Uni in the UK. + Badminton of course. =)

[Byro-Nenium]

Heya.....

Those of you who have been in BC for 2 years+ will know that i'm a pre-uni student in Singapore. I've only my exams to go and then i'll be doing my NS (National Slavery*) *Service. For 2½ years. Then i'll be moving to the UK for my university.

Right now, i'm hoping to get into University of Lancaster, but those who have gone to the UK or are currently in the UK will know about the UCAS and the several uni choices they give u.

I've considered several unis around the UK in England, Scotland and Wales. I'd just like to get some feedback (if any) from anyone who may know of the badminton culture in these various places. They are

Lancaster, England
Cardiff, Wales
Ipswich, England
Leicester, England
Manchester, England
Glasgow, Scotland
Edinburgh, Scotland
Swansea, Wales
Leeds, England

Thanks
Oh feel free to throw in any other comments about these places if any, about the food or any other interesting facts about them. Thanks!

Nothing offensive pls......

[Cheung]

BN, my info might be outdated.

Scottish Universities have their own league.
Welsh and English Universities play in another league.

Lancester is a small University (so less pool talent) transl...you are never going to win a team tournament with Lancaster.

Ipswich??? there wasn't a University of that name when I was studying. Is that University of East Anglia? In any case, doesn't have a strong badminton culture.

Cardiff/Swansea. Are they seperate? Anyway, some good players go to those players.

Leceister, weakish badminton.

Leeds strong badminton team a few years ago. Justin Wilmott (ex England player) used to go. Other very strong players go as well. Well, they were strong until getting into the Student's Union and the alcohol there.

Other board member's say that Birmingham is the strongest now. Not sure if stronger than Loughborough.

Good to check out the teams though....if they are so strong you can't get into the first team, then don't bother going to that University. As a general rule, the bigger the University, the better the team (doens't apply to L'borough[sports Uni so select the good players] or London[teams divided into colleges]).

If you want something for your CV, I'd say go for a slightly weaker badminton University so you can say your were a first team player for your Uni when you go looking for a job.

[Neil Nicholls]

I know nothng about the UK university badminton scene, but I've got a couple of links for you

http://www.bugs.bham.ac.uk/badminton/

http://www.busa.org.uk/

http://www.busaresults.org.uk/

Exeter university (http://gosh.ex.ac.uk/activities/AU/badminton/pagesource.html)
with links to some other university badminton sites

[dlp]

Good universities for badminton lougborough, bath, birmingham, there is a new high performance in sheffield, yorks is generally strong in general badminton. Cardiff has a centre for the welsh players.

[coops241180]

good to heare you've decided to come to the uk - i would pick ur university based on the course you're doing, but for your information the uni's with the best sides at badders (men's wise anyway) are

Loughborough
Birmingham
Durham
Central Lancashire
Strathclyde
Nottingham
Bath
Warwick
Edinburgh

i've not put these in any particular order but all these uni's had their teams in the 1st team knockout competition this year and are in the top divisions for the region that they are in - i will warn you know that the standard is extremely high with some of the UK's top 20 players playing for university teams.

Good luck

Neil

[andymcg]

I think I'm right in saying the semi final teams in the mens cup this year were Loughborough, Birmingham, Strathclyde and Nottingham. Bath are also very close to this. I'm sure they could be better if more of the top players there actually played for the team. I wouldn't really include Durham or Central Lancashire on that list. Edinburgh and Warwick are on the next level down I would say, as I don't think they have as much strength in depth.

I'm not really in a position to comment on other Uni's as much, but Strathclyde have a very strong team, and have had for about 6-7 years. They've won the Scottish league every year since 1998 and haven't lost a match in that period. The mens team have also reached the semis of the knockout 3 times in the last 4 years. The facilities there are not the best, but they do have a lot of good, solid players.

[jamesd20]

of your choices i would say that leeds and manchester would be best as they are larger universities and therefor more likely to keepa fairly strong club. the best teams are loughborough,birmingham, and nottingham, but they are up to national standard players. personally im from leicester and we are rubbish but we try hard but since i been here the standard has dropped overall, however we do have a very good player who i am playing with at the moment from guillin in china but he only hear until end of next year. leicester does have a lot of asian international students and am sure they play well but they are more intrested in studying-i dont understand it! i only met this guy cos my g/friends friend organises international students applacations.hope am of help,j.

[Byro-Nenium]

Thanks guys....

Swansea is in South West Wales whereas Cardiff is in the South East.

Ipswich isn't that name of the uni, the name of the uni is Suffolk College, the University of East Anglia. Ipswich is just the nearest town to it.

I'm definately gonna choose my uni on the course i want to study, and right now thats Lancaster. So whether i quit badminton or not, depends on the uni i go to, of course i'd rather not quit though.....

But may not have a choice.....

Oh well, i'm frozen out of any form of normal life for the next 2½ half years anyway, so hopefully things will change by then

Thanks guys

[andrew_cherry]

andymcg - not including durham wouldn't be a little bit of the old durham/newcastle rivalry would it? hehe - only kidding ;)

also, to the list earlier on i would certainly add leeds. they might not have had a storming season in premier north, but they're still IN premier north, so...

[andymcg]

hehe :D

I wouldn't include Newcastle on the list either!


But seriously I'm not and have never been at Newcastle Uni (or Northumbria!)

[andrew_cherry]

ah yes fair enough - i remember now! i'll let you off then ;) and now i'm off to play a match in a hall where the walls touch the back lines... i've refused to play there again but i can't get out of this one :(

[Neil Nicholls]

I saw a top class international on tv recently playing in a Leeds shirt. Well, it had LEEDS on the back.

Anyone know who this was?

[Cheung]

Hmm, tough question....

let me think.....somebody who gets the the finals of major events but has difficulty winning the tournament??;)

[Neil Nicholls]

could be ;)

[Neil Nicholls]

No more takers?

Maybe it was too easy then.

LEE D S was Lee Dong Soo losing in the All England Mens Doubles Final

[Wizbit]

Overall Championship points taken from BUSA.

BUSA LINK (http://www.busaresults.org.uk/overallpoints.asp)

1 LOU Loughborough 729.5 944.5 1674
2 BTH Bath 416.5 401.5 818
3 BHM Birmingham 304 492 796
4 UWI UWIC 245.5 407.5 653
5 CAM Cambridge 212 362 574
6 NOR Northumbria 311 254 565
7 EDB Edinburgh 223 318 541
8 OXF Oxford 259 262 521
9 NTM Nottingham 233.5 232 465.5
10 EXR Exeter 212 244 456
11 DUR Durham 185.5 254.5 440
12 LEE Leeds 107 256 363
13 BWL Brunel WL 168 157 325
14 NEW Newcastle 158 159 317
15 SHU Sheffield Hallam 195 107 302
16 CAR Cardiff 124 177.5 301.5
17 BTL Bristol 154.5 126.5 281
18 MCR Manchester 150 120 270
19 LJM Liverpool John Moores 82 181 263
20 STN Southampton 163 80 243
21 LMU Leeds Metropolitan 65 167 232
22 SIM St Mary's 118 108 226
23 UWS UW Swansea 168.5 43.5 212
24 STG Stirling 140 66 206
25 RDG Reading 91 110 201
26 WAR Warwick 117.5 80 197.5
27 BTN Brighton 65 130 195
28 MJN St Mark & St John 120 60 180
29 GLW Glasgow 66 113 179
30 UCL University College London 72 102 174
31 STR Strathclyde 78 88 166
32 NTU Nottingham Trent 93 69 162
33 HWT Heriot Watt 126 19 145
34 UKC Kent 62 69 131
35 IPL Imperial 100.5 28.5 129
36 COV Coventry 70 48 118
37 GLO Gloucestershire 34 83 117
38 SHF Sheffield 68.5 42.5 111
39 LAN Lancaster 72 34 106
40 EDH Edge Hill 100 0 100
41 SAN St Andrews 72 22 94
42 C&A Crewe & Alsager 58 34 92
43 KCL King's 60 29 89
44 OXB Oxford Brookes 42.5 38.5 81
45 CLA Central Lancashire 50.5 29.5 80
46 ABN Aberdeen 25 53 78
47 LPL Liverpool 9.5 62.5 72
48 YOR York 40.5 30.5 71
49 LPH Liverpool Hope 20 48 68
49 POR Portsmouth 15 53 68
51 MMU Manchester Metropolitan 40 22 62
51 WOR Worcester 26 36 62
51 QML Queen Mary,University of London 42 20 62
54 UWE West of England 11 50 61
55 SSK Staffordshire (Stoke) 48 10 58
55 UEA East Anglia 22 36 58
57 STI Southampton Institute 51.5 1.5 53
58 UWB UW Bangor 26.5 26 52.5
59 WLV Wolverhampton 43 7 50
60 UWA UW Aberystwyth 29 18 47
61 SUN Sunderland 27 19 46
62 HTP Hartpury College 45 0 45
63 DND Dundee 11.5 32 43.5
64 SAL Salford 15 26 41
65 HRT Hertfordshire 27 12 39
65 DMB De Montfort (Bedford) 17 22 39
67 SRY Surrey 28 10 38
67 ESX Essex 24 14 38
69 GLM Glamorgan 25.5 12 37.5
70 CHI Chichester 14 23 37
71 LON London 25 10 35
72 CCC Canterbury Christ Church University College 0 34 34
72 LMT London Metropolitan 26 8 34
74 TEE Teesside 21 12 33
74 BRD Bradford 20 13 33
76 GRW Greenwich 20 12 32
76 HPA Harper Adams 17 15 32
78 KGN Kingston 22 9 31
79 UWM UW Cardiff Medics 0 29 29
80 HUL Hull 27.5 0 27.5
81 GKT Guy's, King's & St Thomas' 0 27 27
82 RGU Robert Gordon 26.5 0 26.5
83 UWN UW Newport 26 0 26
83 ABY Abertay 18 8 26
85 LUT Luton 25 0 25
86 SBK South Bank 10.5 13.5 24
86 SMT St Martins 2 22 24
86 RHL Royal Holloway 0 24 24
86 BKC Buckinghamshire Chilterns 21 3 24
86 UMT UMIST 17 7 24
86 NPR Napier 2 22 24
92 CTR Chester 3 18 21
92 PLY Plymouth 21 0 21
94 SSX Sussex 13 6 19
94 AST Aston 0 19 19
96 BOU Bournemouth 17 1 18
96 QMT Queen Margaret's 12 6 18
96 QUB Queen's Belfast 18 0 18
99 LCN Lincoln (Lincoln) 11 6 17
100 GCL Glasgow Caledonian 14 0 14
101 BAR St Bartholomews & Royal London 13 0 13
101 ROE Roehampton 0 13 13
103 IPM Imperial Medics 12 0 12
104 SWI Swansea Institute 11 0 11
104 DML De Montfort (Leicester) 6 5 11
104 UUR Ulster 5 6 11
104 LCR Leicester 11 0 11
104 MDX Middlesex 8 3 11
109 LSE London School of Economics 3 6 9
110 KEE Keele 6 2 8
110 HDF Huddersfield 8 0 8
112 RAC Royal Agricultural College 7 0 7
113 WTN Warrington 6 0 6
113 YSJ York St Johns 0 6 6
113 UCE Central England 6 0 6
116 DBY Derby 5 0 5
116 BCF Birmingham College FTCS 5 0 5
118 TTY Trinity College Carmarthen 3 0 3
118 NWI North East Wales Institute 3 0 3
120 NTN Northampton 2 0 2
121 RVC Royal Veterinary College 0 1 1
122 UWL UW Lampeter 0 0 0
122 KCW King Alfred's College, Winchester 0 0 0
122 SOA SOAS 0 0 0
122 GDS Goldsmiths 0 0 0
122 SGH St George's Hospital 0 0 0
122 PSY Paisley 0 0 0
122 SAC Scottish Agricultural College 0 0 0
122 CTY City 0 0 0
122 IPW Imperial (Wye) 0 0 0
122 LCH Lincoln (Hull) 0 0 0
122 SHN Seale Hayne 0 0 0
122 RUM Royal Free & University College Medics 0 0 0
122 B/L Bradford/Leeds 0 0 0
122 BKM Buckingham 0 0 0
122 CRS Cranfield (Shrivenham) 0 0 0
122 WRT Writtle 0 0 0
122 BOL Bolton 0 0 0
122 TAS Trinity & All Saints 0 0 0
122 BRC Bradford College 0 0 0
122 APU Anglia Polytechnic University 0 0 0
122 NMN Newman 0 0 0
122 SSF Staffordshire (Stafford) 0 0 0
122 CRB Cranfield (Bedfordshire) 0 0 0

[Cheung]

Leeds at no.12

Not too bad at all!

[other]

hehe...cambs is higher than oxford:)
so many international students here in cambs.....i'lm sure they get coaching in their homelands:)

[Sammi]

i think IC played pretty well this year.. saw some dame good players in tournaments!! are u all studying in london?:eek:

[coops241180]

lol - things may have changed since i posted....

[richardianbrown]

Hi,

My info is a bit out of date (2 years). I played at Leeds for a while and the team was ok in terms of standard. Unfortunately the culture of the team was quite poor and cliquey, but this may have changed with some new faces.

Manchester always seemed to have a decent side. Newcastle were weak when we played them, although I believe Northumberland were much stronger.

Unfortunately sport at university can be a bit patchy in terms of management. The people who run things can make some pretty stupid mistakes in the way that they organise and treat players - only to be expected really.

I hope you find a uni with a good team and decent people running the show.

Rich

[D3CYPH3R]

You seem to have overlooked Sheffield :eek:, this year Sheffield Hallam recieved 2 England U19 players Robert Adcock & Edward Foster, both excellent players, the reason they moved to sheffield was of the new English Institute of Sport, which is attracting more international players.
Definatly worth checking out :D