U13 County Squad

U13 Team v Kent Sept 2009

News

Coaching - Herts U13s got off to a flying start, with the appointment of Jo Goode as squad coach from the beginning of September. For anyone who is not aware, Jo was a mixed doubles Bronze Medal winner at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, and over her career, also reached the Final of the world championships, won gold medals in Mixed and Level doubles at the European Championships and Commonwealth games, and won the Mixed doubles in the All England at Birmingham in 1999

Our squad members will have the benefit of all that experience this year, as well as her inspiring coaching style and the focus and dedication which took her to the very top of the game.

We are also delighted to welcome Hana Barnett, Christian Farrugia, Kelvin Lee, Laurence Lee and Jonathan De Costa to the squad, after our trials in late September

Results - The team has got off to a strong start in the Shires league, with two wins away at Kent (18-2) and Middlesex (19-1), to put us top of the division in the early stages. Team members so far have been:

Girls: Amy George, Eleanor Fitton, Ellie Makewell, Izzy Hatt, Renu Dhall-Chopra

Boys: Daniel Fox, Greg Benson, Jack Goode, Mohammed Khaku, William Pickworth

Squad training

Squad training runs on Wednesdays from 6 to 8pm, on 6 courts at Herts Sports Village, and will provide fitness, agility and technical training.

Players have received welcome letters and player data sheets by post. Please return these, with payment(s), as soon as possible.

Coaching team & contact details

Squad managers give their time and experience for free

Squad Manager - Graham Hall | Tel: 07939 105478 (outside office hours please) | e-mail: hsba@gmx.com

Assistant Squad Manager - Marion Conway

Squad Coach - Jo Goode

Tournaments

Tournament play, underpinned by regular high quality training, is the most effective way to improve as a player, developing your own skills and learning from other successful players. So we encourage members of the squad to compete regularly in these events.

All squad players should compete in the HSBA tournaments at Stevenage Leisure Centre at their own age group and, ideally, for an extra challenge, in some of the older age group events as well. For details about the tournaments please click on the Tournaments menu button or here. To download entry forms please click on the Downloads menu button or here.

We also expect squad members to play at least 3 Badminton England tournaments during the season (although our more ambitious players, and those of our rival counties, will play many more) Performances in these tournaments count towards gradings in the national ranking system. Entry forms are available from the Badminton England website. Click here to go to the BE download page.

Congratulations to the following players who have already achieved a national grading (as at 01 November 2009)

• Grade 1: (Gold) Amy George, Isabel Hatt, Ellie Makewell

• Grade 3: (Bronze) Renu Dhall-Chopra, Eleanor Fitton, Daniel Fox, Zoe Taylor, Greg Benson, Mohammed Khaku

Please keep us up to date with your results at these tournaments.

Matches

Herts U13s play inter-county matches as follows;

1. Badminton England Team Challenge (One day event in East Anglia in November, top two teams qualify for national finals day in March)
2. Shires League (season long competition, with a national play-off finals day in April)
3. Eastern region team events (one day events at various venues in East Anglia)
4. Friendlies (arranged as the calendar permits)

Selection for representative events will be on merit, but we try to give all squad members opportunities to develop by playing competitively for Hertfordshire.

Results

Results will be published here as they become available. Meanwhile, congratulations to last year’s squad, whose team results are as follows:

• Badminton England U13 Team Challenge – 2nd place in national finals
• Shires League – 2nd place in the national play offs
• Winners - Eastern region U12 team tournament
• Winners - Eastern region U13 girls team tournament
• Winners - Eastern region U13 boys team tournament

A number of current players in the squad were members of the teams above.

Shires League results are displayed below. For more information please visit www.shiresbadminton.co.uk.

**Eligibility Conditions Players are eligible to play inter-county badminton for Hertfordshire if they live in, were born in or are at school in, the administrative county of Hertfordshire.