Badminton England were delighted to host our Club and Coach Conference for the second year at the National Badminton Centre (NBC) last weekend.
With over one hundred delegates and staff from around England making the journey to Milton Keynes, we were delighted with how many members of the badminton community were able to learn and engage as the event grew from its inception in 2023.
A full itinerary of on-court and off-court workshops were interspersed with breakout sessions for the opportunity to network with other delegates.
Nottinghamshire’s Arboretum Badminton Club ran a workshop looking at utilising the No Strings programme to enhance your club offer whilst Emma Smethurst’s session looked at how she had grown her work as a full-time coach and specifically how she has grown the junior club membership.
The neurodiversity workshop was particularly well received and covered conditions such as: autism, ADHD and learning disabilities including dyslexia.
The feedback on Ben Humphrey’s and Tanya Chethan’s neurodiversity session was extremely positive.
Phil Preston, a badminton coach in Herefordshire praised the session saying that “it was really deep and really interesting”.
Many of our delegates also enjoyed a Q&A session with up-and-coming Badminton England talents Harry Wakefield and Robin Harper who currently sit at number #226 in the world rankings and are looking to continue their rise in the BWF standings.
The pair focussed on their journeys to date and the transition from junior to senior badminton. Their valuable insights inspired all delegates in attendance to think deeper about how to engage more young people in our sport and support them in their development.
On court workshops were held by Badminton England coach developers: Steve Bish James Elkin and Stephen Pritchard.
Steve and the rest of the group received plenty of positive feedback on their help over the two days and we feel positive that all delegates walked away from the sessions having learnt something new.
Chief Executive of Badminton England, Sue Storey, said:
“The Clubs and Coach Conference is about collaboration; the sport is for everyone so bringing clubs and coaches together is important,”
“The important things are young people and inclusion and being here meant we could focus on growing these and getting the best out of coaches and young people across England.”
Make sure to keep an eye out across all our social media pages for updates on next year’s Club and Coach conference.