First six players sign up to EJPP Transition Group

Further to the restructure of the England Junior Performance Programme (EJPP) this Summer, we are pleased to announce the first six players to have been offered and have accepted the opportunity to be part of the newly introduced Transition Group on the EJPP.

They are Aahna Bhatia, Lucy Brierley, Sofie Chong, Kalyan Manoj, Yashica Racharla and Sajan Senthuran.

The Transition Group is to be a small group (up to a maximum of 10-12 identified players), who will receive more focused support from the EJPP.

The Transition Group has been introduced to support delivery within BE’s recently published 10-year strategy.  The key purpose of the Group is to support and improve the capability for committed and talented Junior players to transition successfully to a full-time training environment and to help bridge the gap between Junior & Senior international badminton, using more targeted intervention & exposure.

We hope as part of this Group that it will aid in the acceleration of a players development, create increased collaborative relationships, provide positive developmental experiences, aid the development of required skills, capabilities and performance behaviours, provide a clearer junior to senior badminton, and ultimately help England compete with the best in Europe and the World at Junior and Senior level in future.

Players are identified for an invite onto the Transition Group by a Panel of Coaches based on relevant eligibility criteria, which includes having UK passport or having been resident in the UK for a minimum of two years, with a commitment to want to represent England in future Championships Events, and to work towards full time training at the end of their Junior career.

The Panel further identify players for invite to the Group that have shown evidence of being competitive domestically in own age group and above age, along with showing competitiveness in Europe, that already exhibit key performance behaviours and have a growth/learning mindset.

The Panel are also looking for those that are fully committed to developing their physical capabilities and that have a passion for the game and a willingness to compete.

The support on offer for a player invited to be part of the Transition Group is based around much more focused support, which includes a dedicated Lead Transition Group Coach, an Individual Athlete Plan (IAP) worked up in collaboration with player, personal coach and parents, an individualised S&C Programme, invites to train alongside / with senior squad training at the National Badminton Centre throughout the year and a newly introduced Buddy Scheme to support with transition into the NBC Senior environment.

In addition to this support from the EJP Programme, a player also receives a place on the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme, with all the support services on offer through this Award through their nominated Delivery Site.

Invitations to be part of the Transition Group are not set to specific time periods during the year and therefore further players can be invited to be part of the Group at any time by the Panel.  The Group will be kept small with a maximum of 10-12 players included and a place provided until such time as the player moves into senior badminton, transitions to Senior squad or exits through other reasons as agreed.

All six Transition Group players were recently invited to and attended the NBC with their parents, where the EJPP hosted a Transition Group Induction Workshop session to provide further information on the purpose of the Group, BE’s commitment to them as individuals and the expectations of being part of this Group.

Kat Hurrell, Lead Transition Group Coach commented: “Our job will be to help support these players in addition to what they get through EJP Programme activity, by exposing them as much as we feel is right for that individual to the National Senior Programme, it’s all about trying to accelerate the development of these players and their performance behaviours, so technically, tactically, physically, mentally – and prepare them for the lifestyle of being a full time athlete.”

Morten Frost added: “We are trying to focus as much as we can on building a programme around the specific player, such as developing performance behaviours, physical robustness and development, how a player understands and reads the game.  We are really excited to see how players identified can progress with this extra focused support.”

Nikki Tarrant, EJP Programme Manager commented: “A lot of work has gone on behind the scenes regards the new structure as a whole and we are really looking forward to working with players invited into this Group in a much more focused and impactful way, with the added support of TASS which will be invaluable. We are excited to see what the future holds further to the introduction of the new EJPP structure in the summer.”

More information on the EJP Programme’s new structure and Transition Group can be found on the following website page here.