The decline of Badminton

[kfw8664]

Dear All,
Is it my imagination or are we struggling with our beautiful game, I am a player and through one thing and another had not played for 18 years and in the last year have been trying very hard to get playing to a relatively decent standard, competant club player standard I would say, but after playing me you may well disagree, but back to the point, I am finding it hard to find a club that is truly competative, I have been to a few clubs in the last year and they are either completely social or 5 people turn up and that is considered a busy night, I have been to 3/4 clubs like that, that is what i mean by decline, one was considered in the past as a very good church side but now has a maximum of 8 members, I would like a club that has winning matches reasonably high on thier agenda, I'm currently playing in a club that is run by a family member of Claudio Ranieri, with a rotation system rather than put the best team out, I want to play at a decent level, and I want to join a club that I would be made to fight for a place, it's the only way I can get better and that ultimatly is my goal, I live in the southside of glasgow but am willing to travel anywhere in the glasgow, lanarkshire, ayrshire area for competative play, Can anyone point me in the right direction, Cheers, badders pals

[Phil McBride]

Oh well, another Glaswegian is finding it difficult to find a good club, you are not alone.

A phone call to the hub of badminton in Glasgow revealed about 4 clubs:

(i) Linthouse & County (Thurs nights)- unfortunatley their idea of new members is to be of a very high calibre indeed (probably to do with the "county" part of the name), I once asked one of the so called coaches/participants what the standard was like and the answer I got was - "You wouldn't get a game". Nice reply if only it had been to my original question! I hope that attitude is not indicitave of the whole club!

(ii) Glasgow Central (Wed nights)- Aparently a high standard but only seem to have about 4-8 regulars from what I have heard and most of their competitive players train elsewhere in other squads.

(iii) Govan Old (Sat afternoon)- a good level of play and a high turnout, quite welcoming from my experience, I was waiting on someone who I was coaching and they were playing on the court next to me and asked me on without knowing me and were friendly.

(iv) Westside (Mon nights) - standard nowhere near the other three but a friendly atmosphere and generally about 12+, if you can get past the first night slagging by me then you are doing well!

If competitive is what you are after the best thing to do is look up the churches leagues and find out which clubs are in division 2 or field a second division team and try for it, there should be one near you.

Westside is a place to start and work on your consistency and play with people of a simmilar level as opposed to Scotstoun or Sunday nights, you should only be using these to work on things like footwork and specific shots since the levels are so different from game to game.

What you have to watch out for is the more established clubs are seasonal in that they have finished already and wont start back up until the season starts, Westside runs 52 weeks a year. No wonder I'm always bloody injured!

[THEACTUALGREIGPETRIE]

Sorry mate, I only know of clubs in the Fife and Edinburgh area! Seems all clubs are declining in the UK. There is practically nothing left of the church leagues that were so strong a generation ago.
I was speaking to a Danish chap at the Newcastle ISBT and he said that in one of his cities' there were more than 1000 competitive badminton players. That's probably the same number of people that play in the whole of Scotland!!!

[kfw8664]

Thank you phil and greig, for your input,

Now Phil, as far as first night slaggings go at Westside on a monday night, (dare I put this in print, oh yes I should) I'm not the proud owner of a pair of ruby red slippers.........

Maybe I could talk to you tomorrow about it in a little more detail at scotstoun tomorrow night if your there.....

Thanks boys but more input from other subscribers would be most helpful..........

[KevinStangoe]

Back to your heading Kevin, The Decline In Badminton. I think the decline in Badminton and in other sports started with the Teachers strikes in the 80's. After school badminton clubs became a thing of the past. Another big factor is what you are looking at right now, the computer age. Much easier to pick up PS2 and play on that rather than put a bit of effort into running around a sports hall trying to hit a bit of cork with feathers sticking out of it!
I recently found an old programme for the Scottish Nationals U14/U18 March 1981. The entry for the boys singles U18 numbered somewhere in the 40's, the U14 was somewhere in the 60's. The winner had to play 5 games, now adays you can win a National age group title by playing a couple of games. In some of the girls events it has been 1 game!
Even the Womens nationals has been reduced to a couple of games.
More players means more competition means better players.
Anybody got any solutions.
P.S. Kevin if you are looking for a good club, move to Norwich. My club is going from strenghth to strength. We have on a good night 30 people attending using 4 courts, with a good range of ability.
PPS The winner of those 5 games in 1981 was me!! Sorry Tony!

[Phil McBride]

That's an interesting point Kevin, I remember many an age ago there was a well known centre in the South side of Glasgow which had a good junior programme. The first session on a Saturday was fully subscribed and the second on a Sunday was quite full as well with the elite session on a Friday evening very well attended by a good level of player.

Now with regards to the picking up of PS2's etc are you suggesting games consoles are new? There were consoles about at that time and generally in the second incarnation and generation but now I think peer pressure and individualism has the rule over wanting to pursue sports and in particular badminton. Kids do not want to excel at sports nowdays because the big bucks lie within educational prowess. There must be more to it than that!

The Quad at the weekend was a good event but where was the support, it was only the squads, some coaches, some parents and a loud mouth gobby B that was there (ME, just in case).

That says it all, people comment but how many really go out of their way to promote their sport?

Kevin W, yes I probably will attend and will be putting on one of my usual hitting displays (frame, shaft, handle or the old favourite just kicking the shuttle over and waiting to see if anyone noticed) Gut strings cost far too much nowdays to actually use them!

[kfw8664]

Hi Kevin you are so correct about the play stations and of course in thinking about it the teachers strike will have had something to do with it, My teacher was certainly a major influence on me, of course i left school way before that, I also think that is why we have such an obecety problem too, kevin I play on a wednesday night at The scottish badminton academy in Scotstoun in glasgow, it is an open club and at the moment we have anything between 65 and last week alone we had 74 players of ALL standards using 8 courts but half of the players I would imagine are once a week non competative players, Some very good players go and is also very friendly, but alas no competative edge too it except your will to win, no league or aparent interest in one, it would be a massive undertaking if someone had the time or the inclination to do it, but what Can we do about the decline of the leagues that were so prominent and so powerful in the 60s, 70s and the 80s, the church leagues had 4 divisions if memory serves me and if not 4 it certainly had three and very few points given away through lack of players in the team, not like now, very few churches can field a full first team never mind a second, Does anyone have any ideas on how too revitalise our competative side to our game?

[kfw8664]

In answer to you phil, I attended the Quads on sunday but it realy was only by chance that I knew they were on, should there not be a little more advertising, would I be right in saying that there was a little lottery funding involved and if so why was some of the budget not put into advertising, because these guys and lassies are the future of our game and they are putting a lot of effort in,I for one who did attend, i was so happy with the standard and everyone did well to support there own team but on occasion went out of their way to support players of other teams too, they were a credit to SOME of the youth of today

[JohnEllis]

I believe that at junior level Scottish juniors need more competition outside Scotland to increase their improvement rates. Playing JC's in England helps but your players need more international trips which costs money but would be a worthwhile investment.
High quality competition encourages those with the desire to put extra effort in at training to bring about improvement.
This said it will not increase the number of players. This can only be achieved by encouraging County teams to play events such as Ashington, Gateshead, Yorkshire, ICT and as many others as possible. Again money and travelling are problems.