Nottinghamshire Schools Badminton Association
Nottinghamshire Schools Badminton Association
Chairman's
Report 2002/03
It has been another excellent season for badminton within the county - at team level it has been an 'oh so close' season whilst at individual level we have perhaps enjoyed our best ever year.
At county team level, all three age groups, U13 U15 and U17 have qualified from their regional groups for the Shires League playoffs that will take place during April and May. The U13 squad came a creditable 6th in the National U13 Team Challenge finals whilst the U15 squad were disappointed to come 2nd nationally to arch rivals Yorkshire in the final - losing 4-3 despite holding what appeared to be a match winning lead of 3-1.
Our U17 squad started the season really well by winning the Rio Tournament for the very first time beating the Home County Yorkshire 15-5 in the final.
At the most prestigious event of them all, the Inter Counties Trophy, the U17 squad matched the counties best ever result finishing runners-up to Yorkshire. A fantastic tournament that included no less than 38 UK counties, the squad enjoyed 9 impressive victories (most notably against local rivals Derbyshire 9-1 and Leicestershire 10-0) including a magnificent 8-2 victory over 3rd seed Sussex. The final itself, held at the University of Nottingham on Easter Thursday, was a marvellous spectacle before a very large and noisy crowd, At the end of the match we had drawn 5-5 with Yorkshire (whose squad included no less than 4 of the 12 members of the U17 English European Championship squad) losing narrowly by 16 points on count back. The good news is that we will be as strong next season and we will be back for another try!
Individually, we can now boast 14 players on the World Class Programme and no less than 4 national champions! Robert Adcock of Colonel Frank Seely School capped an outstanding junior career by winning 2 golds at the U17 championships to become our first double national champion in many years. Robert achieved gold in both the mens doubles and mixed doubles event. A fantastic achievement for Robert who has been a regular International for the last 5 years and will be representing England at the U17 European Team Championships later this month.
Jenny Ward (Nottingham Girls' High School) enjoyed an outstanding season, winning gold at the Ul7 Welsh National Championships in both singles and doubles, and the next day winning the U19 Welsh singles title. Jenny has developed massively during the last two years and now has her sight set on a Senior International Cap in the foreseeable future and is in a strong position to make a major games during the next four or five years.
Chris Adcock (Colonel Frank Seely School) confined his current U14 European Singles No 1 ranking by taking two golds and a bronze in the U15 National Championships held at Doncaster in February 2003. He won gold in the singles beating our own Peter Mills in a fantastic final that went all the way. He also won gold in the mixed doubles with his partner from Sussex and bronze in the level doubles with our own Paul Schuler from Worksop (Bevercotes and Harworth Community School).
Peter Mills of the Minster School in Southwell won gold in the U15 men's doubles event, silver in the singles losing to our own Chris Adcock and a bronze in the mixed with our own Krissy Koslicki (Nottingham Girls' High School) - Krissy also won a bronze in the girls’ doubles. Peter has enjoyed an outstanding season and is now competing strongly at National U 17 level - two years above his natural age group.
Penny Reynolds (Hollygirt School) also enjoyed an outstanding season, capped by a brilliant silver in the U15 National Girls doubles - a great achievement given that Penny is technically under fourteen, Ruth Coleman (Carlton Le Willows School, Gedling) followed up last year's mixed gold in the U15 Nationals by taking a bronze in the U17 National Girls doubles.
Overall an outstanding achievement by many of our squad members.
Space permitted, I would have listed the numerous other achievements of our squad members on the National circuit but needless to say, literally dozens of our squad members achieved success throughout the season.
In closing, the strength of our squads has improved dramatically during the last five years and there are many more talented players with England potential rising through both our development and U13 squads. This could not be done without the ongoing support of the Notts Schools Council for Sport and Notts County Council Community Services, for which we are extremely grateful.
None of this could be achieved without the fantastic commitment of all of our County coaches, and I would like to thank Peter Herrity, Patsy Watson, Karen Peatfield, Dave Goodall and Syd Nicholas for their continued support. I would also like to thank all of our committee members, Age group administrators and all of our willing parents and kids and we now look forward to an even more successful year in 2003/2004.
Paul Adcock - Chairman of NSBA