9 October, 2024
Chalfont Eagles Junior Badminton Membership is shaping the lives of younger folks in additional methods than one.
Not solely is the Amersham-based membership protecting kids between the ages of eight and 18 lively, it’s additionally arming them with management abilities to empower the subsequent era of gamers to take to the court docket.
At present made up of over 90 members – the best within the membership’s 20-year historical past – with capability for 4 weekly periods for all skills, Chalfont Eagles proceed to champion the all-round advantages of staying lively.
Simon Cartwright, the membership chair, has been a mainstay for the final seven years, and as a former rugby participant himself, he’s personally invested in encouraging younger folks to embrace the ability of sport.
He stated: “It’s necessary we hold pushing kids to be concerned in badminton and sport usually as a result of it offers you a very good, rounded life.
“It retains you lively, sociable and aggressive – a attribute we wish to nurture – and affords younger folks the prospect to get to know others exterior of their faculty.
“Badminton is a particularly sociable sport. The membership camaraderie and the competitors facet of issues is nice, however even when you’re not competing, it’s a very good exercise to do.”
A part of the membership’s mission to impress the broader advantages of enjoying sport comes within the type of providing teaching periods to older members, alongside paying them as teaching assistants for youthful gamers.
Cartwright added: “I believe that’s a good way for them to earn some pocket cash and assist the youthful gamers enhance.
“On the age of 16 younger individuals are beginning to develop up and purchase some maturity and duty, so selling management alternatives by structured periods is a good way to hone these abilities.”
Cartwright himself accomplished his stage one and two teaching awards after being impressed by his son’s pursuit of an official qualification and continues to admire the bold nature of all of the membership members.
He stated: “The children are well mannered, respectful and eager to be taught and enhance. I take pleasure in seeing them progress and I like protecting them occupied and out of bother. We’re very fortunate to have such nice youngsters.
“Now we have a very good efficiency centre in Excessive Wycombe too so if I can determine somebody’s expertise and push them onto the subsequent stage, then even higher.”
Maybe some of the thrilling prospects is that this drive to push younger gamers to carry out at their finest is constant to develop in attain, because the membership opens its arms to record-breaking numbers yr on yr.
Cartwright continued: “If I look again and see how a lot the membership has grown since 2017, we’ve already needed to transfer from our first location at Emerson Park Faculty as a result of we had so many individuals wanting to affix and we simply couldn’t accommodate the numbers.
“After we made the transfer to Amersham, the uptake simply exploded, particularly due to the expansion of badminton in the area people. We not too long ago had a rota of 90 kids and a ready record of 90.
“I needed to run trials this yr for the primary time within the membership’s historical past as a result of we wish to open the doorways to as many individuals as attainable. It’s actually thrilling to see the game and enthusiasm from gamers continue to grow.”
