U13 County Squad

Herts U12 team, 2nd place at Eastern Region Team Tournament, November 2010

U13s off to a winning start

The team won their first match of the season - away to Kent on October 2nd. This is a great start to the campaign. Well done everyone, and thanks to Mike Newlove and Geoff Daniels who ran the match on the day.

The team was:

Girls: Keya, Esme, Claudia, April. Boys: Zach, Pranav, Matthew, Chris and Brendan

Next matches:

• October 30 - Essex home, Wodson Park Leisure Centre, Ware. (Supporters welcome)
• November 27 - Team Challenge regional round, Mildenhall, Suffolk.

Herts U13 team vs Kent, 2 October 2011

Squad training

Herts U13s are delighted to welcome Jo Goode as squad coach for another season. For anyone who is not aware, Jo won the Bronze Medal in mixed doubles 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.

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

Coaching team & contact details

Squad managers give their time and experience for free

Squad Manager - Graham Hall | Tel: 07939 105478 | e-mail: graham.hall@talk21.com

Assistant Squad Manager - Mike Newlove

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 both U13 and U15 events. 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 September 2011)

• Grade 2: (Silver) Keya Patani

• Grade 3: (Bronze) Ellen Jennings, Chris Adey

Please keep us up to date with your tournament results - Click here for an online form to send them through.

Chris Adey - Finalist at Badminton England Oxfordshire U11 Doubles, October 2010

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

The latest information about the U13 squad fixtures and match results are shown on the Fixtures page here. 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.