Author Archives: Steph

4 – 3 – 2 – 1 Countdown

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The WMPC Countdown to the Summer Camp 2016.

countdown - summer 2016

Places are limited so BOOK NOW

Countdown of 4 weeks until the WMPC Summer Camp 2016 has started. Details were released last month about the badminton camp for all badminton enthusiasts who want to improve there badminton this summer. West Midlands Performance Centre hosts a four week programme for badminton players. Details of dates and times can be found HERE. All in all, the four week programme is looking crammed full of badminton stuff to help you improve your game. Such as With footwork to music, strength and conditioning and nutritional information for the die-hard players. Then of course badminton techniques, skills, tactics, routines and games both singles and doubles games for all. WMPC have invited a few guest coaches to vary the sessions a bit.

Summer 2016 - youtubeCheck out comments from players who attended last year.
Andy Wainwright – Emerging Session four days a week,
Joe and Keerti – Potential (Raw) Sessions – two days a week.

Countdown has started so complete the booking form available HERE for the summer camp. Hosted at the University of Birmingham, Munrow Sports Centre.
Bookings confirmed before the deadline – Friday 27th July 2016 – entitle the players to a Forsa shirt from the new 2016-2017 range of products. Free shirt supplied and printed by ForzaWM.

Event for your Diary 2016-2017

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2016-2017Players……! The 2016-2017 tournament dates are out.

2016-2017 list of West Midlands Performance Centre tournaments are out.The Performance Centre work hard behind the scenes to provide their players with at least one event they they can enter. Competing in these event provides the players with valuable experience where they can gain knowledge and put into practice what they have spent hours being coached. The 2016-2017 calendar has been agreed with Badminton England (their list will be published soon) but the PC have released their dates HERE. Take a look and get them in your dairy as soon as possible so you don’t miss out on valuable experience.

NOTE: that the Age Group changes starting from 1st July 2016 will apply to all of these event (see Age Group changes HERE).

Summer 2016 – Badminton Camp

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The WMPC proudly present their Badminton Camp for the Summer 2016.

Summer 2016Long awaited details have now been released for the Summer 2016 Badminton Camp. There are sessions for all badminton enthusiastics who want to improve there badminton over the Summer 2016. August sees a four week programme for badminton players. Details of dates and times can be found HERE. With footwork to music, strength and conditioning and nutritional information for the die-hard players. Then of course badminton techniques, skills, tactics, routines and games both singles and doubles games for all. WMPC have invited a few guest coaches to vary the sessions a bit.

All in all, the four week programme is looking crammed full of badminton stuff to help you improve your game.

Summer 2016 - youtubeHere are a few comments from last years participants.
Andy Wainwright – Emgerging Session four days a week,
Joe and Keerti – Potential (Raw) Sessions – two days a week.

 

Booking form are available on line HERE for the Summer 2016 Badminton camp, hosted at the University of Birmingham, Monrow Sports Centre. Four week programme in August.
Bookings confirmed before the deadline – Friday 27th July 2016 – entitle the players to ab Forsa shirt from the new 2016-2017 range of products. Free shirt supplied and printed by ForzaWM.

Pink shuttles, powerplay = NBL

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Q. Where n when can you find Pink shuttles?

A. Birmingham, NBL Finals Day 8th May 2016.

With cheerleaders, pink shuttles, Powerplays, quickfire scoring, and tie-breaks, the AJ Bell NBL is all about badminton as a great value entertainment.
So, join fans who love the drama to watch top class players like Team GB stars Chris Adcock and Rajiv Ouseph, who want to get you on the edge of your seat!
Finals Day sees the league’s top 4 teams featuring top England stars and European talent go head to head in an all day shoot-out to be crowned league champions.
Loughborough Sport, Birmingham Lions, University of Nottingham Badminton and reigning champions Team Derby head to the Barclaycard Arena with hopes of winning badminton’s newest piece of silverware…but who will be last team standing at the Ultimate Smashdown? 

pink
Birmingham Lions are through to the NBL Finals on Sunday 8th May 2016. The finals are held here in Birmingham at the Barclay Card Arena,  Tickets are available HERE. Dont miss out on some exciting badminton action. Support your local team in your favourite sport.
Birmingham Lions have been indebted to Fontaine Chapman and Toby Penty this season, with the franchise’s men’s and women’s singles both securing a 4-1 win-loss event record.  However, the doubles pairings haven’t fared as well, as all three pairings finished the season with a losing ratio. In front of a home crowd and with the likes of Heather Olver and Sarah Walker expected to line up, they will hope to come to the party.
Season 2 of the AJ Bell National Badminton League (NBL) reaches a thrilling finale at the Barclaycard Arena on Sunday May 8. With the new Power9 scoring expect quickfire action, PowerPlays, timeouts and sudden death tie-breaks as the league’s top four teams go head to head to be crowned champions.
There’s two Play-Offs and a Championship Final to enjoy so it really is the Ultimate Smashdown. Who will be last team standing? Purchase your All Day ticket for easy access to 10 hours of top class, live action and great value entertainment.

Massive Congratulations

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Congratulations to PC players at the Nationals…………..!

Players from the West Midlands Performance Centre receive congratulations as they step up to collect their medals from Nathan Robertson. This weeks Under 15 England Nationals Championships 2016 at Redbridge Leisure Centre saw players from the PC collect silver and gold medals. Well done. Check out the full results HERE.

Kiara Henry (WMPC player) and Abbygael Harris win silver medals in the level doubles. (Photos supplied by Kiara’s dad).

Asmita Chaudari (WMPC player) and her level doubles partner Hope Warner win the gold. (Photos upplied by Asmita’s mom).

Asmita Chaudari (WMPC player) and her mixed doubles partner Harry Huang win the gold. (Photos upplied by Asmita’s mom).

National Medals

Kiara and Abbygael

 

National Medals

Asmita and Hope

National Medals

Asmita and Harry

An amazing season!

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As the main badminton season nears an end the WMPC has real cause to celebrate.

Top amongst the many achievements of our players were: England representative honours for Nicola Gresty, Asmita Chaudhari and Kiara Henry, with others knocking on the door, Ryan Quek playing in qualifying at the All England Badminton Championships (badminton’s version of Wimbledon), Joe Ball winning the Silver medal in Boys Doubles at the Under 13 National Championships (we are hoping for more medals in the nationals shortly).

Amazing seasonOur medal count for the season is now approaching 50 (wow!) and we have recently been recognised by Badminton England as one of the leading Performance Centres nationally. Special congratulations to our medallists: Asmita, Chris M, Chris W, Joe B, Joe E, Elizabeth, Joshmyn, Kiara, Khushi, Lorenzo, Matthew, Megan, Rob, Selena, Simran, Victoria. This only comes will lots of hard work and lots of training hours each week.

Many of our players have represented their counties this season, including taking part in the prestigious Inter-County Under 17 Tournament (ICT) over 4-days recently at Nottingham University. those not already mentioned who have played for their county are Katie, Rhea, Sam, Toby and Zak.

Now we wish for our success to continue as we aim to become the leading performance centre in the country. Please spread the word that the West Midlands PC really is an amazing place to train, with world class coaching right on the doorstep.

You can always check out the details over the summer season the PC are running a couple of BE tournaments and there will also be the notorious Summer Camp on August. Keep checking the website for details.

NEW Sports Hall

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New sports hall badminton facilities at University of Birmingham.

New Sports HallWest Midlands Performance Centre have held Raw and Pre-Raw sessions in the Sports Hall at the Munrow Centre, Uni of Birmingham for years. The UoB are in the process of having a new Sports Hall built and the PC will be in there the start of the new academic term in September.

In the meantime, some of you are aware that the PC runs a Summer Camp during August. This year will be a little different as it will be hosted in the new Sports Hall on the corner of Edgbaston Park Road and the Bristol Road, Edgbaston.

More details about the new Sports Hall at the UoB can be found HERE. The UoB are also looking for a name for the Sports Centre can you help them decide see HERE for more details.

During the Summer the new PC timetable at the Sports Hall will be published on our website. So keep checking the Calendar for session details.

Performance Centre win 19 Medals

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Medals keep coming to the Performance Centre. This season has seen a grand total (that we know to) to date, of 19 medals.  It is fantastic when you think that some of the players are playing in some tournaments that are the age group above them and they still come back with a medal. Now to ‘name and shame’ thoses medal winners read on.
Medals wonJoe Ball
– Leicestershire U15 Bronze – Bronze medal in Boys Doubles
Elizabeth Hambling
– Leicestershire U15 Silver – Silver medal in Girls Doubles
– Worcestershire U17 Bronze – Silver medal in Girls Singles
– Warwickshire U17 Bronze – Silver medal in Girls Singles, Bronze in Girls Doubles
– WMPC U15 Bronze – Silver in Girls Doubles
Victoria Liang 
– Worcestershire U17 Bronze – Gold medal in Girls Singles
– Warwickshire U17 Bronze – Gold medal in Girls Singles, Silver in Girls Doubles
Selina Liang – Warwickshire U17 Bronze – Bronze medal in Girls doubles
Asmita Chaudhari – Warwickshire U17 Silver – Gold in Mixed, Silver in Singles
Kiara Henry – Leicestershire U15 Silver – Gold in Girls Doubles
Ryan Quek – Milton Keynes U19 Gold – Bronze medal in Boys Doubles and Mixed Doubles
Chris Maneffa
– WMPC U15 Bronze – Bronze in Boys Singles, Silver in Boys Doubles
– Herefordshire U15 Bronze – Bronze in Boys Singles
Matthew Bickerton – WMPC U15 Bronze – Silver in Boys Doubles
Apologies for any names missed off the above list. If you have won a medal and it is not on the list then please send me the details and I will make amends.
19 medals in total!   Absolutely amazing – well done to all the PC players. WE have still got the second half of the season to go, will there be more medals won?
Send details to Stephanie Cartwright-Randle stefcr@live.co.uk

Developing Team 2 – Manchester Inter PC

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Did the Developing Team 1 and/or Team 2 follow in the Raw Teams footstep from yesterday?

As with the Raw yesterday we were hoping that this year the DEV groups would yield success for the WMPC. This year we entered two DEVELOPING teams on Sunday 12th July.

Team 1 – Amy Gravett, Kiara Henry, Selina Liang and Ed Groves.
Team 2 Sam White, Chris Maneffa, Joe Ball and Matt Bickerton.

Same Rules as yesterday players ranked in singles ability (see Raw Teams HERE) etc. The start was scheduled for the same time as Saturday, but with less teams, start of play was a little more laid back. Most of the players being a little older meant the early start was not so much of a shock to the system and players were keen to get on with it.
Team 1 with 4 in the group saw opponents Potteries, Cumbria 1 and Bolton. Match results saw 3-2, 1-4 and 0-5. Team 1 was first up whilst Team 2 spectated and supported big style. It was commented on my other teams how good the support and encouragement from the side line was.The first two games we’re hard fought. Evey point was worked hard for and won. They went in to the last game needing to win to stand a chance. However, one of the team members fell ill and was unable to play. With a team member down it was impossible. We changed the team round and other team members played knowing that their scores would not count but still they played and played well. Doing themselves proud. At the end of the match it was time to go home and they could travel home knowing they had played some great games.
Team 2, their draw saw Cheshire 2 (an all girls team), Bolton 1 and Merseyside. Match results 5-0, 5-0 and 3-2. First up Cheshire, the girls played well and pushed the lads hard. The lads kept their cool, stayed focused and although the girls battled for every point the strength of the boys prevailed for the win. Bolton saw some closer scores with one game going to 23-21, well done Sam and Matt. All on the last game as Merseyside had also won two matches. If we won this one it was though to the play offs. Everything to play for. Joe was up first and wow what a singles game. Two points one way, two points the other way, 20 all. Every point counts Joe was just pipped 23-25 a well played game from both sides long rallies, waiting for the right moment and the right shot to win the point. Chris and Sam up next they stayed focused to win 21-15. Matt up next for the second singles, a whippet springs to mind running from side to side to get each shot back. Worth every step to deservedly take the win at 21-19. Joe and Sam up next a good game but the opponents experience partnership shine through to win 15-21. This left the match at 2 games all. Everything was on the last end. Chris and Matt stepped on to court, everything to play for. The first half saw the lads 6-11 down, but a quick pep talk and they went out all guns blazing. Long rallies with Matt on the floor diving for the shuttle to get it back. What team work and determination fighting for every point to triumph with a fabulous 21-17 win. Team managers shock hands with the comment of ‘that match could have been the final’. Everything that you wanted to see.

Team 2 Deserved Broze

Team 2 Deserved Broze

So through to the play-offs, if nothing else we are guaranteed a Bronze, first up the lads meet Cumbria. Very close games put us 2-1 up. It was all on the doubles we just needed one game. Two very close games, losing both to 19 and 16. Overall 2-3 to Cumbria. Now to redeem ourselves taking on Manchester. Although after two games we were 0-2 down both games lost to 19. So not a lot in it really. I think the early start and long hard matches were starting to take its toll. Lost the next two games but Matt and Chris fought back in the last game to make it 1-4. So Bronze it was, well deserved I thought. Well done lads and thank you for making my job easy. So proud of all of the teams. Both of the Raw teams and both of the Developing teams. Heres to next year.

Raw Team 1 – At the Inter Performance Centre Tournament – Manchester

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Could either Team 1 OR Team 2 prove successful?

The Inter-PC in Manchester last year saw some success for West Midlands PC players. We were hoping that this year would yield similar results. This year we entered two RAW teams on Saturday 11th. (See also Sunday 12th Developing Teams HERE).

Team 1, Beth Hambling, Joe Kamara, Liam Heneghan and Rohit Kale.
Team 2, Andrew Jiang, Rhea Sibal, Dileep Dhanda and Daniel Vazey.

Team 1 and Team 2 players had to be ranked in singles ability. Fortunately the Teams were in different Groups and both teams had to play a number of Matches. Games order :- first singles, doubles (not singles players), second singles, doubles with first singles player, last doubles with second singles player. Each player took part in two games per match.
Play was due to commence at 9.15, meaning an early rise, a long drive with players walking throughout the sports hall door still with a bed head on. This needed to be shaken off quickly as the start was prompt.
Team 2 with 4 in the group saw opponents Cumbria 2, Manchester and Colne 2. Match results saw 4-1, 5-0 and 0-5. Although we had two wins the teams where reasonably even in strength, with several game scores of 17 and 19. The last game was totally different. It was visually obvious what we lacked in this game was physically strength, petite players against young adults. Although well fought games the shear size of the opposition mean very little got past them. Sadly it meant mid-afternoon, tracks for home were started for Team 2.

Team 1 medals in hand

Team 1 medals in hand

Team 1 with 5 in the group saw opponents Bolton 2, Cheshire, Manchester and Merseyside. Match results saw 5-0, 3-2, 4-1 and 3-2. Team spirit was good and each player went on court determined to give their all. The score line show this with the last group game need to be won so they they could go through to the play-offs.
The play-offs saw three teams all guaranteed at least a Bronze medal. Two matches left these were expected to be harder games. Having fought hard in the first round the next two games proved a little to much for Team 1. Although mentally up for it, physically the body language was telling a different story. Score lines of 15s, 17s and 19s unfortunately don’t show in the 5-0,5-0 defeats. Presented with their Bronze medals it mean the journey home would be more enjoyable.