“Badminton Scotland’s Shuttlemark has encouraged and inspired LDBC to look at its delivery and standards as well as its responsibilities towards its members”
Shuttlemark
On July 16th 2020 Lothian Disability Badminton Club (LDBC) became the first club to achieve the Shuttlemark Award in the Lothian Group area. LDBC is the 20th club in Scotland to sign up to Badminton Scotland’s accreditation scheme.
Carolyn Young, Convenor of the Lothian group is delighted about the achievements of LDBC:
“Congratulations to Lothian Disability Badminton Club for achieving their Bronze and Silver status. Definitely a role model for clubs in the East of Scotland. Wouldn’t it be great to have all our clubs follow the lead of LDBC to achieve at least one of the Shuttlemark accreditations. I would encourage our clubs in Lothian to consider joining this scheme and take advantage of the help on offer and ultimately benefit from the rewards that will come with it.”
Badminton Scotland’s Shuttlemark Scheme was set up to help support clubs to develop and strengthen their infrastructure, plan for the future and in turn, increase capacity and grow. Badminton Scotland believes Clubs are key in providing quality opportunities for communities across Scotland to both participate & progress in badminton and believe this warrants recognition.
The Lothian Disability Badminton Club was established on 19th February 2008 and has experienced continued growth and development since then. Currently, the club has 43 members with a mix of ability, age and disability.
The club welcomes both the social and competitive players of all ages. Some members enjoy the social side of playing while others have achieved considerable success representing Scotland at international events all over the world including Colin Leslie, Fiona Christie, Bobby Laing and Mary Wilson.
Lyndon Williams (Chair of BS Disability Working Group, BWF Para-Badminton & Disability Tutor, former Welsh Internationalist & key member of LDBC).
“This is an excellent initiative from Badminton Scotland and something the club was very keen to get involved in. A good benchmark for the club and ensures we set standards and hopefully maintain them before moving on and trying for Gold. We are always learning as a club and have benefited from this process, understanding where we had gaps and where we needed to strengthen our delivery. We have enjoyed many years of success at the club and now need to push on and make sure we give even more disabled players an opportunity to get involved with our great sport.”
Colin Leslie LDBC Chair & Lead Coach
“Badminton Scotland’s Shuttlemark has encouraged and inspired LDBC to look at its delivery and standards as well as its responsibilities towards its members. Achieving both Bronze and Silver has been a big boost and we are keen to continue to develop our opportunities and quality of offer to our membership and workforce.”
Other Clubs who have Achieved the Shuttlemark Bronze & Silver Awards
Lena Robertson from the City of Glasgow Badminton Club talks about their experience with the Shuttlemark programme:
“Shuttlemark helped us focus on direct areas of importance and priority. Timescales are a good way of keeping the club focused and on track. We appreciate Badminton Scotland’s support with the process and found it very helpful that we were and are able to contact our local RDO for further support and direction. Our committee has clearly defined roles and everyone is aware of roles which helped in order to have people in positions and going forward.”
David Gillespie from Glasgow Disability Badminton Club said:
“Positive feedback includes a pop-up banner, which has allowed us to promote our club at events and thereby, increasing our profile. The majority of the needed documents were in place already before becoming accredited but it is useful for clubs who do not have it in place. Shuttlemark helped map out who is responsible for roles –eg GDPR…., and prompted volunteers to undertake new roles. We are keen to try increase provision for those with physical disabilities.”
Both clubs welcome those new to the sport as well as experienced players, providing the necessary opportunities to learn new skills and improve on existing ones in a relaxed and supportive environment. Qualified and experienced coaches are present at both clubs together with volunteer helpers.
SIDC (Shuttlemark Disability Inclusive Charter)
LDBC is the first club to sign up to Badminton Scotland’s Shuttlemark Inclusive Disability Charter (SIDC).
Badminton Scotland believe people of all ages and abilities with a physical, sensory or learning disability should be able to participate in badminton.
The aim of Badminton Scotland’s SIDC is to support people with a disability by increasing provision and making opportunities available to access badminton at a local club. In addition, the aim is to support clubs to allow them to provide and deliver inclusive badminton activity. Providing accessible and inclusive opportunities to play badminton locally is key and we are keen to ensure clubs are part of this.
All clubs who have achieved Shuttlemark accreditation will be offered the opportunity to sign up to SIDC which is a bolt on to the scheme.
Ross Foley, player and long serving member of LDBC said:
“It is important that LDBC are an inclusive and welcoming club to make sure that we encourage all people who have a disability to come and join in our sport.” “Our aim is to break down barriers and allow people with a disability to access clubs and to encourage more to sign up to Badminton Scotland’s Inclusive charter. We want people with a disability to access clubs with no barriers or obstacles on their way to achieving greatness.”
Colin Leslie Chair & Lead Coach .
“Following on from Shuttlemark we were really keen to sign up to Badminton Scotland’s Inclusive Charter, refocusing our goal of providing the best service to all those with a disability. We hope to inspire other clubs to do the same.”
Within the next few weeks Glasgow Disability Badminton Club will also sign up to the SIDC and Badminton Scotland hope that other clubs will see the benefit of providing opportunities to all members of the badminton community.
To find out more information on Shuttlemark and the SIDC and how to apply please click here.
You can also contact Euan Murray at rdowest@badmintonscotland.org.uk, or Jane Russell on jane@badmintonscotland.org.uk
