I have as part of an ongoing project been working in a school which a member of staff described as “non competitive” for the past 2 or 3 years.  Until recently, I had not been a massive thinker about competition, it just happened.  I would suggest I probably fell on the cautious side with the players I worked with and over protected them from competition.  Perhaps this was a sub-conscious awareness that the opportunities were inappropriate […]

I had the pleasure of compiling and delivering a day of leadership training to BTEC students in early May.  They will be planning and running a badminton festival for year 3 and 4 pupils later in the year, so my brief was to help prepare them for this experience.  Luckily, we were able to use a year 7 PE group as guinea pigs in the afternoon, and so prepared a mock festival for them to experience. […]

Since attending the pilot of the UKcc level 3 learning programme  run by BADMINTON England a couple of years ago, I have carried around and regularly handed out a notebook in which I ask players to offer their feedback from the session I’ve just run.  I offer this opportunity to primary children, all the way up to adults on coach education courses and teachers attending CPD opportunities.  Why?  For two reasons.  It is a method of passing […]

CPD, hugely valuable, often compulsory, sometimes rubbish, occasionally inspiring.  I’ve recently completed a couple of formal qualifications. The Introduction to Assessment Practice in Sport course now certifies me to do the assessing work I’ve been carrying out for the last few years!  It is, probably rightly, a pre-requisite to hold this qualification to assess UKcc candidates for the NGB with whom I work.  However, the fact that I’ve been able to assess before completing the […]