Development Page The main aim is to increase participation in the sport throughout Wiltshire. Like many counties, the number of clubs is decreasing and the average age of club players is going up and up! We are trying to address this by encouraging new players into the sport, juniors and adults alike via different routes: Schools Badminton England offer Badminton Junior Education Courses, BIG, BISI, Leadership Awards and the National Inter-Schools Championships. We work with schools and school sports partnerships to encourage more participation via out of school hours (OSH) clubs thus creating good school/club links to feed these players into existing clubs, holding BISI festivals in primary schools (see article below), arranging badminton courses for teachers and leadership courses for pupils. Clubs Supporting existing junior and senior clubs, increasing the number of affiliated clubs and encourage them to work towards gaining club accreditation. Encourage clubs to be more welcoming and to accommodate all new players. Support clubs who would like their club to ‘grow’ and particularly those clubs who think a junior section would be a good asset! There are funding opportunities for clubs who would like to create junior sections, We can help you find them and work with you to achieve your aim! Coaches & Volunteers Increase the number of active coaches and volunteers. Please check the website diary for details of coaching courses and bear in mind that there are often funding opportunities so please make contact if you would like to know more about the courses and potential funding. Social Players Badminton is the 4th biggest sport in the country due partly by the vast amount of players who play socially. We would like to find ways to encourage these players into clubs by offering them such things as tournements for ‘social players’. We will also be arranging some evening classes to target those social players who feel they would like to improve their skills or even beginners classes. Much of the above cannot be achieved without the support of schools, clubs, School Sports Partnerships, County Sports Partnerships, WCBA, District Badminton Associations, Local Authorities, Clubs, Coaches, Volunteers and the players themselves. If you would like to set up a new club, develop your club further, become a coach, volunteer, a badminton official or if you are a coach looking for more coaching Contact the County Secretary on 01373 823017 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BISI FESTIVAL - MARCH 2008 at Matravers School, Westbury With the help of 16 Sports Leaders from Matravers School, 52 children (year 3 and 4) took part in a BISI festival. Below are some photos of the children taking part in the activities and some of the Sports Leaders.