Herts Olympic Hopeful with Herts Juniors at Wodson Park 

It was a real privilege for ten Herts youngsters to be put through their paces by the GB International. In a gruelling session at Wodson Park Sports Centre, Ware Natalie assisted by Herts Chairman of Selectors Paul Widdicombe demonstrated and coached a variety of strokes and took part in some competitive matches with the youngsters

During the session Paul presented Natalie with a Good Luck card from the Hertfordshire Badminton Association to all the GB squad.

Young Herts Coaches and Volunteers Receive Awards at HSBA AGM

Young Coaches and Volunteers of the Year were honoured with trophies and individual medals at the Herts Schools Badminton Association AGM Tuesday 23rd June. The photo shows: L-R: Jonathan Pancutt and Chris Fisher, joint Young Coaches of the Year for their coaching as Level 2 coaches  in junior clubs and Council schemes in North Herts and Welwyn-Hatfield, respectively:  Dave Westwood and unable to attend Joe Webb, joint Young Volunteers of the Year for their much appreciated efforts with Herts Squads and Berkhamsted Junior Badminton Club, respectively.

Seven Herts 16-19 year olds attended an enjoyable Community Sports Leaders Award Badminton course at the Royal Masonic School

The 6-hour course was organised by Dan Klinger, Herts Sports Partnership, with coaching provided by Ray Learney and Herts BDO Richard Doling and HBA Coaching Coordinator Dave Bartlett assisting. The course included how to organise badminton-related team games (photo above). The new CSLA Leaders will go onto provide 10 hours community service to badminton within the county 

Herts' Laura Cousins and Samantha Ward, Surrey, became U15 National Doubles Champions in Norwich!

Laura Cousins (serving) with Samantha Ward

They Beat the Herts-Essex pair of Katie Comras and Sarah Walker 15-1 15-3 in the final

Another great HSBA tournament - Herts Primary Schools Team Tournament!   at Stevenage Arts & Leisure Centre

click for larger photo

Stevenage Mayor, Lilian Strange, right, talking with participants before the tournament. Left to right - Tournament Organiser, Hazel Levins then HSBA Chairman, Ken WInchester, and  Richard Strange.  Approximately 70 juniors attended the pre-tournament coaching session. Results of this tournament on March 1st will appear in the HSBA newsletter. 

42 Herts Juniors will participate in Herts Sports Partnership's Player Support Programme - for years to come!

Some of the badminton squad juniors, parents and coaches at the launch of the programme at which over 200 sports people attended at Herts Sports Village, Friday 23rd April. 

The HSP Player Support programme, unique in Eastern England, will be rolled out over several years, initially to 42 Herts Junior U12 squad members.  The programme provides a whole raft of badminton related support starting with fitness testing in May-June and then speed and agility training, dietary, sports-lifestyle advice, etc. Squad members parents and coaches too will be able to benefit. Badminton is just 0ne of 5 sports in Herts to be selected.  The selection was based on the quality of clubs, coaching and junior and senior administration within the county. For more information contact Dave Bartlett, Richard Doling or Duncan Conway.

Congratulations to Herts' and England's number 1 mixed doubles lady, Gail Emms and partner, Nathan Robertson. 

They  won the European mixed doubles and ensuring a place on the Olympic Team. Gail is also on the women's doubles team. Herts' Natalie Munt with Robert Blair also qualified for the Olympics.  See BAofE website

 Laura Cousins and Samantha Ward winners of Aros Junior Cup, Viby, Denmark, at Easter

Samantha Ward and Laura on the winner stand at the Aros
Junior cup held in Viby Denmark.  

Laura and Sam took part in the Girls U15 Doubles with 64 European pairs to emerge as the winners.  Laura also reached the Final beating the number one Swedish girl to come runner up to Camilla Overgaad from Denmark.  The England team were also winners of most matches in the tournament giving the the Aros Junior cup for 2004.  Full details of the team, draw and more pictures at www.vibybk.dk

Herts Mixed Tournament held at Hertfordshire Sports Village, Hatfield,  18 April 2004

 The HBA organised tournament attracted 10 pairs of players in the feather shuttle section and 5 pairs in the section playing with plastic shuttles.  See News section for more details and HBA June Newsletter for complete report.  

Herts Juniors take Bronze in InterCounties Tournament

Six new Badminton Leaders 22nd May at Bill Everrett Centre, Watford 

At a course, organised mainly my Watford Borough Council, and given by Area Development Manager, Ray Learney six new Leaders, 4 from Herts, passed with flying colours.  Ray said at the end of the course that they were all excellent candidates and should be able to take the next level course without problems. The attendees all said that they thoroughly enjoyed the course.

Note: the BAofE Coaching Awards are changing from July this year:  for more info. contact Dave Bartlett

Ray Learney, centre back row, with the new Leaders at the Bill Everett Centre, Watford.

Herts Junior U12 Squad Members in Start of Player Support programme

The programme has many modules, fitness testing is the first followed by Strength and Conditioning on Wednesdays during June.

Other modules will follow including, Dietary and Lifestyle advice, many of which are also available to the club coaches and parents, as appropriate. 

After the September Under 11 and U13 trials more juniors will be accommodated into the programme that it is hoped will span many years, raising the abilities of our county players. 

The scheme is funded by Herts Sports Partnership from the Active Sports programme.  Just 4 other sports are included in the Player Support Programme normally only available to World Class Potential players and that is unique in Eastern England.

The BAofE are in the process of writing a Long Term Athlete Development Programme with funding via Sport England.  This when complete in the autumn will inform the Player Support Programme. 

Herts U11 Squad Undergoing Fitness Testing

Juniors undergoing the grueling endurance 'beep' test.

Left: Andrew Maughan performing the 'jump' test, under the watchful guidance of Squad Manager, Duncan Conway and HSP-HSV fitness expert Fiona Castree. Right Daniella Farsiani testing her on-court agility.

Herts Youth Games, 9th May at Herts Sports Village

Results U13, U11

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

Herts Youth Games makes Badminton bigger this year

An Under 11s tournament was added to the Under 13 tournament this year enabling many more juniors to participate in this great annual tournament on Sunday 9th May at Herts Sport Village - see news for results and more photos.

Left: Welwyn Hatfield, U11 winners with, Team Manager, Chris Fisher and Richard Doling, Herts BDO.   Right: U13 winners, North Herts with BAA-Stansted Representatives and Richard Doling.

County Colours Presentation at a Chinese Restaurant, 24th April

County Colours were presented to county players who had performed significantly above the average at a meal in a chinese restaurant, Hatfield on Saturday 24th April. Chairman of Selectors, Paul Widdicombe, thanked everyone, particularly the Team Managers, Margaret Cooper and Gilly Highley.  Richard Southward, who had played in first, 2nd and 3rd teams winning games in all 3,  was named overall Player of the Year.  (Full details will be in the June HBA Newsletter.) 

A good time was had by all! 

HBA President, Bob Walsh presenting award to Sandra Ingham 4th Team Player of the Year. Craig Liversage, far left, was named 3rd team Player of the Year and had travelled from Leeds. 

Herts Mixed Tournament held at Hertfordshire Sports Village, Hatfield, 18 April 2004

The tournament attracted 10 pairs of players in the feather shuttle section and 5 pairs in the section playing with plastic shuttles.

The ‘plastics’ section was played as one group of five, ensuring that everyone played 4 games.  In the ‘feather’ section there were 2 groups of 5, which also ensured a minimum of 4 games for everyone.  The winner and runner-up from each group then played a ‘semi-final’ and the winners of this played a final to establish an overall winner. Each game was played to 21 points with setting at 20 to 3 points.

There were some very keenly fought matches in the ‘plastic’ group with Graham Carlin and Joanna Drury of Cam Gears, Letchworth League winning all their games and the group.

In the ‘feather’ section, Paul and Alison Widdicombe won their first game comfortably and then in the second game, disaster struck, with Paul pulling a muscle in his calf and he and Alison had to withdraw from the tournament.

Both groups were again very keenly fought with some very close games.

The winners and runners-up if Group 1 were William Buttle and Liz Bateman of Gadebridge Badminton Club with 82 points and Suthanthiran and Denise Shuren Barby of SW Herts Ind. Badminton League with 79 points.

Group 2 winners and runners-up were Richard Potter and Nicola Harrison from SW Herts Ind Badminton League who won all their games (84 points) and Loui Ho and Elaine Drury from Cam Gears, Letchworth League with 82 points.

The winner of Group 1 played the runner-up of Group 2 and the winner of Group 2 played the runner-up of Group 1 in the semi-final.  These four pairs decided that they would like to play the best of three games to 15 points for the semi-final and final.

The results were:

Group 1 Winners:Buttle/Bateman v  Group 2 Runners-Up: Ho/Drury             15-8, 15-7

Group 2 Winners: Potter/Harrison v Group 1 Runners-Up: Suthanthiran/Barby      15-3, 15-0

Finalists were: Buttle/Bateman v Potter/Harrison

 It was an exciting final going to three ends with either pair in the third game looking likely to take the honours.  Richard Potter and Nicola Harrison managed to snatch the winning point and emerge as tournament winners 15-8, 10-15, 17-16.

I should like to thank all those who supported the tournament.

The next event to be held at the Hertfordshire Sports Village will be the Herts Open on 4 and 5 September 2004 which is open to any affiliated player from anywhere in the country.  All disciplines are played on a knock-out basis over a period of 2 days.

Following that tournament is the Herts Restricted, which will be played on 2 and 3 October 2004 and is an opportunity to be selected to play in the county teams.  Herts presently have four county teams.  This tournament is open to affiliated players who were born or live in Herts.

Lynne Parker, HBA Tournaments Organiser

Another Fantastic Week-end for Herts Top Juniors!

Herts' Rachel Howard wins National U19 Championships Singles and Doubles!

Rachel Howard beat Reshmi Ouseph (Middx) 11-7 8-11 11-5 {52'}in the women's singles and with partner Mariana Agathangelou (Jersey), took the doubles against Bok & Westley (Yorks & Essex) 15-10 11-15 15-17 {65'}.  Really well done, Rachel! 

BAofE announces great new Benefits for members on Badminton Rewards website!

Premier B Match at Herts Sports Village, 14^th & 15^th  February - Great badminton! 

The matches played were, on Saturday morning, Bucks v Yorkshire 2, Cheshire v Notts.; Gloucester v Leicester; Kent v Worcester; Lancs 2 v Sussex.   Mid afternoon Bucks v Notts.; Gloucester v Kent; Cheshire v Worcester; Lancs. 2 v Leicester; Sussex v Yorkshire2.

Sunday Bucks v Leicester; Cheshire v Yorkshire 2; Gloucester v Sussex; Kent v Lancs. 2; Notts. v Worcester.  

Herts players do well at the Nationals, 1st February

There were several Herts players in the Nationals on week-end, 1st Feb., with our women doing particularly well.  Liza Parker with Suzanne Rayappan and Kelly Matthews with Natalie Munt made it to the women's semis with Parker and Rayappan knocked out in the finals by Tripp and Wright. Munt, Howard, Parker with their respective partners in the mixed all got to quarters and Parker and Blair only knocked out in the finals by Simon Archer & Donna Kellogg!  Really well done, all!!  See the full results on the BAoE website results pages.

This same weekend, England won the European U15 Championships with the help of Herts' Laura Cousins and Victor Liew!

Victor is 6th from left, Laura, front, with cup

See the BAofE website for details of both of the above and also all the U15 results on Solingen website, see the results section

Herts under 17s had a successful weekend in York 24-25th Jan. 

They finished 2nd in the York RIO tournament behind winners Yorkshire. Herts beat Leics 15-0, Surrey 11-4 and lost to Yorks 6-9 on Saturday and beat Lothian 10-5 and Notts 10-5 on Sunday. With a smooth train journey there and back and the Saturday night disco a good weekend was had by all.

HSBA Tournament: U11 & Boys & Girls Doubles, Sunday, February 8th at Stevenage Leisure Centre

Final Daniel Regan/Harry Sandford (right) beat Gareth Lumb/Elliott Miles (left) 21-11.  

 Semi-finalists were Andrew Maughan/Dominic Welch and George Lewis/Louis Walpole

Plate Final  Joe Graham/James Gray beat Chris Eke/Dominic Elves 21-18

Sorry, no girls picture.

Also on the day was:

Year 8 and under   (U13)  Boys and Girls ‘B’ Singles 9.30 am

Year 10 and under (U15)  Boys and Girls ‘B’ Singles  2.00 pm

See full report (page 11) in HSBA Newsletter

 Six  more level 2 coaches for Herts - Jan04

Twelve candidates, including a number of Herts older juniors, attended an enjoyable Coach Part 1 course given by Ray Learney (a total of 3.5 days over several months to become a level 2 coach).  On their last half-day session, January 4th, the aspiring coaches were tested on 1:1 and group coaching of some 30 local adults and children, all of whom had the benefit of free coaching – and by their own accounts thoroughly enjoyed themselves, many asking for more. 

An integral part of the course is completion of a player study assignment, which meant that our 6 Herts coaches provided free individual coaching sessions to Herts players. 

Congratulations to the new CP1 coaches (not in order): Caroline Jennings (Bushey Barons BC), Romana Rehman (Comets BC and Herts Squad), Chris Fisher, (Comets BC),  Dave Westwood (Comets BC and Herts Squad),  Robin Wade (St Johns BC), Kim Cureton (Pioneers BC, Essex), Mark Sloan (Warwick BC), Paul Harris (Solihull),  Andrew Broster (U.of Essex), Walter Housden (U. of Luton), Faye Andrews and John Dunlop (Wimbledon). Ray Learney,Coach, 4th from right, Dave Bartlett Organiser, 4th from left.

Thanks to Knebworth coach, Phil Gray, for this - badminton flavoured Christmas table decoration - that's also environmentally friendly!

Important Herts Sports Conferences

There have been 3 important sports conferences in Herts recently:

1 The Inactive Generation: A Time waiting to explode? 

At this conference HBA-HSBA representatives, Gill and Dave Bartlett, provided a HSBA-HBA promotional stand and heard about the government's concern regarding the increasing inactivity of children: there were a variety of speakers including from the DCMS, Sport England and local initiatives.  This inactivity leads to a lack of interest in physical activity, poor achievement in more than PE subjects and in many instances, poor health:  16% of 16 year olds, for example, are obese.  The government is putting money into many initiatives, such as 'Healthy Schools'  a combination of diet and lifestyle awareness and promoting changes including increased exercise through sport.  Herts badminton coaches and clubs can become involved in the various initiatives which they can be appraised of at, for example, Herts Sports Partnership meetings (HSP), see below. 

2 Volunteers Promotion Conference at Herts Sports Village 7pm December 3rd.

Presented by The Federation of Eastern Sport, attendees Dave and Gill Bartlett, heard about the Administrators and Officials Strategy for supporting and increasing volunteers in sport and from Neil Deans, Herts Club and Coach Development manager, and 'Step into Sport' a scheme to increase the number of teenagers staying in sport and becoming volunteers.  Some 250 students from a total of about 700 in the county who are taking the Community Sports Leaders Award will be encouraged to take additional modules such as the Badminton coaching and officials award and then be obliged (as part of their course) to give 10 hours voluntary help in clubs.  This is a great opportunity for clubs to obtain some help while encouraging the teenagers to enjoy our sport.  More information will be available in January and February as the teenagers decide which sport they wish to pursue and the programme unfolds.

3 Herts Sports Partnership

HSP is the umbrella organisation which brings together all the people and organisations interested in sport within the county - including club organisers, coaches, teachers, Sport Development Officers, and Cultural Officers (those who hold the purse strings within each of the 10 Herts Districts) and Sport England.  Membership is open to all - just turn up to a meeting.

At the meeting on 9th December the proposed re-organisation of HSP was accepted allowing the interest groups to focus on aspects of sports development such as Education, Club Development, Volunteer Support and Development, Funding, etc.  And there are considerable funds and resources coming, now, not only from government and education but also the recently formed Eastern Sports Board.  These are exciting times for those who care about our sport to be involved in ensuring we maximise our opportunities - and for sport in general.  The strategies, previously discussed in the interest groups, for support and development for coaches and officials and administrators were presented as final drafts and the nearing completion of the HSP website, too. HSP is on a firm footing now that the merger of the government-funded Herts Active Sports with HSP has been progressed. 

If you would like to become involved or find out more on any of the topics above, please contact Dave Bartlett, HBA-HSBA Development Committee Chairman.

England v Holland Tournament, 26th November

This was the opening event at Herts Sport Village which is now the centre of junior and senior badminton within the county. As such it was as successful as could be imagined. Not only are most of the Herts Schools BA and Herts (senior) BA county squad matches being played at HSV - and members of the public are very welcome to watch, but there will be other national events this season - including a Premier match 14th and 15th February. Already the centre is fulfilling its promise as a comprehensive centre for badminton by providing exceptional facilities to resident junior and senior clubs, casual play and coaching courses.

England v Holland, 26th Nov at Herts Sports Village Hatfield - Fantastic evening! Packed out!

Lots of badminton friends and new contacts

And we won 3-2!

Anthony Robertson and Nathan Clark v Dutch men:

The England Team on 26th at HSV was:

Men’s singles:	Andrew South
Women’s singles:	Tracey Hallam
Men’s doubles:	Nathan Robertson & Anthony Clark
Women’s doubles:	Ella Trip & Donna Kellogg
Mixed doubles:	Robert Blair & Natalie Munt

Tracy Hallam serving for the Ladies singles match

For more photos of the tournament click here  

New Leaders

A BAofE leaders Award Course with 12 attendees was given at Herts Badminton Centre, HSV, 16th October by Ray Learney, Tutor Assessor and organiser Dave Bartlett.

New Leaders with Tutor-Assessor, Ray Learney

Jimmy Karpasitis from Wizard BC pulling Ray's leg - er, testing his reflex

A brother and sister were winners of the Mens Singles and Ladies Singles at the Herts Open Tournament Saturday 30th August, at Herts Badminton Centre.

Raju Ouseph Mens Singles winner (beat Simon Hardcastle, Essex) and Reshmi Ouseph ladies Singles winner (beat Caroline Westley, Essex) both from Middlesex - and it was Raju's 17th birthday on the day!  See more details in the Herts BA Newsletter end of September.

Herts Restricted Tournament

The Herts restricted tournament was held on 28 September 2003 for the first time at the new Hertfordshire Sports Village in Hatfield. See the full report in the October HBA Newsletter (available as a download from the main page).

Women’s Singles: Winner Frankie Edelman. 

Men’s singles: At the request of Andy and Richard, the  final has been deferred tentatively for 11 Jan 04!

Mens Doubles winners: Brian Lockie and Jim Teale

Men’s Doubles plate: Mike Cattermole and John Mills winners over Nick Pinnock and Craig Liversage

Mixed Doubles: The semi-finals of the Mixed Doubles -   Helen Skeggs/Martin Haddon and Nick Pinnock/Karen Willis were played 4 October with a win for Martin and Helen.  The other semi-final has yet to be arranged and Helen Skeggs is away for almost a year.

Congratulations to all Herts players in the World  Championships and particularly Gail Emms with partner Nathan Robertson who got to the quarter finals

Gail and Nathan beating the Danes to go into the quarters.  Read more on BAoE website   Also see an earlier interview with Herts Gail Emms on Badders.com

Historic meeting 12th August to finalise the new Herts Badminton County Centre Arrangements

L-R: Dave Bartlett, Gill Bartlett, Tony Clarke, Colin Walker, Duncan Conway, Marion Conway, Lynne Parker, Ruth Dixon, Liz Wheeler, Malcolm Fraser, Paul Widdicombe

 This was an historic meeting for the inauguration of the Herts County Badminton Centre: Herts Schools BA and Herts BA Officers met UoH Sports Facility manager Liz Wheeler and administrator Ruth Dixon to finalise booking arrangements for the coming season.  The first event, the Herts Open, 30&31st August, has 50% more participants than last year!  To see views of the new sports centre click here. For a printable map click here.