Successful first year for Shuttlemark Initiative

Badminton Scotland’s Shuttlemark initiative enjoyed a successful first year with no fewer than 12 clubs achieving one of the awards.

The latest were Caithness Badminton Association, Shetland Badminton Association and Inverness City, all of whom achieved their awards in November, following hot on the heels of DABA Junior and Perth Junior badminton clubs who were both awarded bronze in October.

There are three levels to the programme – Bronze, Silver and Gold – with clubs required to achieve all three levels before being awarded the Shuttlemark.

In total nine clubs have attained the bronze award with three of those – City of Glasgow Badminton Club and Wing Badminton Club in July and Glasgow Disability Badminton Club in April – subsequently upgrading to silver.

So far no-one has reached the gold standard but Badminton Scotland’s Regional Development Officer Euan Murray, who heads up the initiative, is hopeful that the first gold club might emerge in 2019:

“Since the launch of the programme we have seen a really strong interest and there is some really good work being done by clubs all over the country” he said.

“We have found that most clubs going through the programme already have many of the policies and processes in place so hopefully next year will see the first gold award.”

Launched in November 2017, the aim of the programme is to help support clubs in order to develop and strengthen their infrastructure, plan for the future and in turn increase capacity and grow.

As well as a suite of tools, templates and good practice case studies, clubs can also access support from Regional Development Officers (RDOs) to achieve each level.  Once a club has achieved a certain level, they can access certain benefits and rewards.

Increasing participation and developing coaches, volunteers and workforce, whilst also having solid plans for the future, are key elements for a successful club and Murray continued:

“The purpose of the scheme is to help clubs develop and grow.

“We want to recognise, support and reward the dedicated volunteers within clubs who are striving to make this happen and our RDOs have been working closely with clubs all over Scotland to help them develop effective policies and procedures and maximise their potential.

“We are really pleased with the response to the initiative in its first year, and I’m sure next year will see the program go from strength to strength.”

The clubs which have so far achieved one of the accreditation levels are:

Caithness Badminton Association BRONZE
City of Glasgow BRONZE & SILVER
DABA Junior BRONZE
Dundee Nomads BRONZE
Forthside BRONZE
Glasgow Disability BRONZE & SILVER
Glenearn BRONZE
Inverness City Badminton Club BRONZE
NEFBA Jaguars  BRONZE
Perth Junior Badminton Club  BRONZE
Shetland Badminton Association  BRONZE
Wing BRONZE & SILVER

For more information on Shuttlemark contact Euan Murray, Badminton Scotland Regional Development Officer, on 0141 445 1218 or email rdowest@badmintonscotland.org.uk