Overview

The Isle of Man Badminton Association is overseen by what is known as the ‘Executive Committee’.  The Executive Committee is number of individuals that perform certain, specific roles, as well as a number of representatives from each badminton club registered in the Isle of Man.

The Executive Committee oversees all things ‘Badminton’ in the Isle of Man, from local club leagues to Manx Youth Games, all the way through to sports aid funding, Island Games and supporting players in achieving their badminton ambitions.  You name it, the Executive Committee is ultimately responsible for it!

Historically, the Executive Committee has established a couple of sub-committees, namely the ‘Junior Committee’ and the ‘Development Committee’, and in addition has previously sought to ensure someone fulfils the role of ‘Head of Development’ for Isle of Man Badminton.  These were mainly to ensure there was focus on junior badminton as well as creating pathways for junior players, with an ultimate goal of potential representation at Commonwealth Games.

The Head of Development role was previously one individual, which often meant there was a huge amount on one person’s shoulders and were spread too thinly. It was also difficult to retain consistency in the role with a few changes over the years. Since Covid, we have not had any one individual in this position and the Junior and Development Committees have not had a common purpose/drive to take them forward.

As such, a small group of senior players, coaches and parents felt there was a need to address this and take a slightly different approach.

Rather than having an individual ‘Head of Development’ and continue to struggle fulfilling the role, we felt it would be better to essentially wind up the previous Junior and Development Committees and create one ‘Performance Committee’.

Who is the Performance Committee?

The Performance Committee is currently made up of 6 members, all complete volunteers, non-paid roles:

• Steven Quayle
• Louise Mellor
• Cara Corlett
• Neil Harding
• Matthew Nicholson
• Liz Tang

We collectively share a passion for badminton and the development of players and coaches, and as a group, felt that it would be possible to take things forward together as a committee, rather than everything having to sit on one person’s shoulders.  We are able to share the workload and responsibilities between us, whilst ensuring we genuinely start a journey of continuous improvement and development, both as a committee and through to the players.

The Performance Committee Chairman is responsible for reporting progress of the committee to the overarching Executive Committee at each of the formal Exec Meetings that take place (usually every 2 months).

What is the Performance Committee?

The Performance Committee’s mission is to cultivate a thriving badminton ecosystem by fostering the performance and development of the sport throughout the Isle of Man.

It is dedicated to nurturing the talents of aspiring badminton athletes, enhancing their skills, and promoting the sport’s growth at performance levels.

Overall, the main objective of the Performance Committee is to facilitate the development of badminton players, coaches, and clubs, and to promote the sport both nationally and internationally.

The key objectives are as follows:

• Developing and implementing strategies to enhance the performance of badminton players at all levels, including junior and senior players.
• Providing support to players, coaches, and clubs to help them improve their skills and achieve their full potential.
• Developing a pool of coaches, or access to approved coaches from further afield.
• Identifying and developing talented players to represent the Isle of Man in county, Island and International competitions.
• Establishing and maintaining training programs and camps to improve the skills and fitness of players.
• Collaborating with national and international organizations to promote badminton and enhance its profile in the sporting community.
• Creating pathways for talented players to progress from the grassroots level to national and international competitions.
• Identifying and addressing issues related to player welfare, such as injury prevention and mental health support.
• Developing and implementing policies and procedures to ensure fair play, anti-doping, and other ethical and moral considerations.
• Supporting research and development initiatives to improve badminton performance and enhance the sport’s competitiveness.

As you can see, the main areas of focus are therefore in relation to Isle of Man Junior and Senior Squads, Isle of Man Junior and Senior Championship Competitions, through to Badminton England County Leagues, Island Games, Small States of Europe Competition and Commonwealth Games.

The Performance Committee will continue to work closely with the Executive Committee, Local Clubs and Isle of Man Sport in helping bridge between grass roots badminton and performance badminton, with work continuing in these areas.

What are the Responsibilities of the Performance Committee?

The Performance Committee will continue to work closely with the Executive Committee as it begins to take more responsibility over a phased approach over the next years.  The Executive Committee will look to support the Performance Committee in becoming more established and delegating more responsibility as and when the Performance Committee is able to accept it.

Initially however, the Performance Committee will primarily be responsible for:

• Working with the Executive Committee and Treasurer to help calculate forecast costs in managing squads, facilities, equipment and team travel for budgeting purposes, and in turn recommend squad membership fee levels to be applied.
• Managing player selection criteria and resulting selection sessions (trials) for determining squad players invited to attend each term/season.
• Creating player and parent ‘charters’ in order to set expectation standards for players and parent, as well as communicating performance against these expectations back to parents.
• Managing Junior and Senior Performance Squads
• Arranging training sessions and court hire
• Managing equipment levels for squad sessions, training camps, trips and competitions (primarily shuttle purchases via the Executive Committee)
• Arranging and encouraging participation in relevant junior and senior performance competitions (namely Junior Singles League, U11s (primary school comp), U13s, U15s, U17s, U19s, Senior Opens)
• Liaising with other counties in order to identify and arrange potential Junior and Senior County v county matches, and also identifying relevant Badminton England tournaments that players should consider attending (seeking to travel as a group where possible)
• Ensuring the selection for Isle of Man team tournaments are appropriately managed to ensure fair selection takes place, through the creation of clear selection criteria at an early a stage as possible and being mindful of potential conflicts of interest where appropriate.
• Creation of separate selection forums for relevant teams (I.e. Junior Inter County Tournament (ICT), English County Challenge (ECC), Senior County A Team, Senior County B Team, Senior Island Games Team, Senior Small Nations Team (if entered) and any additional IOM County team events that may be arranged from time to time (Junior and Senior)
• Working with club coaching representatives to consider attending junior club sessions and provide coaching/guidance where appropriate. Also seeking to encourage more people to take coaching qualifications with a view to providing coaching support at squad sessions (subject to safeguarding and welfare checks/assessments)
• Promoting badminton in the Isle of Man through social media activity and other marketing methods
• Working closely with the Executive Committee in order to put forward proposals for function from Isle of Man Sport and any other potential funding bodies.
• Creating proposals for potential sponsorship opportunities, with local organisations, with the potential to sponsor certain squads, teams, equipment or trips/travel.
• Identifying and supporting player candidates for potential pathway development (such as Sports Aid and the Sports Aid Academy).

In Summary

As you can see, the Performance Committee has a lot to do, and appreciate it will take time for things to bed into place, hence appreciate everyone’s patience during this time.

Ultimately this is managed by volunteers and requires a lot of time to be put in, in and around all their own work, family and personal badminton commitments (coaching, training, playing).

Squads require a lot of organisation, from venue hire, squad trials and selection through to collecting payments, planning the squad sessions themselves (4 separate sessions a week), hours of coaching each week from volunteer coaches, most of whom are also carrying out a lot of the Performance Committee work too.  There are then local competitions, county trips, travel and accommodation, kit ordering etc. all that need to be organised too.

We appreciate that at times we will make the odd mistake or make a decision that you may disagree with, however be rest assured that we are doing what we believe is the right thing at the right time.    We do just ask that you bear in mind that we are doing our best as we all learn how to take things forward, however, remain completely open to constructive feedback that we can consider in our quest for continuous improvement.

Should you have any queries, please let us know via performance@iombadminton.com, where we will pick this up and seek to respond in due course.