Thatcham St Mary's Junior Club
St Mary's junior badminton club is now by far the biggest junior club in West Berks with 44 juniors and 9 adult helpers! We operate following all the guidance and support from Badminton England to ensure children can explore and develope their skills in a safe, supportive environment.
The Junior Club can be contacted via the
"Contact Us" page by entering "Junior Club" as the subject
Times
The junior club operates in two sessions on Saturday mornings.
Saturday morning 09.00 to 10.30 - Session 1, Beginners/ under 14s
Saturday morning 10.30 to 12.00 - Session 2, More able players
Development
The junior club is committed to the development of young people’s physical and mental skills during their time with the club. It is our intention to establish a friendly and safe environment that allows players to enjoy the game and develop at their own pace un-pressurised. Specific skills practice and coaching sessions are used to help further their control.
Several juniors have been to county trials, been successful and played either for the county team or in the backup squad. All members are actively encouraged to take part in the local Newbury & District junior tournaments with some success...
Further progression
Once players have advanced sufficiently they are invited to the St Mary’s Badminton Club senior member sessions that take place on Monday evenings from 20.00 to 22.30. The Senior Club has teams playing in the Newbury & District Badminton League and the Basingstoke & District Badminton League.
The club also arranged local matches against other junior clubs to expose them to competitive play - this year they have been very successful winning the local challenge cup!
The highlights of the season were the two separate coaching days undertaken by Toby Honey and Steve Butler (former Engalnd no 1), both of whom have represented their country and are now supporting the development of junior players (our fundamental aim).
At the end of the season we supported the West Berkshire entry into the Mike Teather memorial trophy competition. This tournament is closed to county players. We were able to contribute approximately 75% of the team. The U11 team played particularly well to help secure the return of the trophy to West Berks for the second consecutive time by a convincing margin!
We entered an U15 team into the open county league comnpetition. This proved to be a tougher competition for us(Due to players being on holidays) but still came a creditable 5th out of 8 teams.
Finally none of this could be done without the help of the adults. A big thank you from Me and Pam to - Co, Dave, Margaret, Pam N, Andy, Lucy and Karen. We can all look forward to the new season with great optimism for the future of badminton in West Berks!!!
The main contact for the club is Pam Norman
The coach for the club (and Child Protection Officer) is Tony Glinos
Both can be contacted via the
"Contact Us" page by entering "Junior Club" as the subject.