Badminton – A Sport For Everyone: One Year On
25 September 2024
Exactly one year ago, Badminton England launched ‘Badminton – A Sport for Everyone’ – the new 10-year strategy for badminton in England.
The strategy is the centrepiece of our vision for badminton to become the most accessible and inclusive sport in England.
The first year of the implementation of that strategy has been a busy, ambitious and challenging one in which we have delivered against two key strategic priorities: young people and inclusion.
Our collective focus on engaging young people means that 421,400 young people are now playing regularly, an increase of 30,000 from the previous year and 70,000 since the pandemic.
We have relaunched the National Schools Competition, deepened the impact of the Development Fund and expanded our Young Leader Academy and National Youth Voice Forum to allow the next generation to take an active role in the badminton community. And we are focusing on our next generation of young talented athletes, who are making good progress on the international stage.
There remains much to do, but there is clearly a healthy appetite for badminton amongst young people with our flagship junior programme Shuttle Stars launching next year.
Shuttle Stars will see participants aged 5-11 enjoy a fun series of courses to develop and improve their badminton skills
We have placed inclusion at the heart of everything we do and now 35% of our affiliated clubs welcome disabled people, compared to 22% in 2023-24.
The Disability Junior National Championships were delivered in May 2024, delivering a new structure to underpin our pathway, with eight regional disability coaches supporting that structure, while 311 new disabled juniors and adults have tried badminton for the first time.
As part of our GB role, we submitted our Diversity & Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP), aligned with our EDI Strategy, which will inform our delivery over the next few years.
In March 2024, we celebrated the 125-year anniversary of the YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships, the oldest top level badminton tournament in the world.
England’s top players have shown a real commitment to giving back to the community, with Annie Lado paying a special visit to Westgate Badminton Centre
Our commitment to the twin pillars of young people and inclusion were encapsulated by the enhanced Birmingham Legacy project and particularly the Racket Pack Festival, which engaged ten schools and thousands of youngsters from the local area.
The Commonwealth Games Legacy Project allowed us to extend ‘No Strings Badminton’, funded by Sport England, into new and under-represented communities. The project initially focused on the West Midlands but expanded into a variety of other areas and 365 new sessions were delivered.
It has also, of course, been an Olympic and Paralympic year with Dan Bethell and Krysten Coombs both returning from Paris 2024 with Paralympic silver medals – an achievement we are incredibly proud of.
Reflecting on the past year, Badminton England Chief Executive Sue Storey said: “I am absolutely delighted with the progress we have made over the last year, working closely with our community we really have put our thriving community at the heart of everything we do.
“We knew our plan was ambitious and we knew we would have to work hard to achieve, and I am immensely proud of everyone; staff, athletes, coaches and the wider community, who have worked so hard on our strategy. Badminton – a Sport for Everyone, and we are showing how much progress can be made when we work together, thank you to everyone who has made this first year so special, I can’t wait to see what we will achieve in the next year and beyond.”
