News - from August 05 to July 06

Baldock Junior Badminton ClubCelebrate achieving 'Silver Club'

with Natalie Munt

For a larger version click here

England Number 1, Natalie Munt (far left),found time in her busy internationalprogramme on Saturday 15

thJuly to attend

Baldock Junior Badminton Club's celebrationof achieving BADMINTON England Silverclub status.

Dave Bartlett, representing BADMINTON England(BE), in presenting the Sport England Clubmarkcertificate to Chairman Bob Green (front row, 3rd fromR.)), said that it was a great tribute to the hard workand dedication of the committee, all club members andparents that BJBC who had managed to achieve thisnational Clubmark status. It had shown that the clubwas serious about good club management, coachingand competition. Natalie, in presenting the BE SilverClub certificate, also complimented the club and saidthat who knows perhaps some of the club memberscould be aspiring to be in the 2012 Olympics. Nataliethen went back on court to play with another group ofclub members

Badmintonians and GadebridgeOpen Day with Free Badmintonand Coaching Hints and Tips,

Saturday 8th July at HemelHempstead Sport Centre

Click here for more pictures

Many adults and juniors turned up atBadmintonians' and Gadebridge's OpenDay at Hemel Hempstead Sports Centre

on Saturday 8th July to have freebadminton play and coaching. Both clubs

were keen to give something to thecommunity while looking for potential

new members.

HBA Committee have established a RayLearney (Memorial) Fund in honour ofRay's considerable work and interest

particularly in junior development in Herts

The fund will assist young coaches in someway (depending on amount collected) ideallyto assist in attending a coach-related course.Ray was particularly ready to help youngstersget going in coaching so we think this wouldbe a very appropriate form of celebrating hislife.

If you would like to contribute to this fund please sendany donations as cheques payable to 'HBA' to TheHBA Treasurer, 9 Valley Rd, Hertford, SG13 8BD. Wewill publish the amount collected here but if you wouldlike to be emailed on this please send your address tothe (Acting) Coaching Co-ordinator, Dave Bartlett.

Herts coaches included Phil Hammond(pictured R), Bernard Hatt and Dave

Bartlett. Brian Gibb, Badmintonians. LizBateman, Gadebridge, said many clubmembers had turned out to help and theevent was an enjoyable success in termsof new players attending and the clubs

finding new members.

Natalie Munt and Donna Kellogcoached 16 county Juniors,

Saturday 8th July at Herts SportsVillage

for a larger picture click here

The funeral of Ray Learney a

senior coach of the Eastern

Region took place on Friday

7th July attended by some

230 relatives and friends

Ray, who died while coaching and holidayingin Tenerife, provided coaching to manyhundreds of Herts players of all abilities,

junior and senior. He will be remembered forhis personal kindness to so many above and

beyond his professional commitments.

Ten new Level 1 Coaches, 9th July

Ten mainly Herts players all passed their Level 1course at Stevenage Arts & Leisure Centre, on Sunday9

thJuly, with tutor Sue Rutson, bottom left, organised

and attended by Herts BDO, Tom Burton, top right.

Young Coach of the Year andYoung Volunteer of the Year

John Smith leaves Coaching in Herts after

Presentations to the winners, Young Coachof the Year, Rhian Blowers, and Young

Volunteer of the Year Oscar Lam were madeat HSBA AGM 27th June. (Rhian's wasdeferred to the Swifts AGM the following

Friday.)

some 20 yearsclick here for a larger photo

At the HSBA AGM in June HSBA Chairman, KenWinchester, presented John Smith with various giftscelebrating and thanking him for his many years ofirreplaceable involvement with junior development andin particular the HSBA squads. John, replied that he'denjoyed every minute of it - well almost - and hopedwe'd all stay in touch!

Herts Youth Games - a GreatSuccess!

On Saturday 20th May the 10 Herts Districtsentered teams of boys and girls - in thebadminton tournament - as part of the overallHerts Youth Games involving 12 sports heldat Herts Sports Village and sponsored byHerts Sports Partnership.

10 District teams took part - not all fitted inthe picture! Natalie Munt who awarded the

Gold medals is centre back row.

In total a 150 matches were played between10am and 4:30pm. All children played their

The Districts were finally ranked after the second roundas:

1 Hertsmere 2 St Albans 3 North Herts 4 WelwynHatfield 5 Dacorum

6 Watford 7 East Herts Three Rivers BroxbourneStevenage

Medals were awarded to the top 3 teams - Bronze, byChristine Neyndorf, Director of HSP, Silver by GrahamGooch, International Cricket Star, and Gold by NatalieMunt, UK Olympic Badminton team. Natalie alsohelped with scoring and signed many autographs - onjust about anything. Heartfelt thanks go particularly toall Team Managers, Coaches, and helpers running upto the event and on the day. Also thanks to HYG EventOrganiser, Annie Thomas, supporting people likeSports Development Officers, Bob Green for thecomputer program, Phil Gray, and many others. Moredetails in the HBA Newsletter to be published 1st weekof June. See, more badminton tournament photos.Also, the HYG webpages:

socks off and should be proud of their playwherever their team finished.

InterCounty Player of the YearAwards at the Year-end Bash,

Saturday 6th May

Katie Comras Charity Barnes

Helen Steer - All with HBA President Bob Welsh

1st team player of theseason - RICHARD DOLING2nd team player of theseason - CHARITY BARNES3rd team player of theseason - HELEN STEER4th team player of theseason - KATH MULLIGANOVERALL PLAYER OF THESEASON - KATIE COMRAS

Very well done to all the award winners andall 65 players who representedthe county this season.

Paul Widdicombe, Chairman of Selectors

Our Inter-Counties 40+ Vets -Finalists this weekend

Herts U17 Squad Win Silver in the Inter-Counties Tournament

This was held at Nottingham University 10th

to 13th

April. 38 Counties took part. We were seeded 2, andafter winning 9 matches we reached the final againstYorkshire where the team lost 6-4. The photo showsthe team with their trophy and silver medals.

Tony Clarke (manager)James Reynolds, Victor Liew, Nigel Tao , GreggRoantree, Kamran Haq, Pat Walker (assistant

manager)Victoria Stokes, Charlotte Willis, Katie Comras, Rachel

Warnes and Laura cousins.

Herts Under 21's Claimed The NationalTitle, Saturday 22nd April

They were successful in the 2 regional rounds playedduring the season and reached the Finals played atBabington College , Leicester on Saturday 22

ndApril.

They beat Devon 6 – 0 and both Hampshire andStaffordshire 4 – 2. The photo shows the team withtheir trophy and gold medals.

.On Saturday we beat Derbyshire 7-5 toqualify for the final on Sunday. Unfortunatelywe lost 9-3 to a very strong Yorkshire team.Still, not bad since Jim Teale & MartinHaddon were absent at a Police tournament!Kevin Maughan

Damian Bruce-Hickman , Jack Lipyeat, Jo Millward,Anthony Moye, Kate Lester , Nicola Farr , EmmaStokes , David Westwood , and Team manager, ColinWalker - with the cup!

Gail and Nathan on eBay!!Author: Badders.comOxfam, with the kind co-operative ofBADMINTON England, are offering a uniqueexperience for two adults and two youngstersunder 18. The winning bidder would meet theBadminton Olympic Silver Medallists andcurrent No 1 Mixed Doubles pair NathanRobertson and Gail Emms. Offer ended 3pm-ish today Thursday 20th! Winning bid£361. Anyone know who won?

Emms and Kellogg take Europeantitle 16th April

Donna Kellogg and Gail Emms won thewomen's doubles title on finals day at theEuropean Championships in Den Bosch,

Holland, - click BADMINTON England link BEwebsite for report.

Herts had 3 U17 players in the winning 6Nations Team in Sweden last month

This was the first time in 27 years that Denmark hadnot won the 6 Nations U17 event. Victor Liew, LauraCousins and Katie Comras all played in the team event.

the winning team: Laura Cousins, Katie Comras, VictorLiew, Michelle Cheung, Sarah Walker, SamanthaWard, Gabby White, Chris Adcock, Jamie Bonsels,Arthur Cheung, Marcus Ellis, Chris Hotchen. CoachesRebecca Pantaney and Pete Bush. Team ManagerJens Grill

The England team this year over came all obstacleswith an excellent team performance beating France 8-1Netherlands 6-2 Sweden 7-2 a nail biting match withDenmark 5-4 and finally beating the German team 6-3.In the individual event Katie reached the quarter finalstages of the mixed and doubles, losing both in closethree set matches to 3/4 seeds. See, also, BE website

The teams celebrated the moment of glory on thewinning podium in great spirit with the fitting tune of`We are the Champions` playing on the PA system tocap a truly great team performance.

Roy Cousins and Christine Comras

Herts successful 50+ Vets Team

Team: John Young, Jeff Armstrong (Captain), Dave Berry, Peter Shanks, Jan Bacon, JanKelly, Jean Paton & Gilly Highley: they beat

Bucks 10-2 at HSV Sunday 26th March.Jeff says: "This was the last match of the

season and the best season ever, losing onlyto Essex away."

Herts Senior First Team Battle it Out toFinish 3rd in Inter-county Premier A

DivisionOver the weekend of 8th April Herts' first team did

well against strong opposition and finished theseason 3rd. This was in spite of Gail Emms beingunable to play for the county this season owing to

international match clashes. See HBA JuneNewsletter and BE website for further details.

Congratulations to Swifts Junior BC andBaldock Junior BC who have both

achieved Badminton 'Silver' the Clubmarkstandard.

Tom Burton, Badminton Herts Development Officer,reports that this also means that together with Comets

Junior BC who achieved Clubmark in DecemberBadminton Herts have met their BE target of 3 Silverclubs by end of March 2006 - a great achievement.

See how Herts' Gail Emms helpedachieve Commonwealth Games

Successes including Gold

- and Gail's & Nathan's Masterclass on thesmash and serve on the BBC website

Emily Westwood does really well in AROSJunior Cup 2006

Starting on Thursday 13th April ten Under 13s,including Herts' Emily Westwood, World FuturesBronze Programme players were selected to representEngland at the 2006 AROS Junior Cup being held atViby Badminton Klub in Denmark. Emily won throughto the last 8 in singles and women's doubles and last16 in mixed. See report on BE website

Level 2 Coaches Course - 12 Herts Attendees

Click here for a larger copyAttendees: Back row: Kate Lester, Kevin Chakoadza, Kelly Matthews, Karen Redway, Keith Leuzey,

Bernard Hatt, Lynda Clegg, Wayne Goss,Front row: Tony Haines, Brian Jackson, Jay Marshall, Andrew Lewis.

Tutors: Ray Learney, Left and Frances Morrison Right.

Held 5, 12 and 26th Mar, 7 at Jim MacDonald Centre, Hatfield and Assessment May 06 at StevenageArts & Leisure Centre.

3- County Junior HandicapTournament at Watford

Thanks to help from a great many individualsthe 3 County Junior Handicap Tournament19 March 2006 was a great success, with 52pairs taking part, and 96 games played in 6.5

hours. Click here for all the results

Many thanks for all your help. Nigel Ball.

James Reynolds has won his 1stinternational gold medal

Dean George has won 2 titles at the U19Nationals

Liza Parker has won the doubles at theCroatian Open

Emms wins twice to end England's 20-yearwait - to beat Denmark - and it even got on

BBC TV! see BE website

A10 School Sports PartnershipLaunch, 10th March

Ray Learney, above R., provided coachingsessions for some 110 juniors at the launchof the A10 Sports Partnership, 10th March.

Every Day Sport - for some!

BADMINTON England (BE) and Herts SportsPartnership (HSP) co-sponsored and Tom Burton (BE)and Fiona Castree (HSP) organised for 12 new playersto enjoy 3 Sunday coaching session to improve theirskills up to club-entry. The programme is part of thegovernment's 'Every Day Sport' scheme and the coachwas East Herts' Doug Clark (far right). Several HertfordArea League clubs popped in and/or offeredparticipants potential club places.

An enjoyable coaching session atBamintonians, 8th February

12 New Assistant Coaches from Session inBerkhamsted, 15th January

click here for a larger copy of the photo

On Saturday18th Feb., Badmintonians, atLockers Park, Hemel Hempstead, enjoyed a3-hour coaching session from County 2ndTeam member Kate Lester (far right) andHBA Coaching Co-ordinator Dave Bartlett

(middle, back row). Chairman, Brian Gibb (farleft). said "although they had few new

attendees the session was really enjoyable, ifanyone is interested in coming along to aclub night session please ring tel: 01442

262702."

Want to know what BadmintonDevelopments are going on in your

District of Hertfordshire, orCountywide? Click on the updated

'Club Organisers and CoachesPage' and see the Development

Reports

17 new Assistant Coaches fromHerts Badminton Association

course at Watford Girls Grammar,Sunday 12th Feb

Attendees came from all backgrounds and ages. Tutor,Ray Learney, back row centre, provided a veryenjoyable course enriched with his extensive

experience.Badminton Herts Development Officer, Tom Burton,

said, "All of the participants will go and helpsomewhere: it is great to see so many players givingsomething back to their sport". For details of future

courses and contacts go to the Coaching section of thewebsite.

Comets Junior Badminton Club receivesClubmark Awards

for a larger copy of the photo click here

Herts Badminton Development Officer, Tom Burton (farright) presented the BADMINTON England Silver Club

Award and Neil Deans (next to Tom), Herts SportsPartnership, presented the Sport England ClubmarkAward at a short ceremony at he end of club night on

15th January. Malcolm Fraser (2nd from left) ChairmanHBA and Angela Blowers, Vice Chairman HSBA also

spoke of the importance of the Award.Comets JBC Chairman, Dave Bartlett, said, "Thank youfor this great news of Comets JBC achievement. Wewill, in due course, be glad to promote and maximise

the Silver benefits for our club not only through workingwith BDO, Tom Burton, and RDM, Chris Colby and

BADMINTON England, but Herts BadmintonAssociation, Herts Sports Village, Herts Sports

Partnership, Welwyn Hatfield District Council and HertsCounty Council. All of these groups will we're sure be

glad to have an accredited club. And by giving Cometspublicity it will help not only us but help promote

click here for a larger copy

The 17 new coaches with tutors Sue Rutson,Frances Morrison, Herts Badminton Officer,

Tom Burton, and County CoachDevelopment Officer Dale Welch. Thecoaches are hoping to work with theircommunities to increase badminton

participation.

Taster sessions with national starKate Lester and HBA coach, Dave

Bartlett, at Badmintonians,Lockers Park School, HemelHempstead, Saturday 18th

February, 2-5pm.

Kate Lester

Badmintonians Badminton Club is hostingthis session for players of improver-level or

above, who may be interested in joiningBadmintonians Badminton Club. If you areinterested please, if possible, phone to sayyou’re coming: Brian: 01442 262702, Kay:

01442 390940, or just turn up. Click onBadmintonians website for and more details

and here for a map.

Badminton generally with these same groups and thecommunity in general." See announcement in BENews, Welwyn Hatfield Times and Comets JBC

webpage.

Change of scoring to 'Rally Points' systemdecided by IBF, 13 December 05

The International Badminton Federation have decidedthat the scoring system will change to matches of 3 x

21points where each 'win' scores a point and theservice changes sides: also just one service per side in

doubles. The service is started in the right side if thescore is an even number and left if not. The IBF will

make this trial stage permanent if all agree at theInternational Uber Cup tournament in May. For a more

detailed explanation see BE and World Badmintonwebsites. This need not affect league and club

badminton at least for the immediate future. Tell uswhat you think and we'll post some of the emails here

and in the HBA Newsletter end of January.

County First Team versusLancashire, Yorkshire andHampshire, 12th & 13thNOVEMBER 2005 at Milton Keynes

Herts Team: Kelly Matthews, Natalie Munt,Laura Cousins, Katie Comras, SuzanneRayappan, Richard Doling, Phil Hammond,

17 attended the Assistant Coaches Courseon Sunday 27th November, atBerkhamsted Sports Centre

Brian Lockie, Adam Skeggs & Dean GeorgeRESULT: We beat Lancashire 6-4, beatHampshire 8-2 and lost to Yorkshire 7-3Report:Dean George made his county debut andwon all three mixed with Natalie Munt.Excellent start. Natalie returned from Chinaon Friday and added strength to the ladies.Suzanne Rayappan returned from China at5am today, arrived home in Milton Keynes at7am and was at our venue at 10am. THANKYOU SUZANNEFOR YOUR COMMITMENT TO THECOUNTY.Special mention to Richard Doling whoplayed singles, doubles & mixed in all threematches - what endurance!Laura Cousins & Katie Comras both in theunder 17 squad did very well. Laura wonboth her singles and Katie doubles with

Natalie & Suzanne. Rachel Howard wonboth her singles on Saturday, but did not playon Sunday.Well done to all the team.

Thanks to our President for his support alongwith parents, partners, family members &supporters. We are getting a crowd thesedays.Paul Widdicombe, Chairman of SelectorsSee detailed County Match Reports (and linkfrom 'InterCounty Diary on main page)

The BADMINTON England Level 1 course wasorganised by Herts Badminton Development Officer,

Tom Burton, and the tutor-assessors were Ray Learneyand Francis Morrison. All the participants passed andwill be going on to help with the coaching in clubs or

schools. The next level 1 is 15th January and a Level 2will be announced shortly - see the coaching course

section of the website for more information.

Herts Sports Partnership SponsorsBadminton in 'Women's Sport for

FUN' programme

Herts Sports Partnership sponsored awomen's badminton session as part of itsprogramme of encouraging women intosport. Gill Bartlett took the very successfulsession at Stanborough school, 7thNovember. All participants had an enjoyabletime and received a handout on localbadminton clubs and other women'sbadminton sessions.

Herts 3rd Team 12, Middlesex 2nd Team 3A convincing away win for the 3rd's at the new DOMEin Hounslow. Well done.Jon Austin, Helen Steer & Liz Austin got us off to a finestart in the singles.Will Westwood went down in three ends to DanielCarpio.Our mens doubles pairing of Martin Haddon/CraigLiversage & Jon Austin/RichardSouthward took all four doubles and the ladies claimedthree wins. Two forHelen Steer & Kate Lester and one for LyndsayOrchard & Liz Austin.Victories for Martin Haddon & Kate Lester and WillWestwood & Liz Austinin the mixed made it a 12-3 result.Two out two well done.Paul Widdicombe, Chairman of SelectorsSee detailed County Match Reports (and link from'InterCounty Diary, left)

Herts County Senior Match 30th

October 2005Herts 4th team lost 11-4 to Essex 2nd'saway.Herts 2nd's lost 11-4 away to Sussex 1st team.See detailed County Match Reports (and linkfrom 'InterCounty Diary)

COUNTY 2nd's & 4th Team getHERTS off to a winning start at HSV on

Sunday 16th October in the InterCounty Championship.

The 4th team newly promoted beat Surrey3rd's 8-7. An Excellant start.Team - Charlotte Willis, Rhian Blowers, KathMulligan, Nicola Farr, Romana Rehman,Renel Pieterse, Nigel Tao, James Reynolds,Victor Liew, Kamran Haq, Greg Roantree& Hannes Pieterse.The 2nd's took maximum league points withan 11-4 win over Surrey 2nd's.Team - Kelly Matthews, Frankie Edelimann,Lyndsay Orchard, Jennie King, WilliamWestwood, David Westwood, Brian Lockie,Richard Southward, Tom Gooden & PeterGooden.Must not forget the team managers GillyHighley & Ian Mulligan.Well done to all.Paul Widdicombe, Chairman of Selectors

Herts County Senior third team continuedthe Counties excellent start to the season

with an 11-4 home win at Hertfordshire Sports Villageagainst Suffolk firstteam.Team - Jon Austin, William Westwood, RichardSouthward, Martin Haddon, KateLester, Helen Steer, Liz Austin & Jennie King. TeamManager Margaret Cooper.Singles wins for Austin, Southward, Liz Austin & JennieKing.Doubles wins for Will Westwood & Martin Haddon (2),Jon Austin & RichardSouthward (2), Liz Austin & Helen Steer (1).Mixed Wins for Southward & Lester and Westwood &Steer.Helen Steer making her county debut settled well in tothe team. Pick ofthe team was Richard Southward who won all his four

matches.Well done to all the team.Paul WiddicombeChairman of Selectors

FREE BADMINTON HINTS AND TIPS- were provided when Hastoe Badminton Club in association with Hertfordshire BadmintonAssociation held an Open Afternoon at Tring Sports Centre, Saturday 10th September, with theaim of attracting new members. Hastoe club members came and played with visitors andHerts BA provided coaches.

L-R: John Draper (Hastoe), Sue Barrett (Hastoe, Event Organiser), Dave Bartlett (HBA Developmentand Coaching Co-ordinator), Frances Morrison (Level 1 & 2 Badminton Awards Tutor-assessor and

Berkhamsted JBC organiser), Kelly Matthews England Women's singles (ranked 4th 2004, andcoach), Tom Burton, HBA Development Officer, Carol Cullen (Hastoe Club Organiser).

Players came mainly from Dacorum but also from as far away as Letchworth and everyone had a

great time. Tom Burton was keen to hear about real club issues and various aspects of clubdevelopment were discussed. At the end Sue said the club was very pleased with the session andthat several of those who attended expressed intentions of coming along to their club at Hastoe on

Wednesdays. Contact Sue: 01442 851534.

A Really Great Herts Open at the Weekend, 10th September

It was one of the best if not the best (and over-subscribed) Herts Open Tournaments at the weekendat HSV. In the foreground is the Ladies finals with a Herts player on both sides of the net!. See write-up in

the October HBA Newsletter.

Tom Burton, Badminton Herts Development Officer

BADMINTON England, Herts Badminton Association (HBA) and Herts SchoolsBadminton Association (HSBA) enthusiastically welcomed Tom Burton as our full

time Badminton Development Officer (BDO) who started on Tuesday 6thSeptember. Centre of photo below, Tom is seen with colleagues at BADMINTON

England HQ, Milton Keynes on Wednesday.

L-R: Dave Bartlett, Badminton Herts Chairman, Malcolm Fraser Chairman HBA, Tom Burton BDO,Chris Colby, BADMINTON England Regional Manager, Paul Widdicombe, HBA Chairman of

Selectors.

Tom, who has a BA (Hons) in Leisure and Sports Studies, experience in coaching and administration,

lives in Kings Langley, and will be seen at various events in the coming weeks. 'Badminton Herts' isthe name for the umbrella Development Committee which will be managing our development. It

comprises HBA, HSBA, BADMINTON England and representatives from Herts Sports Partnership.

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