B A D M I N T O N W A L E S
A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 1 9 / 2 0 2 0 C O N T E N T S :
Badminton Wales Board Vice Chair Foreword Highlights CEO Summary International Matches Communications Development Competitions Performance Accounts Acknowledgements & Partners B A D M I N T O N W A L E S B O A R D | 0 1
DAVE DAVIES President KERRY ANN SHEPPARD Chair [Elected] CATHERINE MCCLUSKEY Vice Chair [Elected] ANN BEVAN Governance Director [Appointed] DR BARRY GARNHAM DAVE DAVIES, Events Director [Elected] BEIJING 2008 OLYMPICS DEWI JAMES Finance Director [Appointed] HEFIN ARCHER-WILLIAMS Legal Director [Elected] ROBYN FISHER HR Director [Elected] V I C E C H A I R F O R E W O R D | 0 2
Another year of my tenure has passed as Vice Chair of Badminton Wales and I am proud of the organisation as it continues to stabilise and grow in a tough economic climate. As the 2019/20 Season came to a close we have had time to reflect on the challenges that we have faced as a National Governing Body. Badminton Wales has continued to grow its participation of Badminton in Wales over the last twelve months, and will continue and strive to attract new members, providing the Badminton community in Wales with ever increasing opportunities. Badminton Wales stepped back on the Senior International Circuit at the European Men’s and Women’s Team Competition in February. I have been proud to see the way in which this season, of two halves, has been navigated and how Badminton Wales and the Welsh Sport Sector has collectively come together to lead the nation back to the sporting arena safely and cautiously. We certainly have a way to go but the journey back to the court will continue with the safety of our members at the heart of everything we do – together we can. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the volunteers who help make Badminton in Wales possible. From the grassroots, all the way up to the elite level of the sport, our volunteers’ expertise and passion allows Badminton Wales to continue to grow, develop, thrive and deliver for our members. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Badminton Wales Board Directors - you give many unseen hours to Badminton Wales and I thank you for your time, experience, endurance and foresight. The Board, with the Badminton Wales staff work incredibly hard to ensure that the sport we all love continues to thrive. I am excited for what the next twelve months holds for Badminton Wales. New partnerships, new ideas and new opportunities are all in the pipeline and we will continue to lead Wales’ Badminton community through these unprecedented times and return to the court as soon as we are safely able to.
Catherine McCluskey - Vice Chair HHHIIIGGGHHHLLLIIIGGGHHHTTTSSS 5
World L Team
e 64 Ranking
a 2,065
g Seniors
72 u Clubs e s 1,475 Juniors
RETURN of the Welsh Senior National Squad
PPRROOGGRRAAMMMMEE LLAAUUNNCCHH
Insport Safeguarding 2 Equality L1 courses run C E O S U M M A R Y
As the 2018/19 season came to a close with the success of the International Graded Event held in Ireland in the summer, the momentum continued as the 2019/20 began with the resurrection of the Senior National Squad. With International Team Events such as the European Men’s and Women’s Team Competition, plus International Matches and qualification for the Commonwealth Games Birmingham 2022 on the horizon, the re-introduction of the Senior National Squad started the season with a bang. The 2019/20 calendar highlighted events such as Senior Select Matches against the UK Armed Forces and British Police, Junior European Championships, Graded 4 Nations International, European Club Championships, Senior International Events to name but a few. Our Flagship event held on week 48 at SWNC – the Victor Welsh International 2019 - was a success with over 40 countries represented. The commitment and dedication to host an International Series Event begins early in the year with the support of the Badminton Volunteers who make the event the showcase that it has become. Year on year BW strive to better the previous year’s competition. The event has been upgraded from Future Series to International Series in 2018 and the goal is to increase the level of the event to an International Challenge to sit alongside Scotland and Ireland's International Challenge Tournaments to attract the World best and to introduce a Junior WINT competiton.
Strategic Highlights
Following a strategic review of BW in 2016, the needs of the business were mapped out for retention, growth and sustainability to focus on the business, operations and delivery strands. The following examples are some of the key areas which have and continue to be targeted: Membership System, New Brand, Staff restructure, growth of shuttle time, New Coach education pathway, Membership engagement plan, focused Event Schedule, volunteer recruitment and deployment, marketing and communication plan to name but a few.
BW Mission is to grow the number of people playing and volunteering for and in the sport of badminton in Wales and the number of welsh players winning medals in domestic and international tournaments In order to continue to strive and move the business forward Badminton Wales has four key strategic objectives which we believe are key to the delivery of our mission: - The 2020 strategic review has looked at two core elements that these Strategic Objectives underpin - Badminton Participation and Badminton Performance. Engage with our Badminton community to drive the needs of Badminton at that level and continue to drive International success and improve standards within our Elite Performance Programme.
The Team were involved in the mapping process looking at gaps, what can be improved, made better, increased or introduced as well as what must happen in order to achieve the objectives. The Team engagement was critical to ensure ideas and vision can be translated to work programmes that are linked directly to the BW Strategy, providing a clear direction for the team plus ownership and drive with a collective approach. Stabilising our organization to be less reliant on public funding is something that we continue to strive towards.
Increase funding resources The Objective: · Increase support from Badminton - Increase participation in Badminton in Wales Wales - these are the elements which sit Increase Volunteers closest to the aim and are critical in order | Increase tournaments for Badminton in to achieve this Objective. Wales
The Objective: Player Support Packages - Increase performance in Badminton in Coaching Pathway Wales - these are the elements which sit International Major Events closest to the aim and are critical in order | Funding | Resource to achieve this Objective. Operating Highlights
In August 2020 the role of Senior Performance Coach was filled by Chris Rees who has been working with us over the past year as a Consultant Coach. Chris brings a wealth of knowledge and experience of coaching at the highest level to the role. As we continue our Return to Training our Performance Players will slowly begin to return to International Competition and our Performance Programme will grow over the coming season. Our present challenges should not detract from what was a first 7 months of building and growing. The Team continued to develop programmes during the 5-month lockdown period. Couch to Court, At Home Badminton, AirBadminton and BW workforce opportunities will be released over the coming months, which will further enhance our education programmes available to our members - Activators, Youth Apprenticeship, Team Manager opportunities to name a few. We hope these opportunities, which can be accessed by our members, will be popular and in turn increase the BW workforce as we continue to drive our Strategy.
Looking Ahead
COVID-19 has had a huge impact upon our community game aswell as the elite side of the sport. COVID-19 continues to be a great threat to Badminton in Wales as participation in the sport has been impacted by this global health crisis. It will be for Badminton Wales and the wider Badminton community to work together to survive this crisis and help the game to rise out of the ashes and prosper.
PPRROOTTEECCTT -- PPRREEPPAARREE -- TTHHRRIIVVEE
We have protected the organization during the lockdown period, we are preparing for our Return to full Badminton play and we will thrive and come back stronger over the coming months / years as we continue to work closely with our members, Home Nation counterparts, other Welsh NGBs, Sport Wales, WSA and build on the positive relationships. INTERNATIONAL MATCHES
Our newly reformed National British Police. Wales Select Tsung Fong Mo (WAL) against Ireland Senior Squad against the UK were again victorious over the Armed Forces and British British Police. Police culminated in a friendly match away to Ireland A small Welsh representative followed by a full International team headed to Ireland for an Match on home soil ahead of exhibition match which was the Welsh International 2019. followed by the full After a number of years away International Match against Wales Senior National Squad Ireland on home soil. Some stepped back onto the very good performances by International stage with both the Senior National Team Men’s and Women’s Team however we the match was represented at the European lost 5 – 0. Disappointing but Men’s & Women’s Team giving us an insight into the Competition. level of work that needs to be carried out over the coming The year began with a years. representative match against the UK Armed Forces. With Wales saw 6 newly capped many matches being played players alongside more throughout the day - Wales experienced names to put on Select conceded only 4 an exceptional display of matches in total. A great high-performance experience for our players badminton. including those on the periphery of the Senior National Team.
Following the UK Armed Forces Match a smaller Senior Select Team took on the C O M M U N I C A T I O N S
Our Comms team have been working hard this year to keep our members connected, especially during the Covid-19 Pandemic. The beginning of the 2019- 2020 season was incredibly busy for Badminton Wales, both at a grassroots level and elite. BW took advantage of the amount going on to promote the game at all levels. The season kicked off with the reforming of our Senior Squad and the support that came from the Welsh population was fantastic. The home support that followed the teams livestreamed matches as they tackled opponents at the European Men’s and Women’s Team Championship was exceptional. We loved all the Welsh enthusiasm and stepped up to match it, providing interviews with the team, competitions to join us at the Welsh International, player takeovers on Instagram and more. During the 2019/20 season, our Comms team have started to work closely alongside Badminton Europe and the Badminton World Federation to promote Badminton in Wales.
We’ve continued to grow our social media channels and increase our direct member communications through e-mails and the website. Further to this, we’ve developed our social medias and website to ensure that equality is a theme that runs across all of our content.In March, all badminton stopped across the country and lockdown came into effect. The following months saw our members play badminton with everything from pom poms to Crème Eggs, with frying pans, mini rackets and ping-pong bats. We aren’t sure how many coffee cups were backhand served into around the country, but we estimate in the 100s! All ages and abilities, got involved and supported each other through some tough times and we can’t thank our members enough.
Over Lockdown, our Development Team released several beginner programmes and these brought with them their own social media presence. Shuttle Time Cymru was launched and is now prevalent on Facebook with the focused content aiming at developing the sport at a grassroots level. With an eye on the future of the sport,our social media now issues a new virtual challenge every few weeks. Many of these are in aid of charity and can either be achieved at home or on court. THE STATS:
Social media continues to be a growth area for Badminton Wales, allowing us to showcase the full range of our work and add value to our partner organisations. Moreover, as live coverage is still not always possible from all Badminton events/ tournaments, our platforms allow us to keep members and fans across Wales and beyond up to date with competition results.
Platform July 2019 July 2020 Growth % Badminton Wales 2,167 2,550 17% Facebook Shuttle Time Cymru - 573 - Facebook* Badminton Wales Twitter 1,500 1,846 15% Badminton Wales 432 628 45% Instagram *Newly created D E V E L O P M E N T
Over the 2019-20 season, our Development team had prioritized several areas that they wanted to see real improvements in. On reflection, we’re delighted to say that we have achieved the majority of these – the rest we look forwards to instigating next season! Amongst these areas were the accessibility of our Development team – we wanted to ensure that our Members were able to communicate directly with us and to improve all of our communications with our clubs and members. By working closely with our Comms team, we’ve started several initiatives:
· Shuttle Time Cymru: A separate Facebook page to link all areas of development (Individual, schools and LA’s.) This page is based around our own development programmes, but also those offered by the Badminton World Federation. Our Development team monitors this page, regularly communicating with members.
· During the Covid-19 pandemic, we developed two beginner programmes to help keep Wales playing badminton when there were no courts and to help complete beginners pick up a racket for the first time. These were Shuttle Time Couch to Court and Badminton at Home. They are completely free and can be found on our website.
· Virtual challenges: These are being run via our Shuttle Time Cymru Facebook page and our Badminton Wales Facebook page. All of our challenges can be done from the comfort of your own home or club and include everything from BBQs and Badminton to 1-Minute Challenges. During the summer we teamed up with Mind, and many of our challenges benefit the charity.
We’ve revamped our Schools Programme to now includes many virtual challenges along with incorporating Shuttle Time materials. By the end of the 2020/21 season, we will have also launched: - Activators programme for Womens and Girls No Strings Badminton Disability groups Silver Servers Youth groups These programmes will ensure that anybody can lead a group of upwards of four people and with the help and support Badminton Wales will be given the opportunity to move along our coaching pathway. BW Coach Education programme has seen the introduction of the BWF Youth Shuttletime Coaching Course, which is being translated into webinars for ease of delivery into schools and youth groups. We were thrilled to welcome AirBadminton to our ranks and will continue to promote this brilliant sport with Flashmobs etc. during the 2020/21 season.
Due to the restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, we have delayed several plans until next year. The safety of our members is our main priority, so 2021 will see the introduction of:
· The Corporate Badminton Competition, with bar!
· Graded Tournaments, enabling all of our players the chance to play those of a similar standard across Wales.
· The Club Championship. The top two teams will be entered into the European Club Championships later in the year.
· A Talent ID programme is to be instigated from January across Wales. We have been working closely with our Junior Performance Coaches to develop this. The Talent ID programme will be open to all and provide the stepping stones towards entry level of our Performance Programme and ultimately representing Wales at an International level.
· A series of Beginner’s Junior Shuttletime Competitions. These will be rolled out across Wales and based on experience rather than age.
We look forwards to welcoming you on court with us next season! 2 0 1 9 P R E S E N T A T I O N E V E N I N G During WINT 2019, we held our first Annual Presentation Evening. We hoped to repeat the event in 2020, but due to Covid-19 restrictions this will not be possible.
The presentation evening served two purposes - to award our newly capped players with their caps, and to present the players who travelled to the Irish Graded International with a memento.
Back: Andrew Oates, William Kitching, Andrew Jones, Adam Stewart Front: Scott Oates, Jessica Ding, Aimee Whiteman Capped players included Andrew Oates, William Kitching, Andrew Jones, Adam Stewart, Scott Oates, Jessica Ding, Aimee Whiteman and (absent) Gean Sou Mo. Meanwhile, the team that went over for the Irish Graded International brought home silver in Grade F and gold in Grade G, only losing one match. Badminton Wales President, David Davies, presented the caps and mementos to the players. We would like to Back: Simon Pill, Christopher Jeynes, Christopher Short, Alex Dalton, thank all who made it possible Darius Garnham, Iain Lovatt, Daniel Rhodes, Gavin Kirby, Barry Garnham, Huw John (Coach) Front: Alice Rhodes, Carol Davey, Rhian Owen, Terrie and look forwards to our next Kelleher, Lucie Whiteman, Sarah John, Sandra Lovell, Katie Whiteman event! C O M P E T I T I O N S
The Badminton Wales competitions calendar started off a very busy one and it was with great disappointment that due to the Coronavirus it was prematurely curtailed.
DISABILITY BADMINTON The Badminton Wales competition calendar opened in September with the 4 Nations Disability Championships. The tournament is open to players with both physical and learning disabilities but due to the lack of entries from players with physical disabilities only players with learning disabilities competed. The tournament was a great success with some very positive feedback but unfortunately the number of entries to the tournament was reduced due to a major event in the city which affected the availability and price of accommodation in Cardiff. Enquiries had been received from a number of players and organisations in Scotland and England regarding entering the tournament so it was very disappointing that they were unable to attend.
JUNIOR TOURNAMENTS There were a variety of junior tournaments held in north, south and mid Wales at different levels. They included tournaments for young players new to badminton, players developing their game and Junior Gold tournaments for players either on, or working towards, inclusion in the Performance Pathway. The number of entries in the Junior Gold Tournaments was very good:
Gwent - 46 players Great Orme - 20 players Cardiff - 51 players
It was however noticeable the low number of female players entered particularly in the Great Orme Gold with only three female players. Next season it is planned to increase the number of Gold tournaments to four with one planned to be held in West Wales. Thank you as always goes to our Tournament Organisers for ensuring that the tournaments in North Wales and Gwent ran smoothly (Joe Hill and Louise and Paul Crump). The VICTOR Junior National Championships took place in February. The championship was divided into age groups U13 – U15 – U17 & U19. Sixty players entered with twenty three events taking place. C O M P E T I T I O N S
SENIOR TOURNAMENTS The senior tournaments were mainly concentrated in north Wales thanks to Joe Hill for organising a series of Great Orme tournaments and Jane Liddle for organising the NEWBA Senior Open. The annual South Wales Open organised by Huw John, in Swansea, was also a great success. All of these tournaments were very well supported with a high level of entries. BW plan for more senior tournaments to be held next year across the country.
The VICTOR Senior National Championships took place in Cardiff in February 2020. With 76 players entering across the five disciplines it was a very successful weekend with some very hard fought matches.
VICTOR VETS MASTERS Unfortunately the VICTOR Vets Masters planned for April 2020 fell victim to the virus lockdown and was rearranged for September but that also had to be cancelled.
VICTOR WELSH INTERNATIONAL BADMINTON CHAMPIONSHIPS The Championships were held November 27th – 30th November in Cardiff with entries from forty countries. The Championships were very successful thanks to the very hard work of forty five officials plus a number of volunteers. P E R F O R M A N C E
The focus for 2019/20 Season was on the Return of the Senior Welsh Team and the return to representation on the International Stage. Senior Squad Trails were held ahead of September, and as the season commenced monthly Senior Squad Weekend Camps began, which set the foundation for a more professional, engaged and committed senior squad.
The introduction of Team matches helped to build team spirit with players developing the phrase #TIMETORISE where Respect and Integrity are key components of their growth helping all involved to focus and work together in the united quest for the Welsh Team to move up through the world team rankings. To achieve this the players have been encouraged to play more international competitions which not only gives players vital points for their own Individual rankings, but also determines the position of Wales in the world team ranking. Pre Covid-19 players began to compete on the International Circuit and were making solid progress. Understanding standards and the work that needs to be done to get back to where we belong, as individuals and from a team perspective, has been hugely beneficial to both players and coaches.
Jordan Hart is our shining light and is competing on the world stage. With over 18 Tournaments played, a world ranking of 75, commonwealth ranking of 10, Jordan is doing everything in her power to qualify for the 2022 commonwealth games. When tournaments restart, she is placed in the perfect position to attain the top 6 ranking position in the commonwealth, which is the qualifying standard set by CGW.
Welsh Men’s Doubles pairing of Adam Stewart and Andy Jones began the season with a world ranking in the thousands. They rapidly moved up through the Men’s Doubles ranking playing the international tournaments needed for improvement to happen. Lockdown hit in March with the ranking being frozen and our Men’s Doubles pairing sitting at 298 having played just 5 tournaments. With the significant jump up the World Ranking, the pairing now has a better chance to play in higher level tournaments which also helps towards team rankings. Stewart and Jones are currently ranked 84 in the commonwealth which means they have a bit of work to do to attain the qualifying standards set out by Commonwealth Games Wales. P E R F O R M A N C E
Men’s Singles and Mixed Doubles Players are also moving in the right direction and I am confident that if the situation around the world had not happened, we would have many more players in a similar position to the Men’s Doubles Pairing. Players and Coaches are looking forward to tournaments restarting giving our players the opportunity to compete on the International Circuit and move up the World Rankings.
Before lockdown Wales Seniors competed in the European Men’s and Ladies Team Championships in France. It was our first major competition as a Welsh team for quite a while. The experience, for our players, was an exciting one with the Men’s team drawn in a group with Denmark. Our first team event for some time and we were playing the best players in the world - what an experience for the Men’s Team who eventually placing 3rd in the group of 4. In the Ladies competition Jordan performed very well playing first singles and beating players in and around her ranking of 75. We were competitive in all other games; however, we did not manage to win a match. The learning curve was steep but, the experience gained invaluable.
We have taken our first tentative steps back to being competitive at the highest level. There is lots of work to be done by the players and the performance team - who are all looking forward to the journey ahead, rising to the challenge and seeing where our drive and commitment will take us. P E R F O R M A N C E
Para Performance Jack Wilson is our Elite Para Player sitting on the International Tier of the Badminton Wales Performance Pathway. As the country went into Lockdown Jack was able to restart his training in July at the Newport Velodrome, subsequently relocating to Sport Wales National Centre in August. Both Senior Performance Coach and Player require daily screening to enter the elite training bubble where Jack has been working hard on a number of areas to progress his level. The time has been spent breaking down and rebuilding Jack's game in preparation for the restarting of tournaments.
Jack has spent the past couple of seasons traveling all over Europe chasing qualification points for the 2021 Paralympic Games. Currently sitting at World number 28 Jack's aim is to climb the ranking to equal and move beyond his career high of 16 and fulfil his dream of qualifying and representing GB at a Paralympic Games. Qualification for Tokyo 2021 has been very tough and add to that a global pandemic, the past 8 months has been challenging for all Players. With a number of qualification tournaments remaining on the calendar qualification for Tokyo 2021 will be tough however Jack's focus is to continue to climb the World Rankings and to be in the best position for qualification in the next Parlympic cycle - Paris 2024. Jack has a long road ahead but time will soon go, Here's to watching this space, we will not leave anything to chance, resulting in Jack striving to reach his full potential. P E R F O R M A N C E
U13 The Celtic Challenge is an u13 tournament hosted this year in the Lisburn Rackets Club, Northern Ireland. While the Leinster team again looked formidable, they were pushed in all the matches by a strong Wales team. Indeed the Wales team produced their best result in quite a few years in finishing runner up. This is the first ppportunity for young athletes to represent their country and the 12 players that did so were a great example of what junior badminton can be. Great team spirit, excellent fun and all carried out in the midst of the terrible storms of February. The team comprised of: Allyssa Salvador, Amelie Jo Chandran, Bhavana Balu, Ella Halsey, Saffron Morris, Sot-Sai Thomas, Amay Patil, Eshaan Patil, Hector Bult, Johan Varghese, Llwyd Crump and Zachary Morris. A special thank you must go to Louise Crump who acted as manager despite her own injuries.
The Celtic Challenge 2020 also represented a change in selection process, whereby it is based on supporting Welsh tournaments as a priority. Tremendous work of volunteers such as Joe Hill and Louise Crump (to name but two) in holding events, and they need to support of as many players as possible. This process will continue onwards from now whereby Welsh Junior events get the credit they deserve. U15 The season came to an abrupt stop in March 2020 where scheduled events began to be cancelled. The U15 Quadrangular was the first event cancelled which was heart breaking for the team of Anest Lewis Fells, Bhavana Bala, Isha Mekala, Saffron Morris Neve Thomas, Amay Patil Eshaan Patil Harper Leigh Llwyd Crump and Faaris Ahmad. These players had their event cancelled but have no doubt they would have represented Wales with skill and determination and would have been keen to cause an upset or two when in Scotland. The other event cancelled was the Paris World Games which has proved a happy hunting ground for Wales in the past 2 years. Hopefully we can put the disappointment of 2020 behind us and return to giving the opportunity for young athletes to represent Wales, shortly. P E R F O R M A N C E
U17 The summer of 2019 saw 6 athletes head to the heat of Paris to compete in the second Paris World Games. Jasmine Owen, Learna Herkes and Jess Ding took to the court for the women’s team and Adil Khan, Dan Kite, and Jonathan Ewins for the men. Both teams produced fantastic performances to retain the titles they won 12 months previously. And while they could not produce the clean sweep of events, Dan Kite and Jasmine Owen won the Silver medal in the mixed event missing out by the narrowest of margins in a highly competitive event.
In September 2019, the European U17 Championships took place in Gniezno, Poland. Badminton Wales sent a team comprising of 2 girls and 2 boys. Archie Bult, Dan Clarke, Aimie Whiteman and Jazz Owen represented Wales with pride and produced two wins against the Faroe Islands and Armenia, While it wasn’t good enough to progress from the group, (Czech Rep) it did show the continuing development potential of these young athletes. The latter stages of the individual tournament was more difficult for all. The players gained a lot of experience in dealing with the long duration tournaments
U19 The next representative event for the U19 was to be the European Junior Championships in Finland. However, during the current circumstances Badminton Wales took the very tough decision to not send a team and therefore not to be represented at the event. The health and well-being of our players is at the forefront of every decision we make and after deliberation the Performance Team Notable Results The Junior season has also been littered with amazing performances in individual tournaments at home and abroad with results including: -
• Thomas Morgan fighting his way back from almost a year out with persistent injury to win a BE Silver event. • Saffron Morris went through an entire Junior Nationals weekend undefeated taking 6 titles. P E R F O R M A N C E
• Harper Leigh has continued his meteoric rise taking a multitude of titles including 3 BE Silver singles and winning internationally taking the Spanish U15 Doubles title. • Liam Hird winning the West Midlands. • Jasmine Owen lost out narrowly in the LD final in Cyprus. • Isha Mekala, only 10 years old also won through to the final of the U13 Gold in Leigh and showing that she is one for the future. • Bhavana Balu winning through to the semi-final of another u13 Gold event in Cheltenham.
In truth, each and every member sitting on the Progress Tier has added value to Welsh badminton. They are supported by clubs and individuals without whom they could not be as successful. To each of these wonderful players, thank you for your efforts. Performance Hub North - faced the most challenging time throughout this season. Head coach Dan Font headed off travelling leaving a big gap to fill and with much searching we were very grateful to Gavin Simpson for stepping in and taking over in his absence. His value was imeasurable and Badminton Wales sincerely thank him for all his efforts. Hopefully in the future we can work together again. With venues also proving difficult to manage, the players and parents showed great patience and a special thank you to each and every one for all their efforts. Fortunately Dan returned before the country went into complete lockdown and has been taking an increasingly prominent role in Junior development.
West - under the eagle eye of Huw John probably has the most challenging of circumstances with the geography providing most difficult to overcome. Players have very long commutes but their commitment and efforts to attend sessions are very well appreciated. P E R F O R M A N C E
South - has also had its court space issues but the efforts of all of the young athletes must be continually applauded. Matt Haynes has started with Badminton Wales so the coaching group is increasing and so we will be able to devote more focused time to the players. A special thank you to Jack Sanders (S+C) Hilary Gannon + Hannah Williams (Physios), Paul Sellars (Sports Psyche) who have given up so much time to support so many of the players.
Looking Ahead These are still difficult times with uncertainty around every event running. It is impossible to 100% confirm anything and so planning is a challenge. Every National Association is working very hard to get tournaments back up and running. Please remember, they have to consider many, many aspects of an event and not just letting the players play safely. Try to remain patient and respect the decisions made. All Badminton Wales decisions will be led by Welsh Government, and Sport Wales direction.
The 2019/2020 season has proved challenging for everyone involved at every level of badminton and the way the season has unfolded has just not been kind to anyone. However, despite all of this, the early part of the season proved the #TIMETORISE philosophy was clearly in evidence.
The Senior National Squad Players developed the phrase #TIMETORISE, where Respect and Integrity are key components of their growth. The only way badminton will succeed (at every level) will be with the combined efforts of players, officials, family, volunteers; everybody. From a young person’s development perspective, the Club can be most important for the growth and wellbeing of children. A Performance environment is a pressure environment and may not be the correct place for them. It is certainly not the first step to play. The support of the Badminton community is vital to ensure that we continue to grow the number of players playing our sport throughout Wales. Every person, from Participation to Performance is more important to Badminton Wales - We are all one country. Badminton Wales are looking to launch new initiatives to further help junior players, not just in the playing side but also coaching and management. Please help move it forward, we need volunteers. F I N A N C I A L A C C O U N T S
Income statement for the year ended 31st March 2020 31.3.20 31.3.19 £ £ Turnover 323,503 367,870
Administrative expenses 323,761 399,687
Operating deficit (258) (31,817)
Interest receivable and similar income 25 24
Deficit before taxation (233) (31,793)
Tax on deficit - -
Deficit for the financial year (233) (31,793)
Balance Sheet 31.3.20 31.3.19 £ £ Fixed assets Tangible assets - -
Current assets Stocks 6,000 1,750 Debtors 8,732 5,640 Cash at bank 109,649 134,331 Creditors Amounts falling due within one year 25,310 42,417
Net current assets 99,071 99,304
Total assets less current liabilities 99,071 99,304 Reserves 99,071 99,304 Income and expenditure account 99,071 99,304 F I N A N C I A L A C C O U N T S
Badminton Wales calculates their reserves according to financial risks and future liabilities
Cashflow risk – Sport Wales can be late in paying and so on average, NGB’s need to keep up to 3 months grant in reserve to cover expenditure during this period. For Badminton Wales this equates to £60k. Future loss of income/funding – funding cuts are with us for the foreseeable future. Badminton Wales needs to plan for the longer term and this might mean holding higher reserves to ease the impact of these cuts. Liabilities on contracts – Badminton Wales holds cash in reserve for paying out possible future liabilities. The biggest of these is redundancy and/or notice periods on employment contacts. Business risks – Badminton Wales holds reserves just in case for areas of normal business risks, for example, legal disputes, budget risk of overspend, claims not covered by insurance. Based on our operations. Badminton Wales needs to hold reserves in the region of £100k. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND PARTNERS
Badminton Wales would like to thank our partners for their support over the past year…
Sport Wales Welsh Sports Association
Cardiff Metropolitan University University of South Wales SwanseaUniversity MOD St Athan VICTOR BWF BEC Badminton England – Badminton Scotland – Badminton Ireland
Davies & Watkins - Insurance MIND
Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to resuming our Badminton calendar as soon as we are safe and able to.