North West Wales Junior League - The Pilot

After a long, hibernation the Junior League is back in the North West of Wales! Providing opportunities for Juniors of all levels to regularly come together and compete. Creating new friendships and maybe even rivalries...

On the 26th of April saw our 1st pilot event saw 10 teams gather from 6 different clubs;

Bangor, Great Orme, Llanfairfechan, Prestatyn, Menai Bridge and Vardre. Over 40 juniors participated in teams of 4 across 3 divisions.

The format of the league was based of Badminton Wales's Shuttle Time schools festival which I help run across North Wales. Each player in the team plays 1 singles match and 1 doubles match resulting in 6 total games per match. Games are played single set to 15 with no setting (no two clear points).

Before the matches began all of the players got introduced to a fun warmup game called zombie tag before completing some mobility and activation exercises.

Now the games began...Division 1 saw BangorMenai1, Vardre 1 and Great Orme 1 contest for glory. Division 2 saw Vardre 2, Prestatyn 1, and Llanfairfechan 1 on table with division 3 having Great Orme 2, Llanfairfechan 2, Llanfairfechan 3 and Vardre 3 all vying for top spot. Each and every team played some phenomenol badminton with Great Orme 2 coming top of division 3 after some hard fought games. Division 2 saw Vardre 2 come out on top with division 1 coming out as a tie between BangorMenai 1 and Vardre 1.

After the matches finished up a small coaching session was held with the help of all the local coaches and some extra helpers. Focusing on some service and Backhand Techniques.

The morning was finished up with a debrief where the players got the opportunity to feedback their thoughts on the day! An amazingly positive response was heart-warming and 'More Matches' even with more breaks was asked for so look forward to even more badminton next time!!

Photos