Where are the juniors?

[Michael Banks]

I know this has been touched upon in recent threads, but no one has come up with a reason or a solution for the lack of juniors moving up to a senior level.

Looking at most clubs there are very few players under 30 and most of the organisers are 50+. Is this the end for badminton? Soon there will be veteran only leagues?

[willco]

When i was a junior in Dorset there was no link between under 17s and the senior county squad. Someone i was talking to recently said they had had an under 21 county squad/session. I think that would be the best practice to encourage 17-21s to develop their game further and stop them from not developing as much whilst at Uni...

[ObiWan]

Michael,I share your fears for the future of the game.In my main club[Clandon] of around 30 members,only 1[yes,one]is aged under 30.I also play at Godalming,one of the strongest clubs in Surrey with more members but still only 2 or 3 under 30.Most of the local leagues and even the Surrey League seem to have shrunk to around half the size they were in the 80's.Very few clubs fielding many players in their 20's let alone teenagers.
Yet I coach at a thriving junior club with over 80 members which has been in existence for around 25 years.So what happens to these juniors?
Many give up due to 'peer pressure'i.e if they are playing badminton they are not 'one of the crowd'and become socially isolated.Unless you have a very strong
personality and level of commitment it's difficult to spend loads of your spare time playing badminton when your friends are going to parties,meeting boys/girls etc.
Going on to college/university is far more widespread than 20 years ago.The student life has many distractions that
must seem a lot more attractive than badminton.Many give up the game at this stage and never start again.
I don't think the attitude prevalent in many adult clubs promotes the integration of juniors.Older people generally like to see the status quo preserved,youngsters with the potential to make vast improvement can be seen as
a threat to the existing team structure.Those clubs enlightened enough to welcome and integrate younger players into their teams will survive and even thrive.The others will eventually disappear,victims of their own short-sightedness.
The way forward is to encourage the 16-18 year olds into the senior clubs.Give them big concessions on subs/match fees,put them into your teams paired up with stronger more experienced players and they will prosper,gaining greater enthusiasm as they improve.
Leave them playing just amongst themselves and they will disappear into the shopping malls and playstations of oblivion.
Over 40's??The term will soon become redundant because it will include all of us who are left.

[johng]

Not really suer exacty how to respond to this thread as I think there are many reasons for the lack of 17-30 year olds in club badminton...and I specify that age range with a reason. However I feel there is one very common reason

I live in a small Bedforshire town, moving here in the early 80's and deciding to restart playing Badminton. At that time this small town had in exess of 10 clubs....and they only way you could get into one, was by having a decent playing standard....clubs were turning people away for the simple reason that they had all reached their optimum playing numbers with regard to court time........we had a town tournament, which saw perhaps 50 plus players...all enjoying a great day...... everything was fine, our playing standard was improving and our teams were rapidly climbing up the leagues


A how many clubs did we hear the cry...Juniors..to hell with juniors....... all they do is ruin the club nights...we get five or six bloody good, competitive games per club night, why on earth shoud we invite juniors into the club....and have to play perhaps one or two 'pit pat' games....why do we need Juniors ruining our club...let them play at school


But then....... suddenly..........our numbers are beginning to fall, we are faced with the prospect of dropping our precious league teams, what can we do !!!!!!............how many of us can honestly say that we seriously considered bringing juniors into the club (and having pit pat games) when we had the option of merging with another local club, and save if not increase, our league teams....and still have our competitive club games

So clubs merged...and then merged again, in many cases simply to safeguard the existing players team place.......and if juniors were considered then only one or two were invited.

At one club I played at the better Juniors were not welcomed because they could beat exising club members and could possibly take away their precious team place

Come the last few years and the consequences of 'our' usually selfish actions are coming home to roost with a vengence...we have club memberships which are comprise almost completely of those in their late 30's or over...and virtually nobody in the 20's...and then the anguished cries start...why are we not getting juniors in the club.

I am almost proud to say that we are at least doing something to redress the situation, running a Junior section before the senior club plays, with 20-30 youngster all having a great time..and hopefully deciding to carry on playing......and each week visiting team members comment how good it is to see kids enjoying playing............ask those same team players it their club has a junior section....and the answer is almost always no.

If we as a club can start a junior section..then why cannot others....or even...and thisI know is a terrible thing to suggest...but why cannot two or three nearby clubs actually combine forces to help run one junior section..

I am prepared to stick my neck out and suggest it is because most club players are only interested in playing..they are not in the least interested in helping out , how many Counties, Leagues......Clubs struggle to find volunteers to run the sport........however you suggest doing away with club court time...and the helpers come running.

All it takes to remedy the situation is a litle commitment from a few people, a little of their time and the desire to see our game played. we have done it.

One of our local leagues has done it...Milton Keynes is working wonders with club/school links etc.

Michael asks if this is the end for Badminton...I would say no..but it will be very close, but slowly things will improve, the BAoe's initiative with BISI is having results...now it is up to the average club player to stop thinking only of there precious club games....and start thinking of the games future

[johng]

Not sure if everything came over as I really wanted it to.....but I'm certain you can get the general point....I just hope I do not get to much hate mail

[Balmforthk]

I played a Division 1 local League match last night, in a multi court hall. Our match was between the team in 3rd position and the team in 6th position in Div 1. in the 1st Mens Doubles event, I was the youngest on court, at the age of 43 !

On the positive side, there was another match going on in the same hall, featuring a team from a different club. Of the members in the 'away' team in that match, 6 (out of 8) of the team were aged about 13 - 16. And this is a Senior League match albeit in Division 8. My own son played his first Senior League match last week, aged 13. He played mixed with his cousin, also aged 13.

I think the juniors are there, the problem is getting them to transition from Junior to Senior League and keeping them. Given that there seems to be a gap in playing age from about 17-30, this seems to have been going on for quite a time and only now has become obvious.

I think some clubs do suffer from the mentality which John outlined, of not welcoming juniors for various reasons. I was lucky enough to be a member of a club which welcomed juniors and tried to push them and bring them on.

As for juniors playing in senior teams, well if they're good enough, get them in, in my experience they will only improve and, generally, the higher you put them in, the faster they will improve.

[dlp]

I believe you have to break down the juniors issue into at least a couple of areas.

Firstly numbers of children accessing the sport taking coaching, junior competitions and clubs

Secondly the integration of these juniors into senior play and their continuing their interest in later life.

A lot has been done to get more juniors playing. There are a number of problems in England relating to this. Firstly school sport and after school sport is relativley poor compared to other countries. Secondly there is a lack of affordable courts or courts in general to run junior clubs in.

Problems in integrating juniors come often arise from the facilities available. If an adult club only has a few court hours a week it is reasonable for the paying members to expect to get an appropriate standard of play. Within much larger clubs various grades of club night or training can be run. Many clubs are too small in England.

Secondly club leagues revolve around playing doubles often late into the night. This presents problems for children and parents, a lack of singles at club level, again often due to time restrictions makes it less appealing to youngsters.

A further problem is the lack of coaching within Uk clubs. It is extremely rare for adult clubs to have any sort of training night, and coaching provided to juniors is often poor. There is no reason why a sixteen year old cannot compete at a good adult level, if they have a good technical level. Because of the lack of coaching / practice it takes years for juniors to pick up the game and gradually move up through the adult club.

The rise of body combat / body pump etc has meant even less time available to badminton in local sports centres, the future can only lie in purpose built club owned facilities.

I can report that in my local leagues the exact same problem is occuring. I played last season for the first time in 6 years and was shocked to find that the whole first division had simply got older with no new under 30 players having emerged.

The responsibility is to the leagues and development officers to modernise the structure so the future looks brighter for clubs.

[nickchambers]

Badminton is quite a complex game to pick up and to play to any sort of standard, this often puts youngsters off.

However, there are very few people out selling our game to schools and young people in our counties. How can we possibly inspire youngsters when they rarely get to see what the game looks like.

Contrast this with football and rugby where the infrastructure is embedded within the schools.

This isn't a pop at the BAofE, but it really does need to be driven from the top and down to the development officers with the express aim of getting it into schools (even if players have to give up time for demonstration and occasional coaching sessions).

Coincidently I put this to my badminton club that lacks members and is in decline, but they didn't give a toss (even though there were about five people willing to do a 'road show').

[Grover]

John has hit the nail on the head as it is very much an attitute problem that has driven away many potential youngsters.

When a junior plays at an adult club there is an instant us and them barrier built. It isn't long before the junior gets disgruntled and decides life is less hassle elsewhere. This is not just at a standard club either, it extends to the elite of the county clubs as well.

[coops241180]

Two points here, i have to disagree with Nick here, it is not that badminton is a complex sport to pick up, it can be played at every level, like football and rugby - the problem is in schools - i was ridiculed as a child because i couldn't play football or rugby (and still can't) but i was the best badminton player in the school and ended up representing my school with my brothers and some other from my school who were miles below the standard at the time. Fortunately i am in a position to do something about it now, i am hoping to become a member of our District badminton council who have already had some success, most recently gaining a £5k award and using it to offer primary schools in the area equipments and coaching. Also i come from a club where through my father being the man he is and being dedicated to badminton have a thriving junior section and the correct mentality to introduce juniors into the club scheme - i was the first to benefit from this but i took some knocks when it started, similar to those mentioned - older team players refusing to give up team places, fortunately tho it has been them who left and now the club benefits from having stronger sides, we now have 5 teams in the top 3 divisions and the other 3 teams are on the other divisions 4, 5 and 6. next year i come back from university and hope to make a big difference to the club again, as i did when i played as a junior - i actively support the junior scheme and am looking forward to producing some county standard players in the years i have ahead of me

Neil

[steph666]

hi where i play in the redcar and cleveland area there are around 80 junoirs in my club (marske b.c) and some more junoir clubs. There about five adult clubs with junoirs of high standards playing for them marske, guisborough westgate etc. so we really have no problem with lack of junoirs up north. :)

[fitnessfreakgirlie]

When i was a junior in Dorset there was no link between under 17s and the senior county squad. Someone i was talking to recently said they had had an under 21 county squad/session. I think that would be the best practice to encourage 17-21s to develop their game further and stop them from not developing as much whilst at Uni...

Hey just to say that I live in Dorset and I want to get into badminton but can't find many clubs in my area ( Weymouth ) What can i do if i want to get really good at it ?

Please reply!! Thank you :o

[Phil McBride]

I know this has been touched upon in recent threads, but no one has come up with a reason or a solution for the lack of juniors moving up to a senior level.

Looking at most clubs there are very few players under 30 and most of the organisers are 50+. Is this the end for badminton? Soon there will be veteran only leagues?

Let me see, in Scotland the issue seems to be that the funding is being severely cut so juniors will drift out of the game rather than burden themselvs with the costs of trying to pursue badminton into the start of the senior tour, then again they might last one or two seasons but how many can afford to throw money away to follow into senior badminton. Many squad places are being cut at the expense of the depth of the game and leaving only the chosen few!

If there is no money to fund the game can you expect 17, 18 and 19 year olds to pay their own way? How?

If they get jobs to earn enough to fund their training, bearing in mind good coaches cost in the region of £20-30 per hour where then do they find the time to train if they are out working to fund their training.

As for normal clubs, many kids fall away from badminton in the late teens with exams and alsofinding their social lives are far more importaint, when I stopped playing at 18 to go to uni and do all the things that come with it there were still a lot of juniors about, when I started back playing a couple of years ago there was only one person playing I remember being around the junior circut and he now playes mixed doubles for Scotland.

So it is a mixture of things but youngsters are prioritising things for themselvs and finding out badminton will not pay the morgage or buy a shiny new car unless you are the best.

We can rant all we want about the lack of badminton in schools etc but who's responsibility is it to go into the schools? Who should fund this? BA of E, S.B.U., city council? Do community centres run badminton clubs to get the kids off the street, more is the chance it is football which will draw kids in and can have mass numbers playing in the same game and involving everyone not just 4 people on a court and another dozen sitting watching them.


What can i do if i want to get really good at it ?

Please reply!! Thank you :o

Practice :rolleyes:

[markhawker]

Hi, a lot of very valid points. My club, Keighley Badminton Club (www.keighleybc.co.uk) is putting a lot more time into the development of junior badminton, as they are obviously the future of the club. I'm currently 'in transition,' being 18, going from junior to senior badminton, I've played senior badminton for 2 years now in the Bradford League and thoroughly enjoy it.

Speaking to a few other members, and other coaches, we concluded that not enough juniors are being targeted at grass roots level. Mostly in local Primary Schools in the area, as no training programmes have been set up. Hopefully though, we are looking to have another 6 qualified BAofE Part 1 coaches (including myself) and later in the year are looking at developing 20 junior Leaders who will be able to assist in-school etc.

We have a tournament tomorrow, where we have had 60 entrants, mainly in the 12 - 15 age group, with only 3 pairs in the Under 19 category. I can only put it down to University/College commitments, or commitments in other sports.

Hopefully though, more intermediate players will continue to improve in the coming years.

Mark Hawker

[ukplayer]

Practice :rolleyes:

Whats with the unnecessary sarcasm?

[ukplayer]

Hey just to say that I live in Dorset and I want to get into badminton but can't find many clubs in my area ( Weymouth ) What can i do if i want to get really good at it ?

Please reply!! Thank you :o

If you haven't already, try contacting the BAofE http://www.baofe.co.uk/ for clubs in your area and maybe other things that are happening badminton wise. Though if you're new, you'll have to find a beginners club.

If you want to improve, check the local sports centre to see if there are any courses over summer. If not your first port of call for starting are evening courses at local sports centres i.e. group coaching sessions. Second to that is private coaching but that costs a fair amount of money. Otherwise try finding a friend who plays or persuade one of your friends to play and go and practice with them. Though really to improve you need some kind of coach to teach you the basics so attending group coaching sessions are advised.

[JoeWright]

To fitnessfreakgirl:

www.topracket.com (http://www.topracket.com)
www.dorsetbadminton.co.uk (http://www.dorsetbadminton.co.uk)

Email us at info@topracket.com for more information.

Regards

Joe