Lottery boost to BADMINTONscotland's young players

Monday 31 May 2004

sportscotland is delighted to announce a sixth consecutive year of funding to BADMINTONscotland with an award of £146,998 from the Lottery Fund’s Junior Groups Programme. This two year award has supported the appointment of a new Junior Performance Coach as well as this year’s training programme, which will focus on game preparation for forthcoming national and international tournaments.

"...we are nurturing grassroots potential to achieve long-term excellence in sport."

The recently appointed Junior Performance Coach, Diana Koleva, will use her knowledge and expertise to coordinate the training and competition programme for the Junior Group Squad. Diana, former National High Performance Coach for the Bulgarian badminton team and holder of an outstanding 70 international titles, will coach sessions covering strength and conditioning, player techniques, competition preparation, game strategy and tactics.

After a triumphant victory earlier this month at the Bank of Scotland U15 Home Countries Quadrangular International at the National Badminton Academy in Scotstoun, when the young Scots defeated England 6-4 and both Ireland and Wales 10-0, the squad hope to continue their success next year at the 2005 European Junior Championships in Den Bosch, Netherlands.

This year’s award will enable players to compete in eight separate tournaments over the year with a view to improving competition results in Scottish, UK and European Tournaments and ultimately, competing at the World Championships in Vancouver later this year. Players will also benefit from continuous evaluation by coaches, where all aspects of their performances including physical fitness, technical awareness and tactical ability will be assessed.

Leon Douglas, Lottery Programme Manager, BADMINTONscotland said: "The Junior Lottery Programme allows us, for the first time, to start preparing athletes for international competition from the age of eleven. We have been able to recruit a top class Junior High Performance Coach in Diana Koleva and we now have 14 young athletes aged 11-17 all developing their skills to as high a level as possible. Thanks to the Lottery Award we are now in a position to offer a programme that compares to those of our main international rivals."

Alastair Dempster, Chairman of sportscotland said: "sportscotland’s Junior Groups Programme is dedicated to providing a sustainable structure for talented young athletes to have the opportunity to focus on developing their skills. By implementing integrated training and competition programmes, we are nurturing grassroots potential to achieve long-term excellence in sport."

• The Junior Groups Programme provides support to groups of talented young people participating in a co-ordinated programme of coaching and competitive events over a minimum period of six months.
• Applications for the following costs are considered for funding: facility hire, coaching fees, accommodation, travel, equipment and competition entry fees.