Looking at recent overseas international badminton tournaments (on TNT and BWF TV) I note quite a few French, German, Danish (obviously) and several other European pairs and singles players but I have seen only Lane & Vendy from England. Lately play has been in Malaysia, Thailand, China and Indonesia, so if other European nations put in a good showing why not England? Is there a player shortage of this level? Are talented players coming through the system? I remember around the 1980s-1990s Sky used to cover a lot of badminton and England was quite well represented. These days it looks like a lot of other European nations are overtaking England and it will be interesting to see these at the All England in March. I guess proceedings at the latter stages will as usual be dominated by China, Indonesia, Korea, etc but am hoping for a bit more national variety.
No quick fix. It’s easy to lose a generation of players but takes ages to build up again. A 14yo girl got to the final of the girls singles in the U19 nationals. All credit to her but perhaps the depth at grass roots and a training system to develop that grass roots is still in evolution. I get the impression that quite a lot will choose university after their A levels. How successful is this pathway for professional badminton when other players are forging ahead on badminton development at 18-22 years old? The 22 year old English uni graduate player would be two to three years behind full time players.
Welcome to one of the many lovely outcomes of austerity. Badminton lost funding after the 2012 Olympics due to poor results, it was further cut in 2016. This is the result. It was recently found that there was a toxic environment at high level and that's not helped with the results or image of the sport either. I don't see that it's going to make a comeback here for a long long time if at all as there's just not the popularity or funding and kids aren't generally interested in the sport unless the parents are. It seems to be in a downward spiral which is self reinforcing and difficult to break. If kids don't see players getting a good career out of badminton they won't think it's possible. It's really a niche sport at high level now that receives very little attention in general. There's also a barrier to entry due to the expense. Your average working parent's can't afford for their kids to get coaching, train, and play tournaments week in week out like they could a few decades ago. Generally those who rise through the ranks these days have a parent who played at a decent level and can afford to invest a lot of time and money in them, but even then academics tends to be encouraged over badminton towards the age of 16 when the reality of a badminton career sets in. Gail Emms story of ending up broke and depressed after her career ended put the risk/reward of going pro into context and probably quite a few off. I think the general high cost of living in the UK, worker instability, and the system that churns out graduates with significant debt in the past decade, coupled with the expense of shuttles, courts, rackets, stringing, etc. has created an extra barrier to this sport that won't be overcome anytime soon. The UK is in a poor state in general and our standing in this sport reflects it.
don't UK have a sizeable Asian descent citizens like Australia/Canada? Most of the time badminton is popular among this community
I think this is true for many sports across different countries and not unique to English badminton. I think the prevalent thinking in England is a gap year is only a year. However, a year isn’t really enough even as a full time player. Three years is more realistic - one year to build up the physical and skills, second year to achieve results in smaller tournaments, then the third and fourth year for bigger tournaments. Unfortunately that means a gap period of 3 to 4 years and subsequently entering University as a mature student. Many will prefer not to enter as mature students and also not miss out the fun of being a Uni first year. Have to agree that the U.K. is not looking good. There’s another thing that the top juniors in England might not be able to get enough training. I know in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, the top juniors are training six days a week at 14 years old (includes gym training) in centralised training. England has to have a different approach to match that.
Some interesting points. I do recall that in the 1990s having conversations with some officials, coaches and others connected with (what was then) the Badminton Association of England, the administration and running was described as a mess. The selection policy came in for some criticism and certain players walked out to pursue 'proper' careers! One official told me that the BA of E sought a marketing guru. When one was hired he lasted only a short time, apparently saying words to the effect that he couldn't do anything with badminton and the way it was run. Isn't it true that for a very long time people have complained about the lack of badminton publicity and promotion in the UK? There just isn't the investment and finance in it I guess. Having my self played in various leagues and county I hear these days about fewer clubs, smaller leagues and also places where no leagues exist any more. Seems in this part of the world one just has to accept that despite huge numbers playing badminton it can justifiably be regarded as a minority sport. The English Nationals will be contested soon but will there be any TV coverage? I've not heard a word, have you? Sky used to televise this, although I heard it from a certain authority years ago that the BA of E actually paid the broadcaster to do so. I only recently discovered the new national league has been on YouTube, which is something.
Yes, Canada and Australia have quite a number of international players of Oriental or Asian extract. This will doubtless be the case in Europe before long.
Agree. If there are any juniors in England trying to look up matches of their contemporaries, there is very little material on YouTube they can compare themselves to within England. How many videos of the U19, U17, U15 English national championships can you find? I think there was nothing from 2023. Should the U13 English national championships be on YouTube to promote the game to younger kids? There must be other ten year olds thinking they it’s not impossible to try the game and get to that level if they could have seen it? I saw a bit but the quality of the transmission was unfortunately not so good. A step in the right direction. Back to gap years, I think there are a few now training in NBC who have decided not to go straight to university. Hopefully this new generation will come through. It’s a bit harder for doubles players as you need a critical mass of players to mix and try out different combinations. Are there part time bachelor degrees at the major English universities? Hong Kong in the recent few years have schemes for international athletes to attend university and get a degree that is spread over six years. Not all courses but there are a decent spread choices of courses. HK has an Olympic gold medalist in fencing who is enrolled in a local university. I think another fencer is enrolled at university of Erasmus. I know a few of the HK badminton players are enrolled in local university programmes. I haven’t heard of it in England though - only the Open University.
Yes. I'm not sure this is specifically just about gap year thinking so much as prioritising academics over badminton which starts earlier then University as there's plenty of options around studying There was a push in the early 2010s with University facilities and set ups for players. The National Badminton League was set up in 2014 and got axed a few years later due to the funding cut. The results since 2011 in the Junior European championships haven't been that good. A lot of players got sustained off the lottery funding and didn't go to University many years ago. Maybe you're right that the University system needs to churn more players out, but I do think it starts a lot earlier than that. There's always been cases of some of the top Juniors putting less effort into badminton around 16-18 as not seeing it as a viable career path. I remember also even in my Junior days talking to a Dutch player who was at a sports school and finding that odd as I'd never heard of one here, so I think schools could have some role to play too, certainly in comparison to some of the Asian Countries e.g. the Singapore Sports School, we have nothing like that as far as I'm aware.
A levels and training badminton is pretty tough. If A levels could be taken over three years combined with badminton, do you think that could make a difference in influencing choices? There is an education system called International Baccalaureate - world recognised. The final two years are equivalent to 4.5 A levels. This system recognises some students have exceptional needs and the program can be altered to study over 3 years instead of two. It’s an attractive option for those who want to do well at school to enable a better choice of subjects at university for backup. The fencer I mentioned that attends Erasmus university did the IB over three years and last year won a silver medal at the Asian Games. I did some research before. There is a secondary school in Milton Keynes that combines badminton and studying- I think run by Sara Sankey. IIRC , this school only went up to GCSE level. There’s also a college in Loughborough combining A levels with badminton. Good initiatives but too few choices. Another point is how to raise the standards of your existing pool of players? Judging from what I have seen with international juniors in Asia (I observed two international junior tournaments recently), training basics techniques and athleticism works well up for U15 and you really don’t see huge variation. At top U17 level there is a huge jump in consistency and optimal power generation and you start to see advanced skills. At U19, the players basically have the full skill set and athleticism. Like you mentioned , it’s expensive to train badminton. As a parent, if I am going to invest in badminton for my younger kid, I need to see some return. I know there’s an emphasis on enjoyment but coaches (especially county training level) have to been to be seen being active and dynamic in coaching making the kid enjoy improving. Parents and children will be encouraged to come back.
It could make a difference yes but as we've been discussing has to be combined with several things. It's interesting that there are some sports schools but as you say limited choice. As you say a lot of the badminton challenges are the same all over but I still feel the UK is a particularly difficult case in terms of its culture and living costs. Without the popularity and funding it will make little difference as you won't get the volume of kids and coaching required, even with the programs in place to make it easer for the students to train. As you say there's a skills gap at the moment. Because we didn't produce a new set of players we don't have a set of coaches either. It's a chicken and egg situation. We had the same problem with tennis to a lesser extent for a long time too.
True. And as a parent, if I see this skills gap, I would advise my kid education should be the better option. If I see my 14 yo kid managing to stand up against the best of Europe in the big European junior tournaments, I would be thinking, yes it’s possible to take it further.
There are so many reasons why UK badminton is where it is at the moment - many of those reasons apply generally to how badminton is (mis)managed in general. But one small observation specifically to English badminton is the lack of singles and primacy of doubles I observe at county level and in the local leagues. The elite coaches are also all former doubles players too. Many pro doubles players started as singles players (Keven Sanjaya, Goh V Shem, Gideon, Watanabe, Sapsiree etc) but it's not often that it happens the other way if at all. I see many talented kids at that crucial young teen development age not getting enough singles play and having to play too much doubles which decreases their level imo. With Morten Frost at the helm maybe they can take some inspiration from the Danish and refocus more attention to singles play.
Good point. In HK, China, Malaysia and I think Singapore, there’s not a lot of doubles under the age of 12 /13 in local tournaments. Training is all singles - it trains the fundamentals of technique and footwork. U14 doubles results are regarded as a small bonus. Definitely the U14 player can be recognised as more suitable to doubles later but most of the training time will still be singles orientated, especially with court work movement exercises. Around 14/15 years old, you will see specialisation into doubles or singles. I did see an IG post of a junior club in England training a doubles defense position routine. The players looked around 11 or 12 years old. Not sure if that’s typical of the junior clubs in England. It was a good exercise but at least in HK, none of the kids of the same age would be training that. Note I haven’t mentioned anything about league clubs. It will be harsh to say but 98-99% of adult league clubs will have nothing to do with producing elite players to represent England. Is there any convincing argument to say that strengthening the club scene will improve England’s competitiveness on international level (excluding Masters)?
I had the opportunity to observe and discuss junior training in England. Quite interesting to compare differences between HK and England. Contrary to my expectations, I was told quite a few juniors will play singles to 16-18 years old. Adult county singles is largely irrelevant to strength of England at international level though. Some parents voiced dissatisfaction with attention paid to basic techniques by coaches. However, quality training time looks to be an issue. Plenty of tournaments for the kids to enter, however having a ranking system is a double edged sword. There’s a pressure on coaches to produce results so as a coach, do you help a kid practice consistency with a poor technique (in one to one) that will help them win points or do you go for a long term view to get that good technique grooved with a one step back, two steps forward approach. The second is better - however you can imagine anxious parents worried about their child’s England ranking having discussions with the coach about being overtaken. The kid might lose confidence if losing points in a match with the newly corrected technique and then revert to their old habit. Badminton England are having camps with U15 players and senior squad players. That’s a good thing. Don’t know about the content but getting them to be with senior players can only be a good thing. Education is a difficult area. If you are going to Milton Keynes for badminton and want to also study, you will have to do your GCSE and A levels online. That’s a difficult task for anyone including most adults. You might get your A levels but hard to see you getting a good results. There are a few players trying this option with home schooling which I was impressed about. There’s a push for players to delay higher education. It’s pretty clear that very few England players can reach the top level after completing university and attending university straight after school reduces the number of potential peak years at top level that a player might have To be honest, BE have put a lot of effort and thought into changing things to improve the throughput into the England squad. There’s been a lot of effort and good work and probably more along the way. It will take five years or more to see results but one can always hope for even earlier results.
Yes, that's a really good point. It can also make the child lose their way with the sport if they get a high ranking early on and lose it later. But is that a UK specific problem? I was going to say about the singles, the youngsters do play it early in tournaments and then specialise later. Though browning is right that coaches are generally doubles biased and know far more about doubles skills and techniques.
After going to all England and watching the Japanese play, I got inspired to search how their system works https://www.badmintoncentral.com/fo...es-the-japanese-badminton-system-work.157593/ Can the UK ever get to this point that companies would sponsor badminton and offering a job on the side. It would definitely be more of a mental health benefit than so call 'Mental wellbeing clinics'
Not anytime soon. Maybe if we become a more community focused society and not everything about money.
