Desperately seeking new club

[diane]

Hello,
I moved down to the Isle of Sheppey, Kent two years ago and am trying so hard to find a club to play at. I enjoy the game and want to get back into it and it gives me something to do apart from work, work, work. I do not have a partner to play the game with therefore seek a friendly place to play. Any suggestions gladly received.

many thanks

[Phil McBride]

If you are in Kent you could always send a PM to Tango and Steve Miller, I think both of them hail from that area and both play regularly so might have some info on where to go depending on your level.

[Loafer]

we need more women at our club, move to scotland!

[Phil McBride]

Most clubs are like that, I don't think females want to play in clubs anymore :(

The only ones that have an abundance (more than 5) are either competing county level or complete beginner level clubs which are more of a social outing.

T-minus 5 and counting.

[rhombus]

Diane,

There is a team in the Medway region of Kent called Bacchus who have so called " strong ladies ". So strong in fact that that do not play in a ladies league but are playing against Men in the 1st Division of the Mens Medway League. Does this situation occur in other counties ?. Years ago so called strong ladies team played in the 1st division of the Kent County League. However over the years teams are now lucky to
have enough women for a mixed team. This seems like a laughable situation that would never have happened 20 years ago however good the lady was i.e. Sue Whetnall ex world champion playing in a ladies
team within a Mens Division........come on out there, prove me wrong.

[thgoh]

In the Feb2005 issue of Kent Badminton Newletter :

MBA Ladies Take on the Men!!!

Medway is similar to most regions in that the lack of ladies has restricted the size of the league and has created a major problem in terms of standard and fairness of play. The stronger ladies felt that they were not getting the competition that they need and the weaker players felt that it was a waste of time going out to play against the strong, sometimes county level players, and getting thrashed. One club, Bacchus, approached the league and requested that they be allowed to enter a ladies team at the lower end of the men’s league. It was voted on and allowed some three years ago.

The original idea allowed for the existing Medway league players, those already members of Bacchus, to play against existing men’s teams. In reality this didn’t happen and many of the existing Bacchus team moved on. Bacchus have managed to maintain a team and to date they have climbed the league and are currently playing at Division one level. The rights and wrongs of whether ladies should be allowed to play in the men’s division can go on for ever but I was able recently to participate in a match against the current Bacchus team and have to say was extremely impressed. The game was friendly and very competitive and the ladies are well worth their position in the league. Unfortunately none of this has helped recruit additional ladies and the league is still suffering from the differences in playing standard. We have to get more ladies interested.

[Loafer]

We had real problems getting the few women we had to play for the team. In the end they did it only so we could enter the local league, i.e. did it for the club rather than actually wanting to. the change in attitude once we recorded our first win was dramatic! they are much keener now.

of course it still doesnt answer the question of how to attract women. (to the club i mean before Phol launches into hie repertoire of smart answers)

[rhombus]

Unfortunately my partner and I were looking forward to playing Bacchus just before Xmas, but they cancelled on the day of the match......" we could'nt get a team was the reason ". We play on a Sunday evening and I have a feeling that the little dears had county matches and were too tired to play. I remember
playing a county match in Devon and travelling back from there on a sunday to play a Kent League match
later that evening, not a good enough excuse.
You make the point of having no standard to play against in the Kent local leagues. A suggestion would be to travel to sussex or surrey where the standard could be better. Thats what I did with some other Kent players when the Kent Mens league folded many years ago. Maybe I am old fashioned but even at the
advanced age of 45 with my waistline expanding rapidly I don't want to play matches against women however good they think they are.

[tango]

going back to the original question Diane, if you wanted to play competitive badminton then I think your area would fall into the Rainham league (this league seems to have a team from Sittingbourne and one from Sheerness - their web site is: http://www.badmintonrdbl.co.uk/default.htm and the kent badminton site is www.kentbadminton.co.uk and finally if the above aren't a lot of help the co-ordinator for Kent badminton is Mike O'Keefe and his contact e-mail address is mikeok@blueyonder.co.uk .

it seems your area may also be covered by the Medway league which Rhombus previously mentioned, here's their web site details http://www.mbabadminton.co.uk/index.htm .

Good luck!

the tango doll