This past season has seen the continuation of our work in all areas of Development.

DEVELOPMENT

Each Development Officer covers from 3-9 County areas and carry out ALL of the following in each area.

• Support of existing clubs
  • Adult Clubs
  • Juvenile Clubs
  • Disability Groups - both learning and physical disability groups
• Development of new clubs
  • Sending out information on how to set up a club
  • Information on local badminton structures for them to feed into
  • Advice on basics for Badminton Clubs
  • Code of Conduct and other necessary information
• Delivery of development workshops to club &county/league associations on
  • Club Structures &Funding
  • PR & Organising Competition
  • Ideas for Running Badminton Club Nights
  • Information Evenings on our on-line database - FixturesLive
• Support & Organisation of events for National Badminton Week - October
  • In clubs, schools, with County Badminton Associations and others
• Assistance with organisation of Coaching Courses in all areas
  • Introductory, Instructors Courses, Level 1
• Assistance with organisation of Summer Camps in All Areas including the Summer Camp Subsidy Schemes
• Promotion and organisation of the Badminton Ireland schools programmes:
  • Schools competitions
  • First Badminton & Buntús Badminton - primary schools programme
  • Schools Partnership, Transition Year Module, Badminton Basics Module & Leaving Certificate Applied module - secondary schools
  • Organisation of school blitz events linked to programmes outlined above
• Communication
  • Answering general queries - Everything you can imagine from "where can I buy nets in Leitrim?" to "how does the scoring system work?" and "where is my local club in Tipperary?"
  • Regular e-mailings and development diaries on www.badminton.ie
  • Regular contact with members of Badminton Ireland, County/League Associations and clubs
  • Regular contact with Local Sports Partnerships and Council Sport Development Officers to find out about additional programmes, funding and support that our clubs can tap into

We currently have 5 development officers; our Women in Sport Co-ordinator and myself as Director of Development.

Development Officers Contact Information below:-

Wayne Doyle

Kerry, Cork, Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny, Carlow

CLOAKING

087 6871 929

 

Tom Hehir

Mayo, Galway, Clare, Limerick, Tipperary, Westmeath

CLOAKING

087 6412 769

 

Richard O’Dowd

Laois, Offaly, Kildare

CLOAKING

086 8359 757

 

Position Vacant

Wicklow, Dublin

CLOAKING

087 6412 735

 

David Magee

Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Longford, Cavan, Monaghan, Louth, Meath

CLOAKING

087 6412 724

 

Ryan Prentice

Antrim, Derry, Fermanagh, Tyrone, Armagh, Down

CLOAKING

0789 450 7435

 

Brenda Barry

Women in Sport Coordinator

087 6412 760

CLOAKING

 

SCHOOLS

Primary Schools

We continued to roll out our primary school Buntús programme around the counties again this season. This programme is about training up teachers to deliver badminton in their PE classes, therefore making badminton sustainable by empowering teachers in the schools. This year there was a lot more uncertainty surrounding the funding of this programme as the Irish Sports Council, Local Sports Partnerships and Badminton Ireland were all hit with a decrease in the amount we were allocated in our budget. We successfully ran the Teacher-training days in 47 schools with 153 teachers taking part. This programme is still on-going and will continue until the end of December 2010.

Examples include:

Kildare Buntús

Richard O’Dowd, Development Officer is particularly impressed with the uptake in Kildare which was a great success - 10 schools and 65 teachers took part with a potential to give 3,000 students the opportunity to play badminton. Richard also added 6 new schools in Laois to the 17 already done the previous season. Over 500 primary school children also got the opportunity to take part in primary school blitzes to add a competitive aspect to their play with more being planned.

 

Waterford Buntús Blitz

Following on from our very successful Buntús Badminton programme on Friday 12^th March Waterford had its first ever Buntús Badminton Blitz. The day kicked off at 10am and by the time we had finished at 2pm, 108 kids from 10 primary schools around Waterford had played some very enjoyable and indeed competitive games of badminton. We had 6 courts on the go at all stages and this is thanks to all the great help we got from teachers and volunteers. Every child left the hall prize in hand and hopefully looking forward to more of the same in the near future.

Many thanks to all out Buntús Tutors who we have helped us to deliver this successful programme throughout the year

Secondary School Programmes

In 2009/2010 season there were over 30 secondary schools that took part in the Badminton Ireland programmes providing over 700 school children the opportunity to take part in badminton. We had a further 30 schools take part in local blitzes and competitions organised by the Development Team around the country.  Our secondary schools programmes are still on-going and schools/numbers are still being collated. Local schools organisers also played a huge part in organising schools events and I would like to thank them for their dedication and work.

Example:             Wicklow Secondary Schools Blitz

The inaugural Wicklow Secondary Schools Blitz took place on Thursday 4^th March in the new 8 court hall the Shoreline Leisure Centre in Greystones. This day started at 10.30am for registration and saw 138 boys and girls compete in U14, U16 and U19 age groups.  This Schools Initiative was a collaboration between Rachel Ormrod, Badminton Ireland and the Wicklow County Juvenile Badminton Association; it feeds into the Juvenile Association’s 2-year development plan in which they highlight the importance of schools badminton and the need for a schools league. There were volunteers on the day from the Juvenile Association and many of the school teachers were all a great help to Badminton Ireland as they managed the 7 courts, ensuring the players and the matches were running smoothly!  Matches were run off in Round Robins and games were played for 12minutes. Each match consisted of 2 doubles and 3 points were awarded for a win and 1 for a draw. The aim of the day was fun and participation for all.

Thank you to the players, school teachers, volunteers, Wicklow Juvenile Badminton Association, Wicklow LSP, Shoreline Leisure Centre and Rachel Ormrod from Badminton Ireland for a thoroughly enjoyable day for all.  Thanks must go to Wicklow Association for presenting Rachel with a small plaque in appreciation of all her hard work as a Development Officer for Badminton Ireland.  All schools have now expressed a keen interest in taking part in next year’s schools league, planning of which will begin in August.

Badminton Basics is our new Secondary Schools programme that is currently being introduced in a number of schools nationwide. The programme is aimed at early Secondary School Students (1^st-3^rd Years) with a delivery of Badminton Basics role for Transition Year Students (or above). This year 15 schools signed up with 300 students taking part.  The programme includes

• Badminton Basics Coaching Course
• Badminton Basics Coaching Handbook
• Badminton Basics DVD

 

Example:             Cork Badminton Basics

The Cork Sports Programmes are a new initiative from the Irish Sports Council and the Cork Sports Partnership to help develop sport in Cork. There are currently 9 sports involved in the initiative, with almost all of the programmes under way. The Sports Partnership aims to bring an additional 5 sports into the programme in 2010, which will see the partnership working closer with the National Governing Bodies, County Boards, and Development Officers of the sports to see where and how to implement a sustainable development programme for each of the sports in Cork.

The Sports Partnership will be providing support to the current 9 sports programmes by working with County Boards, Governing Bodies and Development Officers. This support will come in the form of providing equipment, coaching courses, tutor training, programme costs, club development and any other help the clubs and sport needs to help increase and sustain participation levels. One of the main focuses of these programmes is to create more opportunities for people to get involved in sport and to keep them involved after the programme. These opportunities will come in the form of linking schools, clubs and communities together and strengthening the relationships between them so that the opportunity for participation is for the long term and not just a once off.

The Cork Sports Partnership has joined forces with Badminton Ireland to deliver a Badminton Basics Programme to 10 schools throughout Cork. Funding for this initiative was provided by Cork Local Sports Partnerships. The schools were chosen by the Regional Development officer for Badminton Ireland.

The 10 schools taking part in the badminton basics programme are:

• Ballincollig Community School
• Beara Community School
• Coachford College, Coachford
• Colaiste Choilm, Ballincollig
• Glanmire Community College
• Pobailscoil na Trionoide, Youghal
• St. Mary’s Secondary school, Macroom
• St. Mary’s Secondary school, Mallow
• St. Aloysius’College, Carrigtwohill
• St. Mary`s High School, Midleton

www.cclsp.com

‘I have found the Badminton Course to be of huge benefit to the students involved. The benefit of this is that as well as having an educational and enjoyable experience, they are motivated to look at joining a club outside of school and taking the next steps in the sport. Collaboration like this between Sports Partnerships, Badminton Ireland and schools really aid in extending beyond a student’s PE experience and increasing participation levels in various sports’

‘Wayne, many thanks for your work over the last few weeks’

Michael Carey - Glanmire Community College

At the moment, we are working on changes to the Badminton Basics Manual and our second edition will be available from early August 2010. A number of changes are being made to the manual to make it more user-friendly. Badminton Basics is funded by the Women in Sport Initiative.

All Ireland Schools Finals 2010

A super day of badminton was displayed in Gormanston College on Wednesday, 24^th March at the All-Ireland Schools Finals. 176 participants from 34 schools travelled from all four provinces to fight for honours in the pinnacle badminton schools event in our annual calendar. Thanks to all schools competition organisers at county and branch level in running the qualifying events to the All-Ireland Finals and to all involved in organising the finals at Gormanston.  Special mention must also be extended to all teachers and parents who have coached, encouraged and transported players to the various stages and to the All-Ireland Final.

From our part, it was a joy to work with players, parents, teachers and volunteers who together provided a super day of entertaining badminton to all spectators. Well done to all competitors on getting to the finals and to our All-Ireland Champions congratulations on your achievement. 

 

THIRD LEVEL 2009 2010

Third level is an area that Badminton Ireland is keen to continue communicating with, provided support to and to encourage inclusion.  We feel the age profile and participation rates need to be sustained through active engagement and fostering relationships.   

Intervarsities 2010 – (report by Catherine Coyle organiser)

Queens University Belfast played host to this year's Irish Intervarsity Tournament which saw 16 teams from all four provinces representing their university in the competition. The three day event began with a group stage run on a round-robin format, with the top two teams from each group progressing to the quarter-finals on Saturday along with the best runners-up. University of Ulster A, Queens A and University College Cork won their groups convincingly to progress to the knock out section where they were joined by TCD A, NUIG, UCD, DCU and UL.

Following a nail-biting count back on points Queens A saw off UCC in the first semi-final to earn their place in the final were they were joined by University of Ulster A who overcame TCD A.

The plate competition saw Queens B, NUIM, RCSI A, RCSI B, Trinity B and University of Ulster B compete in a similar knockout competition with Queens B seeing off ITT in the final, with a convincing score of 5-2.

For the second time in varsity history the two Northern University teams prepared for an exciting final on the Sunday afternoon. There were several closely fought matches but in the end University of Ulster A emerged victorious 5-1. Both teams are to be complimented for their fierce competitiveness and the good spirit in which the final was played.

Queens would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank both William Martin and Muriel Moles for the help they provided over the weekend it was greatly appreciated and we could not have done it without them. Good Luck next year in Limerick!

                                 

CUSAI/Badminton Ireland Third League Finals ‘09/’10

The College and University Sports Association of Ireland Badminton league Finals took place on Friday 19^th March 2010 in the University of Ulster, Jordanstown.  This was the first year the CUSAI finals were held here with 7 sports and 9 Institutions sharing the titles between them.

Badminton Results

Badminton League Div 1: Trinity College Dublin Badminton League Div 2: Dublin IT Badminton League Div 3: Waterford IT (photo right)

International Student Badminton Tournament – Ireland 2009

University of Limerick, 23^rd-26^th October 2009

147 players – 19 teams – 18 finals

Limerick was once again host to the Irish ISBT which brought 147 players into the Arena Sports Complex, UL to take part in the 3 day badminton extravaganza! We had 19 teams from Ireland, England, Scotland and Norway however only 11 teams were eligible for the team trophy!

We started on Saturday at 9am with singles. Play finished with almost each person getting 3 rounds in.  That night we dined and entertained ourselves in Limerick city.  Sunday morning started with doubles at 9am and again we finished the day by almost completing 3 rounds. Sunday night was theme night and we had many different interpretations of the ‘3’ theme! We held a pub quiz and disco in the Sports Bar in UL.

Monday began at 10am with mixed doubles and finished off that round which decided on the finalists.  Finals began at 2.30pm on Monday afternoon and finished at 5.30pm. We had 18 finals with many brilliantly fought matches. The prize-giving was held in the Kilmurry Lodge hotel on Monday evening followed by a Ceilidh and disco! Well Done to all the played and we hope that you enjoyed it!  We look forward to seeing even more players taking part in next year’s event.  All individual results are on our website.

IMPERIAL COLLEGE, LONDON won the team trophy

 

DISABILITY BADMINTON 2009-2010

Disability Badminton Day on Saturday 27^th June

ALSAA Sports Complex, Dublin airport was host to a Disability Badminton Day on Saturday 27^th June 2009.  We had 52 players from 3 categories taking part: - learning disability, wheelchair & dwarf.

Players checked in by 12 noon and all 6 courts started play by 12.15!  Our 3 wheelchair players were amalgamated in with the Learning Disability players and everyone was put into their different divisions for the matches.  These matches were played on a round-robin basis of 1 set to 21 (no setting) and all players played in 2 events. The Dwarf players played in Mens’s singles and Men’s doubles and this was a very competitive group as these players are preparing for the World Dwarf Games in Belfast in July 2009. Play ended at 4.30pm with a presentation of the certs for the runners-up and winners. A great day was had by all and many thanks to all the volunteers, carers, scorers and court managers for all their help throughout the day!

Examples of others Groups we work with include:

Badminton Ireland has enjoyed being involved in all aspects of disability badminton which has involved - Waterford amputee group and Waterford Resource Centre. Ability Days took place in Carlow, Kilkenny, Cork, Kerry, Donegal, Wicklow and Dublin.  We have run sessions with the Little People of Ireland. We are working with the CARA Centre and IT Tralee Adapted Physical Activity students and all work done with SIDO’s. Not to mention the success of Pan Disability Badminton Club in Lisburn.

4 Nations Irish Disability Badminton Championships ‘09/’10

ALSAA Sports Complex, Dublin airport, was host to this season’s 4 Nations Irish Disability Badminton Championships on 21^st -22^nd November 2009.

The event was held over 2 days in the 9 court hall and we accommodated over 100 players.  This year we had 70 Learning Disability players taking part and had quite a job on our hands to ensure the classification for everyone were correct. We had to make some redraws on Saturday morning after it emerged some players had to be moved but we quickly dealt with this and started the games at 9.30am. 

We used 1 court as the organisers match control desk and 8 courts for all the matches. We divided up the courts – 4 courts were for Learning Disabilities, 2 were for the Dwarf category, 1 for Wheelchair badminton and 1 for the Physical Disability category.  The court schedules were Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles and Mixed doubles. Every category was different and got through a different amount of games by the time we finished on Saturday at 6pm. Every court was designated a volunteer/staff member as the court manager who ran the court until each round robin was finished. A big thanks to all the volunteers, coaches, helpers and scorers who ran the courts as this really helped us to run the tournament efficiently!

Saturday evening was the entertainment night with Bowling and Fast food in ALSAA Bowl. A huge thanks to the staff and Mark Delaney for looking after almost 70 of us to play and eat.  ALSAA Sports complex also kindly donated some prizes for the top 10 bowlers!

Sunday started at 9am with mixed doubles in the Learning Disabilities, Men’s Doubles in the Wheelchair and Physical Disability category and Mixed in the Dwarf category! We started the Finals at 12pm and had 31 to get through! We finished at 3.30pm with all finals played!

There were excellent matched played in great sportsmanship and spirit throughout the 2 days. We picked Derek Kelly from Bray Lakers as our ‘Player of the Tournament 2009’ for exactly these reasons along with his helpfulness and courage to continue even though he was injured! So Well Done!

We would like to extend our thanks to all the players, carers, coaches, volunteers, parents and scorers for helping us! Badminton Ireland would like to thank our tournament staff/supporters Wayne, Sandra, William, Lyndon, Fiona, Amanda, Rachel, Richard, helpers on Friday at classification, Claire our physio, Fingal County Council , ALSAA Sports Complex, Breda Connolly, Craig Casey, Holiday Inn Express, Bewleys Hotel and the IOC for their minibus.

 

NATIONAL BADMINTON WEEK 

Now an annual event, Badminton Ireland held National Badminton Week 2009 from 23^rd October to 1^st November 2009 as a kick off to the badminton season...During this time, all badminton clubs opened their doors to allow anyone interested in having a go to come and play.  Badminton is a sport for everyone regardless of age, ability or fitness level.  Following is an example of the numerous events ran during this week which range from Radio interviews to Grandparents Open Days to the Irish Junior Championships.  

• Friday, 23rd Oct
  • Wicklow County Association:  promotion on radio, 15min slot on East Coast radio at 10:45am
  • Badminton Ireland launch new Strategic Plan 2010-2013
  • Sunday, 25th Oct
    • Dublin Juvenile Open - Terenure College Dublin
    • Sheila O'Flanagan was interviewed on RTE Radio 1, at approx 2.15pm, mainly focusing on the launch of the Badminton Ireland Strategic Plan 2010-2013
  • Wed, 28th Oct
    • Dundalk BC hosted a Juvenile Open Tournament
    • Sligo Lawn Tennis Club, 11am – 2pm, Development Day for existing and new Special Olympics Badminton clubs/services
    • Mungret St Pauls Badminton Club Limerick, New Members Night 8pm
    • Kilmacthomas BC, One Day Halloween Badminton Camps for juveniles and new members 'Come and Try It' Night
  • Fri, 30th Oct
    • Killorglin; new club having open evening on Friday 30^th
    • Introduction to Badminton Coaching Course, Sligo LTC,
    • St Gearlds Castlebar, Castlebar v Newport Fun Juvenile Tournament
  • Sat, 31st Oct
    • Irish Junior Championships - Terenure Badminton Hall, Dublin
    • Mayo Badminton Association at Ballina Badminton Club; Fun Badminton Night for Adults
    • Baldoyle Badminton Centre, 10am-2pm, Development day for Special Olympic Athletes
    • Level 1 Coaching Course, Banteer
  • Sun, 1st Nov
    • Boyle Badminton Club; Juvenile Open Evening from 6pm. Contact Elaine at 087 2965451

 

Other Events during National Badminton Week:

• Three Rivers BC PJ Party
• Donegal,Oaktrees BC PJ Party - Donegal
• Holy Faith Sec School, Clontarf; Halloween Tournaments
• Ballincollig Adult Education Badminton beginners and improvers classes held a combined competition on Tue 2nd Nov
• Kilcullen BC, Kildare – “Grandparents Open Day”
• Portlaoise GAA - Come try it; Fun & Games
• Portarlington Parochial - Club competitions
• Rathangan & Ryston Club Friendlies

 

Well Done to the 2,500 people (that we know of!!) who took part in National Badminton Week 2009! We are welcoming any new events from clubs and schools for next season during the National Badminton Week which will be held 16^th-24^th October 2010