Award for Inspiration

Dave Knights is an inspiration for badminton volunteers nationwide.

Dave is currently Marske Badminton Club and Marske Junior Badminton Club Head Coach, Development Officer and Senior club secretary. He has worked hard to develop both clubs as Silver Clubs (Clubmark status) and is often used as a good practice example for clubs throughout the county (See article below taken from the BADMINTON England website showing the work that Dave does during the quietest time of year!).

Dave is a very willing volunteer, often taking on pilots to test drive new ideas and projects. Dave is keen to develop badminton opportunities in his area and ensure that they fit all possible requirements in terms of safety and well being of participants.

Dave is well respected in the badminton community for the work that he and his team of fellow badminton volunteers do to develop badminton in their community. Dave has undertaken every project that BADMINTON England has thought of and performed them to a standard that we did not believe was possible. For this reason I would like to nominate Dave for his dedication to badminton and show our appreciation for everything he does.

“A few days in the life of a Junior Club Development Officer ...

Marske Junior Badminton Club is currently in its Summer Recess, we lose the courts for May and June during the exams period. It’s a good time for coaches and players alike to take a break and recharge their batteries. It’s also the time when Dave Knights, Head Coach, Development Officer and Senior Club Secretary can take some time out for forward planning.

OK for next season what do I need to plan for:-

× Secure the courts for coaching and matches

× Review the coaching team for next year and agree who will run which sessions, who will assist and who will provide cover

× Advertising / recruitment campaign for new players

× Review the coaching programme and Badminton Silver file

× Address coaches training requirements and assimilation to new Coaching Awards

× We have access to a professional coach how much can we afford to use him next year?

× We need new Club shirts for next year!

× Look at funding options-Awards for All, Network Fund, Parish Council, Coop fund to start with

× Work on strengthening School Club links

× I need to produce a newsletter for the start of the season

Progress so far:-

Sponsorship

After many conversations with Saltburn and Marske Parish Council, the have offered to sponsor next year’s T-shirts. All of our junior players will now be able to proudly wear their ‘Marske’ shirts to matches and tournaments up and down the county!

Courts for next year

1pm to 2pm - Under 11 coaching & games

2pm to 4pm - Intermediate coaching & games

4pm to 6pm - Advanced coaching

6pm to 8pm - Junior team matches.

Assimilation Courses - Two of the Coach Part 1’s, Andy Barwick and myself, successfully completed the Assimilation Workshop to the new Level 2 Award on 18th & 19th June. We need to get the other 3 Coach Part 1’s on another course.”