Great badminton, great people, great fun...
Club poised to surpass brilliance of last season
East Leake Badminton Club has its work cut out to match the superb achievements of the 2009 - 2010 season with five of its eight teams gaining promotion and two of the remaining teams finishing in the top three. However, it is a challenge relished by East Leake who are confident of another successful season forthe Club.
'We have made great strides in the past few years', commented Club Chair, Andy Longton. 'A couple of years ago we reached the final of the Nottinghamshire Cup for the first time in our history and this year we have probably had our best ever season. But not it's just all about doing well in the league, the best thing about East Leake is that we cater for players of all standards and also have an absolutely fantastic Junior Club. Not everyone is interested in playing competitive league badminton and many people just enjoy coming down to club nights which are great fun as we have a real mix of male and female, young and experienced andrecreational and county level players. However, it is enormously satsifying to show that we can compete at a high level. It's about time the domination of some of the so called bigger clubs was challenged'.
Andy's comments were echoed by Chair of Selectors, Geoff Rogerson, who added 'I think our success in the league over recent seasons has had a positive impact on membership as a lot of new people have joined the Club. However, I don't believe it's all down to this and feel that the combination of being a welcoming and friendly Club together with our excellent facilities and a genuine desire to be inclusive has been equally important. The other factor in our succes as a Club is our committment to the development of junior players. Every Thursday evening our juniors turn up for a bit of coaching, a few games and a lot of fun. Over the years many have graduated to our Senior Club and gone on to play at a good level, in fact just this week 2 of our juniors were selected to play for the county (Leicestershire), but whether they want to play competitively or not is irrelevant really, the most important thing is that they enjoy it'.
October 2010