SUSSEX SCHOOLS BADMINTON NEWSLETTER

 

ISSUE 7 (online version) - NOVEMBER 2003

I have, in this issue, included an article which Jason wrote nearly four years ago when he was the WCP (World Class Potential) coach in Brentwood, Essex before he went to Wimbledon, on being a 'Perfect Parent'. He was sorting out some old papers, we could have had our own rainforest by the time he had finished!, when we came across it. I asked him if he still endorsed everything he had written now he was a parent. He said he did, though I did catch him 3 seconds after Dean had just lost a very close semi final of the doubles at the Under 17 Nationals last season trying to console him even though he had told me to leave him be for an hour! It is good reading though and it does make sense, I hope you find it useful.

Luke Thomson, Kim George, and Bronwyn Powell entered the Berkshire Under 15 Open Tournament on 4^th October. Luke, unfortunately, had to withdraw which left Kim and Bronwyn flying the Sussex flag. They both reached the final of the singles where Bronwyn won 11-9 and 11-3. They also reached the finals of the doubles where they lost to Gemma Whiting (Kent) and Victoria Stokes (Hertfordshire) in a very close nail biting 3 sets, 9-15, 17-16 and 16-17.

Luke, Kim, Helen Merritt, Darren Willmott, and Felicity Porter went to Norwich for the JC Under 15 East Anglia. Luke won the boys singles and Kim won the girls doubles with Caroline Felton (Essex) and was also runner-up to Caroline and Xavier Bramley (Devon) in the mixed doubles with partner Oliver Crabb (Hertfordshire).

Jack Thomson (brother to Luke - sorry Jack but it does identify you!!!!!!!!!, Kim hates being known as Dean's sister!) gain his first BAofE medal at the JC Under 11 East Midlands in Nottingham when he was the losing doubles finalist. However, he went one better at the JC Under 11 Midlands at Kettering when he won a gold in the singles, beating Chris Drinkwater (Yorkshire) 15-9 in the final. He also got silver in the boys doubles with partner Tom Stanford (Buckinghamshire). He impressed England Head Coach Jens Grill who promptly invited him to an England training day at the National Badminton Centre in Milton Keynes.

Harry Hacking and Dominic Wiyanta won their first silver medals at the JC Anglia Under 13 tournament in Norwich on the 2^nd November, they were runners up in the doubles.

Dean George won the boys doubles with partner Andy Ellis (Yorkshire) at the Under 17 JC Select in Grantham and was losing semi finalist in the singles to Tom Dunlop.

He had beaten Tom in singles at the Derby/Notts Under 19 tournament two weeks previous to this tournament after four years of trying, and also Dean and Liz Brett (Staffordshire) had beaten Tom and Naomi Tarry (Derbyshire) in the mixed doubles.

Kirsten Read and Heather Olver won the Ladies doubles and also Heather won the mixed doubles with her partner John Pollard ending Manfred Tripp's monopoly on this tournament. Dean George reached the final of the singles and the semi of the mixed and doubles. Heather, Kirsten and Dean have been selected to represent the Sussex First team, the first match will be at York against Nottinghamshire, Worcestershire, and Cheshire.

Heather, Kirsten and Dean went on to play for the Sussex 1^st team at the Premier B weekend in York on the 18^th - 19^th October, they beat Nottinghamshire 6-4 and drew with Cheshire and Worcestershire 5-5. The next Premier B weekend will be in December.

The Under 13 team have won their first match against Kent in Sittingbourne 13-7. Well done to a very young team, Robert Tring, Scott Thomas, William Harrington, Tom Fenner, Kate Stevens, Claire Bracuti, Felicity Boyce, Bridget Townsend and Bryony Morris. At the same time a friendly was played against Kent, and again the Sussex team won, Charlie Buirski, Dominic Wiyanta, Michelle Payne played in the friendly element.

The Under 13 team had their second match against Hampshire whereby Robert, Scott, William, Tom, Kate, Claire, Felicity and Bryony battled against a strong Hampshire team and lost 8 games to 12. The Hampshire team had at least three WCS (World Class Start) players so a good result nevertheless from our team. The Under 13's are racing through their matches because they have also played against Berkshire which they won 15 games to 5.

The under 17 team drew against Hampshire in their first Shires League match 10 games each, the team was Luke Jones, Josh Miles, Matt Askey, Kevin Gill, Kirsten Read, Lauren Holness, Sarah Boyce, and Sarah Leach.

Our Sussex Under 13 and Under 15 teams are competing in the Team Challenge Qualifying round on Saturday 29^th November at The Triangle Centre in Burgess Hill. They would be very grateful for your support, it is also a good opportunity to see the best players from other Counties. It is the first time that Sussex have hosted this event, please come and support your teams with voices and shuttle tubes!

I am going to be a boring parent for a minute here………….WELL DONE to Dean George for winning the doubles at the Danish Cup tournament. It was his third International title in a row, following Langenfeld and Malmo. Although it looked very doubtful two days before they traveled to Copenhagen as Andy Ellis (Yorkshire) Dean's usually partner, had to withdraw due to a shoulder injury but, as luck would happen (for Dean anyway) the Danish No 1 pair, who were seeded No 2 behind Andy and Dean also had injury problems. (Hope you are still with me!!!!!) Therefore Dean partnered Morten Spur in the doubles and beat Mark James (Dorset) and Peter Fearns (Cheshire), another English pair, in the final 15-4 and 15-13. And once again he won the tournament without dropping a game.

He has been selected for the Under 19 Czech Rep Junior International in November where he will play singles, doubles and mixed doubles with Heather Olver, he will also gain his 18^th England cap at the Northumberland Under 19 Junior International at the end of November.

If you are entering this event we would be very grateful for raffle prize donations, please hand them in on the day. Thank you.

PERFECT PARENTS by Jason Large

I know that all of you want your child to perform to the best of their ability in tournaments. I also know that not all of you will agree with everything that I will be asking you to try. I will start by saying that I do have 14 years experience of top tournaments and I have seen the effect that parents can have on players, which can be positive or negative. I therefore know that you will consider my views seriously and will hopefully try some of my recommendations.

I'm sure you all know 'other' children who look up at the balcony every time they lose a point, or 'other' parents who give hand signals and shout out line-calls etc, etc. The point is, no one else can play the game except the player and they must learn for themselves how to handle any situation which might arise. It is my experience that the most successful tournament players have parents with common factors. These are the factors that I think are the ideal tournament parent.

The ideal parent/s Usually will attend tournaments (unless it has been requested not to do so by the player)

The ideal parents Are more interested in the effort put in and lessons learned than in the results

The ideal parents Never comment on lost matches either straight after the game, or in the car on the way home. It is best left to mid-week.

The ideal parents Writes three things the player did well in every match they played.

The ideal parents Treat tournaments as social events, and quite often have a night out on the town with the other parents (Bar during the day - do not get drunk though)

The ideal parents Leave coaches to talk tactics. Too much information = confusion.

The ideal parents Does not get emotionally involved in matches - does not cheer like a lunatic or clap mistakes. Players think you embarrass them! (its OK at the end of a match)

The ideal parents Provides essential back-up. Eg. taxi to/from event, appropriate food/drink, up to date football scores, overnight accommodation close to the hall where all the others are staying and money for machines and snooker tables.

The ideal parents Leaves partnership selection to the players and/or coach but does all the arranging afterwards.

The ideal parents Does not wrap their child up in cotton wool if they lose. Instead let them calm down and ask if they learned anything from the game and also congratulate the opponent. Do not get angry or make sarcastic comments.

The ideal parents Enjoy watching the badminton but also takes advantage of shopping in the nearest town.

The ideal parents Never pesters their child or hangs around them all day fussing. Let them get on with it themselves.

The ideal parents Should never have consistent high expectations of winning every match. Everybody loses at some point probably when you least expect it.

The ideal parents Watches from a distance, outside eye contact (behind a curtain)

The ideal parents Reward good performances, enjoy and share in the pleasure.

Jason has been the England Under 15 Age Group coach since 1991 and has now been coaching for 18 years.

Congratulations to Oliver Lambert who has been selected to attend the next World Class Start assessment days. The first assessment day was at Milton Keynes in October and the next day will be at Daventry this month. We wish him good luck and we are keeping fingers crossed for him. It is an achievement in itself to be recognized to have the potential to be invited.

Results so far :-

Under 17's

Brighton 12 - Eastbourne 4

North Sussex 1 - Brighton 15

North Sussex 7 - Eastbourne 9

Under 14's

Brighton 9 - Eastbourne 7

North Sussex 11 - Brighton 5

North Sussex 13 - Eastbourne 3

Jason and I are getting married on New Years Eve but I will still use my current e-mail address of george4t@hotmail.com so if you have any news, views, tournament results please let me know or telephone me on 01273 388876 or write to 4, Jubilee Road, Portslade, Sussex, BN41 1SU. And don’t forget to look on our website www.ssba.co.uk for more information.

More results, team challenge results, Portslade tournament news and Sussex JC Under 17 report and an interview with Jo Goode - our very own Olympic Bronze medal winner.