dlp
11th November 2002, 11:13
We constantly complain about the lack of success of our England Team so we should all support the World Class Start programme, as reported in the article on Badders.
In the early eighties England had world class players in every event, however in the last twenty years the standard in badminton, as in most sports has exploded. New technologies have changed the game, many more countries have aspired to be world class, unfortunately England did not move with the times and capitalise on their historical strength and we now find England with no realistic world class players, and by that I mean homegrown players capable of challenging for the top titles, outside of possibly the lower rated mixed event.
This improved junior England programme should address some of the problems, namely
Early identification of talent from a wider base and a more level programme of support. In the past probably only the top few players in each year had access to financial or coaching support. With the WCS a broader base of good junior players should be maintained, avoiding the "eggs in one basket " syndrome of recent times.
Juniors can be identified early on the basis of potential not just results, meaning they can specialise in badminton and can be exposed to top level coaching. The influence of top foreign coaches is filtering down to all levels and hopefully the standard of coaching in England, which is years behind, is feeling the effects of this foriegn influence. Juniors will start to learn the skills they need to achieve world class at a young age, not starting to learn the latest techniques at under 19 level or even older.
The NBC at Milton Keynes will be the best facility in the world but even given all this infrastructure it may take years for us to catch up.
A look at the world rankings in 1983 shows only a few countires vying for supremacy. England had 3 top 12 mens singles then, since Hall and Troke in the 80's we have not seen an English world class singles player, now players from Russia, France, New Zealand Australia, even USA beat our players on the world circuit and all these countries have their own Asian imports boosting their standard.
In short English badminton has been revolutionised by the lottery but it may take years for this to achieve results on the world stage.
In the early eighties England had world class players in every event, however in the last twenty years the standard in badminton, as in most sports has exploded. New technologies have changed the game, many more countries have aspired to be world class, unfortunately England did not move with the times and capitalise on their historical strength and we now find England with no realistic world class players, and by that I mean homegrown players capable of challenging for the top titles, outside of possibly the lower rated mixed event.
This improved junior England programme should address some of the problems, namely
Early identification of talent from a wider base and a more level programme of support. In the past probably only the top few players in each year had access to financial or coaching support. With the WCS a broader base of good junior players should be maintained, avoiding the "eggs in one basket " syndrome of recent times.
Juniors can be identified early on the basis of potential not just results, meaning they can specialise in badminton and can be exposed to top level coaching. The influence of top foreign coaches is filtering down to all levels and hopefully the standard of coaching in England, which is years behind, is feeling the effects of this foriegn influence. Juniors will start to learn the skills they need to achieve world class at a young age, not starting to learn the latest techniques at under 19 level or even older.
The NBC at Milton Keynes will be the best facility in the world but even given all this infrastructure it may take years for us to catch up.
A look at the world rankings in 1983 shows only a few countires vying for supremacy. England had 3 top 12 mens singles then, since Hall and Troke in the 80's we have not seen an English world class singles player, now players from Russia, France, New Zealand Australia, even USA beat our players on the world circuit and all these countries have their own Asian imports boosting their standard.
In short English badminton has been revolutionised by the lottery but it may take years for this to achieve results on the world stage.