-8, 5-15 but taking the silver medals. Ellen and Sonny had one group win. In the level doubles, Charlotte and Amy won two of their three group games to take bronze medals and Tim partnered James, taking bronze again after winning three of their four group games. Jack and Ollie Edmondson scored one win.
The third running of the Active Northumberland Men’s Doubles went successfully on Saturday 11th January at Ponteland Leisure Centre with twelve pairs from around the county entering.
Players of age 14 plus were invited and a mixture of senior county, junior county, league and social players took part. Each pair played against seven other partnerships over the course of the four hours, resulting in the winners being Walbottle Nomads and county juniors Tim Bodani and James Dodd.
A trophy and prizes from Active Northumberland were presented and flexible entry rules meant that ladies were invited and county junior 10 year old Oliver Heron played his first tournament against adults, gaining experience and coping well.
An early start was necessary last Sunday for our U18 team and the parents travelling down to Pontefract to play Yorkshire 1st. Managed by Karen Daison and Daniel Tinnion, the team was:
Tim Bodani, Finlay Smith, Sonny Ho, Matty Grant, Charlotte Graham, Lucy Dodd, Ellen Davison and Natalie Ho 
This is Karen’s report on the match
Our Under 16s scored an excellent 14-6 Shires League victory over Lancashire2 this weekend. Fielding a team designed to broaden the base at this age group, we brought in a number of younger players to join two of the more regular boys. The team, managed by Richard Taylor and Daniel Tinnion, was –
Ava Doyle, Eve Beechinor-Collins, Katrina Ho, Naomi Silva, Hugh Twelves, Jamie Grant, Ryan Cockett and Xuehan Zhang. 
The annual Under 17 round in the Anglo-Scottish team tournaments took place just before Christmas. The team was:
Tim Bodani, James Dodd, Sonny Ho, Matty Short, Ollie Edmundson, Jack Tilbury, Lucy Dodd, Ellen Davison, Charlotte Graham, Amy Ward, Teeda Prapunwong, Katrina Ho, Anna Kroon (guesting from Durham) 
Read on for Team Manager Karen Davison’s report. Continue reading
On Sunday 15th December, the Northumberland Under 14 team travelled down to Pontefract to play against the Under 14 Yorkshire second team. The Northumberland team were: Jasmine Osborn, Naomi Silva, Reema Rajeev, Sophie Cockett, Mathew Jefferson, Oliver Heron, Ryan Cockett and Thomas Vicente. 
This is team manager Gillian Cockett’s report on the day. Continue reading
Our Northumberland round of the BE Bronze Under 13 Circuit was held at TBC in late November and brought a good sprinkling of medals for our youngest juniors. Continue reading