Hertfordshire Badminton  2009                         

No Increase in Membership fees

Herts Badminton Association and BADMINTON England agreed at their respective AGMs in June to freeze membership fees at last  year's amounts. See HBA Membership & Benefits webpage.  

A new BE database has been purchased and configured for the coming season that is intended to make membership easier to manage by Club Organisers.  BE is contacting club organisers directly to ensure effective transfer.

 

Gail Emms, MBE

Gail Emms, born in Hitchin and coached for 8 years by Bill Goode at University of Hertfordshire and who regularly plays for the county, was awarded the MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List,12th June, for her services to badminton.  Paul Widdicombe, Herts Chairman of Selectors, sent her HBA's congratulations.

See also, BE's report  and Gail's 'cv' on BE  website

 

Helena Lewczynska Herts County Player of the Season

                                              click here for a larger copy

Helena received the Senior County Player of the Season Trophy and medal from HBA President Bob Walsh at Herts AGM 1st June: Chairman of Selectors, Paul Widdicombe reported:

 'Helena started the season playing for our senior county 3rd team with great success.
  After the first two matches she was asked to play for our 2nd team in Premier B and won matches against tough senior opponents.
At the final Premier A weekend of the season Rachel Howard dropped out of the 1st team the night before and Helena came up with no hesitation and won singles matches over that weekend.
To continually step up and meet these challenges Helena is worthy winner of Herts Senior Player of the Season for  2008/9.'

AGM Minutes and reports will appear on our Club Organisers, County Officers and SSP's page soon.

 

Gobi Finds it Tough in Germany - but Wins Bronze in Singles!

Gobi reports: The tournament consisted of 17 Nations, and over 100 competitors across the different disability categories. Some of the nations that took part included Spain, The Netherlands, Sri Lanka, Japan, India, Israel and Turkey.  Read the rest of Gobi's report by clicking here

 

Herts Youth Games

Another great annual Youth Games took place at the weekend at Herts Sports Village. A full report and more photos will follow soon, but in the meantime here are the final rank of the Districts in the Badminton Tournament: 

1st North Herts, 2nd Hertsmere, 3rd Three Rivers, 4th Watford, 5th Welwyn Hatfield, 6th East Herts, 7th St Albans, 8th Dacorum.

Thanks, particularly to Barbara Lewczynska Tournament Organiser and Gill Bartlett for score entries, Team managers and Coaches for coaching and organising their teams and Herts Sports Partnership for the overall organisation and funding, Tony Marmo, Herts Senior Competitions Manager, and all the players (who played their socks off!) and their parents/carers. 

 

Great Herts Junior County Successes!

Dear All,

 I know that the Committee would wish to share in congratulating our under 13 and under 17 teams for their stunning results this weekend.

In a less than easy year, our under 17’s excellent result at ICT to finish in 5^th position is a further outstanding tribute to Tony and Pat.

For the under 13’s, may we express particular thanks to Graham Hall and Natalie Munt,  who have helped to expertly guide our younger players towards this brilliant achievement as runners up to Yorkshire.

No single e-mail can adequately express the enormity of such achievements but, on behalf of the rest of the Committee, may we express our admiration and gratitude for keeping Hertfordshire towards the forefront of junior badminton in this country.

Well done!

Ken Winchester, Chairman HSBA

 

On Monday 20th April, 2009 the annual Herts Community Summit took place at The fielder Centre, Hatfield 

This year’s FREE event built on the success of the 2008 summit, and attracted over 130 delegates, representing Community Sports Networks (CSNs) and voluntary sports clubs from across Hertfordshire.

Included on the evening were:

• A variety of workshops tackling some of the key issues facing your sport, club or organisation.
• A range of exhibition stands, including organisations offering a mixture of services and support available in Hertfordshire

For copies of the presentations go to the HSP Summit webpage

 

 

Gobi successfully defends his Men’s Singles title

 

The 4 Nations Disabled Badminton Championships took place this weekend in Largs, Scotland where I successfully defended my Men’s Singles title from the 4 Nations in Liverpool back in February. I was runner-up in the Men’s doubles along with another new partner for this tournament, 18yr old Owen Kilburn from Nottingham.

 You can see a list of the scores and results of my matches on the link .

   This event followed on from Liverpool with a handicapping points system as all wheelchair categories were integrated. As a Level 3 Player, Level 2 opponents were given a +3 start against me, and Level 1 opponents a +6 start which added to the challenge. Of my opponents, Greg Smith (Sco) and Rowan Crossman (Eng) were Level 2 Players, and David Follet (Eng) a Level 3. With Blaise Hughes (NI), and my opponent in the final Ryan MaDonald (Sco) being Level 3s

The photo’s attached are of me with the winners and runners-up plates, and with my doubles partner Owen.

Thanks once again to all of you who have supported and spurred me onto another success, in particular to my parents, my coach Kelly Matthews, and Herts Sports Village and Gosling Sports Park.

I’ll be back in training this week for my next tournament in Dortmund for the German Open in May.  

Kind regards

 Gobi Ranganathan

HERTS 1st TEAM
Herts 1st team finished 2nd in Premier A three points behind winners Yorkshire TODAY.
Three excellent wins at the National Badminton Centre in Milton Keynes gave them 2nd spot after winning Premier B last season.
An 8-2 win over Notts, followed by a 6-4 win over Warwickshire and a 6-4 win over Essex.
Congratulations to the squad this weekend - Gail Emms, Natalie Munt, Liza Smith, Suzanne Rayappan, Kelly Matthews, Helena Lewczynska, Richard Doling, Dean George, Lee Perry, George Bevan & Victor Liew.  Dean George was named 1st team player of the season.
HERTS 2nd TEAM
Herts 2nd retained their place in Premier B after a tense weekend in Nottingham.
A 5-5 draw with eventual league winners Middlesex, followed by a 6-4 win over Avon and a defeat against promotion challengers Cheshire completed the weekend.
Well done to the squad and team Manager Ian Mulligan.
Squad this weekend - Laura Cousin, Kate Lester, Frankie Edeliman, Jo Goode, Charity Barnes, Andy Walden, David Westwood, Ryan McCarthy, Brian Lockie & Pete Gooden.
HERTS 4th TEAM
After gaining promotion last season, the team did exceptionally well and retained their place in division 3.
Team Manger Colin Walker gave opportunities to several aspiring young players.
Michelle McClements was named player of the season.
Further update to follow after the 3rd teams last fixture on 5th April and the national under 21 team event at HSV on 18th/19th April.
Regards
Paul Widdicombe