Hey, heading off to university next year and i've that sport is all about getting into the uni team and competing in the BUCS tables. what is the standard of the players that play in these? looked on good old youtube but all the games i've seen most players don't look very good, apart from a few of the finals. does it really depend on the uni you go to the standard you will be playing? thanks
Hiya I am currently at uni and I play BUCS. The standard varies a lot. I play Mens 3 consistently for my uni, but I have also played Mens 1 in the Premier league and won against the weaker teams in the premier league. If you have played ICT/County level you should make it into most uni top teams. If you are applying to University of Birmingham, Leeds Met, Bath or Luffbra. Then you will need to be top county/National potential to make first team.
It's quite a long time since I was at uni, but like Andy says, I definitely think the standard is going to be very variable. I went to Plymouth, and they didn't even have a team entered in the University league (I believe we'd been banned, after repeatedly failing to attend away matches - although to be fair, it's a long journey from Plymouth to pretty much anywhere else). We did however dominate in frisbee (Go Picnic!) and surfing, which probably tells you all you need to know about Plymouth Uni... Anyway, we had badminton teams entered in the local league instead. They included a large proportion of international students - German, French, Dutch, etc (no Asians, surprisingly) - who I'd consider very good compared to both the British students, and the average UK club player.
Hi Charlie, As previously mentioned the standard differs from Uni to Uni. I currently play for York Uni and came to Uni probably just below county standard. In my three years I've played some awful players including a couple of 21-0 wins but have also been on the wrong end of loses to single figures. Have a look on the BUCS website to see where your prospective Universities are in the league tables. Its also worth remembering that you can't have two teams in the Championship. Leeds Met 2nds would arguably finish 2nd or 3rd in the Championship but are not allowed to get promoted this year - probably to stop any match fixing etc. The long and short of it is that if you're of a decent standard you should get a game in the BUCS leagues. Even 'lesser' Universities often have a couple of outstanding players who tend to win the majority of their matches. This is usually pretty easy to spot in the results if a team is losing a lot of its games 6-2. If you're in any doubt, drop the Uni an email, ask them what leagues their in and what standard of players are currently studying there. Not sure how influential Badminton will be on your decision of University but it might give you a clearer idea of where you'll stand when you get there! Good Luck! Jim.
The finals you saw on youtube were probably from the lesser cups. Here is a clip of Lim Kenn vs Neil White (if I remember correctly) in the singles final of the BUCS individual championships: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgvPDK5Lh9A&feature=related If you think these players aren't of that high quality then I guess you must be pretty good! Also here is the bucs league tables which will further give you an idea: http://www.bucs.org.uk/homepage.asp Select a uni you're interested in and then see how they rank. Prem clubs are all pretty decent, although there is a significant variation. The top clubs are at the top of the prem league, but there are usually decent players in the other prem and league one clubs. However I wouldn't select a university solely on the calibre of their badminton teams, if the uni team is rubbish join a local league team. I'm not entirely sure of the academic repute of Leeds Met for example compared with say Birmingham, Bristol or other Russel group universities. On a side note Cambridge is dire for sports, they have no uni sports hall and local facilities are so-so (according to my friend anyway)... Most universities have reasonable sports facilities. I am currently at Birmingham and have studied at Bristol and Reading and all have good facilities but they all tend to be busy, so to get a court you have to book early. The Birmingham team are very good, Bristol are good as well but not as much depth as Birmingham and Reading are not so great. I hope that helps. P.S. I would imagine every response might be a little biased depending on the uni people go/went to! P.P.S I am not BUCS standard, too much inconsistency in my technique (forarm pronation and footwork is not always there) but there are still plenty of people to play against by joining local clubs and other students.
