Half Yearly Meeting of the Council of Scottish Union

28 October 2018

Report by: Jill O’Neil, Chairperson Performance Committee

Title: Coaching & Development Committee Report

1. Introduction It’s been an extremely busy and productive period for the Coaching and Development team over the past 6 months, focusing on club programmes, coach education and development and of course the Scottish Open development programme. Since the AGM in June there has been one notable change with our Coaching and Development Manager Lyndsay Morrison bringing baby Orla into the world and subsequently Bill Hogg providing maternity cover in the role. Congratulations to Lyndsay and family!

2. Coaching 2.1 Coach Education UKCC was re-introduced in May 2017 and courses for our coach education programme remains popular. Figures for August – October 2018 are as follows: Badminton Basics 6 courses delivered with 69 candidates in attendance. In addition almost 100 college students have completed this course in preparation for delivery at our Big Hit festivals as part of the Scottish Open engagement programmes. UKCC level 1 6 courses delivered in East Lothian, Midlands, Grampian, Highlands and Glasgow with 50 candidates completing the course (6 of whom were on the female only course held in Perth). Level 1+ 1 course delivered in Glasgow with 6 candidates. This was also utilised as a shadowing opportunity for tutors to be upskilled to deliver future courses at this level. UKCC level 2 2 courses commenced in Orkney and Glasgow, both courses full with 6 candidates each. CPD disability workshop. 1 course took place in September with 6 candidates. UKCC Level 1 tutor standardisation day has been planned for 17th November, bringing the tutors together to ensure consistency of delivery across all courses at this level.

2.2 CPD for Coaches 2.2.1 Allistair McCaw I’m delighted to note that Badminton Scotland is working in partnership with Scottish Fencing, Scottish Archery and Scottish Hockey to bring world renowned sports performance consultant Allistair McCaw to Scotland. An author and keynote speaker, Allistair consults to coaches, leaders, athletes, teams and college programmes, where he teaches and implements the Champion Minded culture, mindset and approach. A 2 day workshop is offered from 3-4 November at Peffermill, Edinburgh.

2.2.2 Summer School Steven Chappell (Aberdeen Badminton Academy) and Craig McCandlish (Forthside BC) attended the long established BEC Summer School in Podcetrtek, Slovenia. The BEC Summer School also included coach education with both coaches going home with their BWF Coach Level 1 certification and Shuttle Time teaching certifications. Steven Chappell said “The opportunity to work with some of the tutor coaches leading the camp as well as gaining additional coaching qualification was a huge motivation for me attending the camp. It was a thoroughly unique experience and it was great to meet up with coaches from other countries and share our experiences.” The first European Coaching School was held in 1982 in Austria and has continued to move around Europe ever since making it the longest running development activity in Badminton Europe’s history.

2.2.3 Scottish Open Coaching Conference

The Annual National Coaching Conference will be delivered as part of the Scottish Open on 24th November. This year’s conference will focus on player evaluation leading into how coaches prioritise and plan which areas to work on within a group and individual context.

3. Development 3.1 Clubs and Communities 3.1.1 Club Pathway Model The Pathway Group was established in November 2017 with the remit to:

 Review current BADMINTONscotland player pathways by providing expertise across a range of areas and conducting a SWOT analysis of the current system  Make recommendations to the Board of BADMINTONscotland for future player pathway in order to support the organisation achieve long and short term outcomes.

It has been agreed through this Pathway Group that clubs are a key contributor to the development of our players and have an important role to play within our performance structure.

With this in mind a Pathway Club Programme was launched in the summer of 2018 to support clubs to develop young players aged 7 – 12 years. Selected Pathway Clubs receive a support package which includes:

 Invitations to centralised coach workshops  Free access for club coach to attend a regional CPD workshop (or £50 subsidy for Level 1+ coach to progress to Level 2)  Coach mentoring programme for key and developing coaches  Club Ambassador – Clubs will be linked with a national squad player who will be the Club (and potentially Feeder Club) ambassadors  Pathway Club Coach T-shirt  2 annual visits from National Squad coaches

Pathway Clubs have been selected by a process of application and selection. Congratulations to the following eleven clubs who met the criterion and have been selected for the programme:

Highland Orkney Badminton Club Caithness Badminton Club Inverness Badminton Club

North East Aberdeen Badminton Academy Cults Badminton Club

Midland Nefba Wing Badminton Club Forthside Badminton Club

Glasgow and North Strathclyde Glasgow Chinese Badminton Club City of Glasgow Club

West of Scotland Erskine Badminton Club

The Pathway Club initiative was launched on the 6th October at the U15/U19 Scottish National Junior Championships. In addition to the classroom based session there was also an opportunity for club coaches to conduct player evaluations alongside our national performance team. The next session is scheduled to take place in Perth on Saturday 8th December.

3.1.2. Club Workshops The Club workshops have been planned in partnership with Scottish Archery, to encourage members from both sports to attend. 2 courses recently planned. “Sports Governance” ran with 5 candidates, “Funding” workshop cancelled, next club workshop – “Increasing participation and retaining players” has been planned for during the Scottish Open.

3.1.3 Club Accreditation Scheme and Club Toolkit The club accreditation scheme and club toolkit was launched at the end of 2017 and has proven to be popular. There are 3 levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold, each with their own requirements fitting in with what a strong and sustainable club infrastructure should reflect. There are also rewards for each club achieving a certain level. There are five clubs currently at bronze level: o Dundee Nomads o Forthside o Glenearn o NEFBA Jaguars o DABA Juniors Three clubs have achieved silver level: o Glasgow Disability Club o City of Glasgow o Wing Congratulations to all of these clubs and a reminder that our team of RDOs are happy to assist clubs with any matters relating to accreditation. It’s a very worthwhile process and feedback has been extremely positive to date. 3.1.4. Smash In2 Smash in2 Badminton clubs are participation sessions for beginners and people looking for a relaxed and fun badminton experience. They can be for juniors, adults or families.

Smash in2 Clubs have a coach, organiser or leader delivering the sessions. Smash in2 leaders can access the organiser’s resource to support with delivery and planning sessions.

The RDOs have worked closely with local partners to ensure the Smash in2 clubs become self sustainable and link into pathways with local clubs. Currently 36 Smash In2 clubs in operation across the country, with 11 running within SIMD areas, and 2 focusing on female only.

3.1.5. Scottish Open Development Activities The development team have been planning the Scottish Open development activities and Big Hit festivals will be delivered throughout the day sessions and at the weekends using Sports Leaders and club coaches to support and deliver. Clubs can access courts on specific evenings during the week. Children who attend will be given information about local clubs to join to continue involvement. School bookings are currently sitting at 991 from a maximum 1250, an increase on same time last year, and Higher sessions are fully booked at 180.

3.2 Schools and Education 3.2.1 Resources and CPD Young Sports Leaders and Big Hit training continue to be very popular, giving support and confidence to leaders to Smash In2 classes or within an existing club. Requests have also been forthcoming from Universities/Colleges to deliver Nat 4/5 and Higher to their students. This is extremely beneficial as it gives the next generation of teachers the knowledge and confidence to deliver badminton within the classroom. 3.2.2 School Affiliation School affiliations for season 2017/18 was 414. The RDOs continue to encourage schools to take advantage of the benefits included in becoming an affiliated school. The RDOs are working closely with Active Schools, Community Sports Hubs and Local Authorities to ensure these school children have somewhere to play out with school and once they have left the education system. 3.2.3. SSBU Badminton Scotland continue to support the Scottish Schools Badminton Union, attending regular meetings, assisting with affiliations. 4. Equality Standard The RDO team all attended a “Supporting Behavioural Change” Workshop in August, raising awareness of mental health issues. We continue to support the SAMH club on a Wednesday afternoon although we will require to source a new coach to lead this session, Jane Russell is looking to develop a further SAMH session in Dunfermline. Disability sessions continue to be run across the country, with RDOs liaising with local SDS officers to further develop these in new areas. 1 Female only UKCC Level 1 was delivered in September in Perth with 6 candidates taking part, delivered by a female tutor and female assessor. 5. Go Membership At the start of season 2018/19, clubs are now able to reregister the players already on the system, rather than having to input the entire data. There have been a few issues with some users, and Lynn Narey has been on hand to assist as and when required. Coach Registration is also on the system and generally, clubs, coaches and individuals are managing to use the system. 6. Child Protection We now have a dedicated section on the Badminton Scotland website for Child Protection and Wellbeing. BS have to comply with new minimum operating requirements for and Children 1st. Badminton Scotland will need to be fully compliant with new MORs by June 2019. All standards need to be evidenced. Ronnie Conway is the board member link for Child Protection and will inform the board on any key Child Protection updates, liaising with the Coaching and Development Manager. Three Child Protection courses have been delivered to National Junior Squads, highlighting expectations and requirements of coaches/players/parents. 7. Para badminton Jane Russell has been working closing with Scottish Disability Sport to organise and promote Disability CPD workshops with SDS agreeing to fund tutors for these courses. The Para badminton development group regularly meet to discuss squad and competition programmes. Kaity Hall has been Head Coach to the squad on a monthly basis at National Badminton Academy.