A TV channel for badminton is underway

[reg]

Hi all, just wanted to let everyone know about the plans to have a TV channel for minority sports. Check out the link below to read all about it in the Guardian.
http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1068607,00.html

[reg2003]

Will many people tune in? I know a lot of keen badminton players that say they don't enjoy watching.

[dlp]

In terms of UK based events what would a TV channel show? With only a couple of elite events and those apparantly not attracting the top players should there be a new event designed to be attractive to TV?

If they show international events that would be great for fans but the audience will require a lot of "education" as to who the world stars are.

[PeteG]

Never mind that for now! Someone's planning to put badminton on TV!!!! Its a start, I know there are things to consider, but the fact that the wheels are in motion comes as good news!

[clingfilm]

well done kerry anne with your goodnews. hope it will take off nicely. keep this goodnews spreading all over the badders community.

[BadmintonsBest]

Anyone know the launch date?

[rickys]

At last, hopefully we'll get something that'll allow badminton to get the exposure it deserves and to allow us keen players/fans the chance to see it played more often and on TV!

I posted something similar to this some weeks ago, only to be told it went belly-up! It was a huge disappointment and at the time I was wishing that someone else followed on the idea. Well, it looks like our wishes have been granted.

Lets all hope that this channel comes off the ground.

Thanks Kerry for sharing that excellent news.

[NeilNicholls]

from the report...
>

So we should be seing news of this in the next Badminton magazine, and maybe there'll be a bit less knocking of the BAofE (maybe)

I see no news of it in the news/press release sections of the English, Welsh or Scottish websites...

[Titanium]

If this does come 2b Neil then perhaps well all stop knocking the baofe as much.

Have 2say its bout time we saw them pull there finger out. At least we can c what they been doing with some of the lottery money.

[NeilNicholls]

something went askew with my cutting and pasting it appears.

I meant to include
<<The channel has signed agreements with 12 bodies...

Under the deals the authorities have agreed to work with the channel to promote their sports and will also contribute financially
>>

[southernmonkey]

Oh no we wont Titanium?

[dlp]

On Grandstand last week there were extensive highlights of a gymnastics event from Scotland, an English girl won a discipline I believe in the bit I saw.

People always say that badminton does not go well on Tv. I think gymnastics is an incredibly hard sport to televise, you watch perhaps ten gymnasts perform a set of moves and then wait to see a panel of judges award a mark, while we can spot a stumble the nuances of style etc are impossible for the casual observer to pick up. Historically the winners have been Russian girls with impossible names, yet the asian dominance is often an excuse for no badminton

Yet through years of TV exposure we are all familiar with gymnastics, its disciplines its scoring, the strong countries and we appreciate it.

A similar process needs to occur with badminton. It needs to be shown enough for viewers to learn the rules,shots, and the charactars on the circuit. If such a TV channel required investment from the sports I think it would never be money wasted, far better to have the sport on TV then send people into schools to try to sell it to kids who have only seen football and tennis.

[rickys]

Well put D.Peterson!

You're right in all accounts I would say. The BBC/ITV, etc have just put excuses for not televising badminton in recent years.

The bottom line is probably there's not enough money in it due to lack of sponsorship.

In the Far East, the Asian Champs is sponsored by JVC!

Years ago we use to have the British Airways Masters but it's no more!

What we need is the Nationals and the All-England on TV plus some of the other European events such as the Swiss, Dutch and the Danish Open. This way, it would be possible for a British public to see other Europeans competing and getting to finals.

Of course it would be nice if we could also have the Thomas/Uber and the World Champs and some of the other events from the Far East like the Grand Prix and the Sudirman Cup.

[hilly1285]

Couldn't agree more with Peterson. I myself are invloved with gymnastics as much as badminton and first started when i was about 6. Even i find it hard to distinguise between the different elements in the routines. Yet BBC still show alot more gymnastics that badminton.

My sister and brother-in-law are invloves with a company called Gym Schools, where they send qualified coaches into primary schools to promote healthy living and gymnastics in particular. My brother-in-law is an ex GB gymnast and all the children look up to him as a role model. His has seen a massive increase in our area for gymnastics and its only been running for a few years.

Someone needs to do this for badminton (or at least racket sports), not only will promote healthy living but also badminton.

[Phil McBride]

They do Michael!!

[johng]

And that is part of the problem...the efforts of people like George Frith (hope I have spelt that right) and Yes even the BAofE go unoticed because they are not publicised properly.

Problem is.....how do you get your efforts publicised, those of you who have been into the press rooms at the Nationals, The All England and The Worlds will be only to aware of the effort that goes into sending reports etc to the media

[Phil McBride]

Actually John I'm from Scotland so the BAofE has nothing to do with it!!!

In Glasgow the City Council activley recruits players and coaches to go round the schools and introduce them to the game by spending aprox six or so weeks giving the children basic lessons to help them get started in the game.

They also run classes for adults.

The aim is not to find future champs immediatley, but to make sure everyone at least knows the game exists, how they take it from there is up to follow ups and how active the participants are to pursue the game.

Well done to Glasgow City council for their efforts!!!

[Michael Banks]

On Born to Win, the BBC sport show they mentioned that there was a programme of searching the schools for talent and then guiding them on to greater things - I wonder if any of the potential athletes they find will be driven towards a badminton future, or will it be the usual sports they are channelled towards?

[Phil McBride]

Probably the most media friendly!

But did you notice that they offered help and advice to the participants which quite often took them away from the sports that they had been training in and guided them towards other sports which the pro's thought they were "suitable alternatives"? It left me thinking that it was more of a hunt to fill potential gaps than to find new stars who were needing that little bit extra.

[johng]

Phil..Yeah I noticed that...am not sure I like the idea of that, wonder how Badminton community would feel if one of our great hopes was guided away to another sport

[Michael Banks]

or even better, a great athlete is plucked from the depths by the BAE!!!

[Rodrigues]

Good for Glasgow. Good for gymnastics too. Going into schools is important as Phil and Glasgow City Council realise.

At the moment another coach and I are coaching racket skills (slanted towards badminton) in Gloucestershire primary schools at the end of the school day. Taking groups of a minimum of 15 beginners of varying abilities and potential is only really possible using plusballs initially (slow moving ultra light balls - see Badders.net for details!) In their first session children may hit a plusball up to 2000 times, whereas with a ball or a shuttle they would be lucky to have a few dozen hits!

Our aim is to introduce more children to racket games so that they may either continue playing or return to racket sports at some stage in their lives, having had a good introduction to racket skills. If the Plusballs Method (where success is guaranteed) is replicated in other areas, more children should come into racket games and be more positive about them.

More TV coverage of racket games would help to increase their credibility in the eyes of both children and parents. A dedicated alternative sports TV channel would be a step in the right direction and help coaches and teachers working to promote racket sports in schools, clubs and sports centres.

[Phil McBride]

Roger, I find plusballs a very usefull teaching tool as well.

As you mentioned they are slower and give children more time to hone their hand eye co-ordination. But the best thing is that they come in different sizes and don't deflate.

What a plug!!

[Rodrigues]

Phil, thanks for that. Sounds better coming from someone else! Though I must admit the list of plaudits is getting longer by the day.

The real advantage of plusballs is that everyone succeeds - and children can "feed" themselves in individual, paired and group activities which would be difficult, if not impossible, in the early stages with normal missiles.

Once the basic skills have been acquired, more normal missiles can be used, but we find fluff balls and splayed out shuttles are useful transitional resources before moving on to normal shuttles and balls.

If anyone out there is connected with introducing large scale Council type sports projects to beginners - like Phil - why not give The Plusballs Method a try, and dispense with normal missiles (and frequent failure) altogether in the first couple of sessions? (Invaluable for small scale and individual use as well!)