Half Yearly Meeting of the Council of Scottish Union

28 October 2018

Report by: Christine Black, Chairperson Performance Committee

Title: Performance Committee Report

Performance Committee meetings were held on 25 July and 10 September 2018.

Performance Long Term Targets (2015 – 2019)  1 or more medals at Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018 – achieved (Kirsty Gilmour- Bronze medal Women’s Singles)  1 or more Scottish athletes selected for Team GB at Rio Olympics – achieved (Kirsty Gilmour)

Annual Targets (2018 – 2019)  1 medal at European Championships – not achieved  1 or more medals at Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018 – achieved  1 Scottish player to achieve a WR of Top 20 – achieved  2 Scottish players to achieve a WR of Top 45 – in progress  4 Scottish players achieving a WR of Top 60 – achieved

Youth Olympic Games (6th – 8th October – Buenos Aires) Christopher Grimley selected to represent GB with Grace King of England as highest ranked GB singles players from world junior ranking on 3 May 2018. Scotland Performance Coach Andrew Bowman was nominated to travel as Team Leader.

European Junior (U19) Championships (7th – 15th September – Tallinn, Estonia) Team event – Scotland seeded 8th – a good overall performance winning all 4 matches at group stage to reach the quarter final stages where they lost out to top seeds Denmark 3 – 1.

Pool Stage – Scotland beat Croatia 4 – 1 Scotland beat Poland 4 – 1 Scotland beat Netherlands 4 – 1 Scotland beat Romania 5 – 0

Individual event – Christopher Grimley and Matthew Grimley won a silver medal in men’s doubles.

Individual International results Senior July - World Championships - Alex Dunn & Adam Hall won 1st round against China Taipei men’s doubles World no. 20.

August – Spanish Masters – Kirsty Gilmour reached the semi-final beating Japan’s World no.13 Sayaka Takahasi

September – – Adam Hall & Julie MacPherson – silver medal mixed doubles

October – Korean Open – Kirsty Gilmour reached the quarter final beating in the first round followed by her best result to date against former World champion Ratchanok Intanon from Thailand who is currently World no 6. Junior August – Bulgarian Junior – Christopher Grimley & Matthew Grimley – Gold medal – Men’s Doubles

Lithuanian Junior – Christopher Grimley – Gold medal – Men’s Singles Christopher Grimley & Matthew Grimley – Gold medal – Men’s Doubles

September – U19 – Adam Pringle & Joshua Apiliga – Gold medal – Men’s Doubles Adam Pringle and Rachel Andrew – Gold medal – Mixed Doubles Lauren Middleton & Sarah Sidebottom – Silver medal – Women’s Doubles

Para June – Irish Para-Badminton International – Bobby Laing (SS6) – Gold medal – Mixed Doubles September – Brazil Para-Badminton International – Mary Wilson (SL4) – Silver medal – Women’s Singles (SL3-SL5) Bronze medal – Women’s Doubles October – Japan Para-Badminton International – Mary Wilson (SL3-5) Bronze medal – Women’s Doubles

U19 Squad – Change of Structure The undernoted changes to the structure of the current U19 squad were approved at BADMINTONscotland’s Board meeting held on 23 August 2018.

All changes will be effective from 1st April 2019.  The squad will be re-named the Senior Development Squad.  Membership will start from 16/17-year-old depending on school leaving age and will continue to U21 age group.  If a player has not left school but deemed by the National Head Coach to have exceptional talent, they may be considered for Squad.

Squad selections – both existing squad members and potential new members will be invited to attend three viewing sessions in Scotstoun on the following dates.

Saturday 5 January 2019 10am – 1pm Saturday 9 February 2019 10am – 1pm Sunday 10 February 2019 10am – 1pm

 Attendance at all 3 squads preferred, however a minimum of two acceptable.  Details of players falling into this category will be produced by Diana Koleva and and passed to Head Coach Tat Meng Wong for consideration. These players will not be restricted to existing members of the National Junior Development Squad.  Following the viewing sessions, the National Head Coach Tat Meng Wong will make the final decision on those players who will be invited into the Senior Development Squad.

A player evaluation template to be discussed further and agreed by Performance Team before Implementing for viewing sessions in January/February 2019. Revised selection criteria for Senior Development Squad and transition to the National Senior Squad are in process of being finalised.

National Junior Development Squad  NJD Coach Diana Koleva provided a list of potential athletes to be invited to NJDS starting 1st April 2019 in line with Senior Development Squad.  Proposal for Squad fees to be increased from 1st April 2019 as no change in fees for several years. This would cover court time, shuttles and a possible travel budget for Coaches.

Coach Updates / Workshops Three dates have been identified around Junior & Senior National Championships to update National Squad Coaches on the changes made to the Performance Pathway. National Head Coach and Performance Coaches to deliver on court sessions for National Squad coaches and Pathway Clubs Coaches.

Saturday 6 October 2018 (Ravenscraig) – National Coaches meeting cancelled due to Pathway Club Launch. Head Coach Tat Meng Wong and NJD Coach Diana Koleva carried out a player analysis session with coaches in attendance from Pathway Clubs.

Saturday 2nd February 2019 (Bells SC) – on court sessions to be delivered by Head Coach & Performance Coaches. 1st session – for National Coaches

2nd session – for Pathway Club Coaches

Saturday 6 April 2019 (Ravenscraig) – general update for National Coaches and moving forward on Pathway Development Programme.

From April 2019 Regional / National Workshops and Mentoring programme will continue to be supported by full time Coaches – Diana Koleva. Andrew Bowman and Robert Blair.

European Mixed Team Event Scotland have entered the team event with the qualifying matches to be held in Moldova from 6 – 9 December 2018. Qualifying pool – Russia (seeded team), Scotland, Ukraine, and Moldova. Winners of each qualifying group will go forward to the final to be held on 13 – 17th February 2019. Venue tbc.