Scottish Badminton Masters Group: Update and Invitation

By Craig Robertson

In November 2022, a request went out for volunteers to join a think tank to improve masters’ badminton in Scotland, followed by a post about forming a group to work on taking a masters’ team abroad.

Volunteers met a few times to understand the main issues, find out how other countries operate, generate a paper to put to Badminton Scotland, and then met with Badminton Scotland CEO, Keith Russell to discuss how best to work with BS to make improvements.

It was deemed appropriate to formalise the volunteers into a Scottish Masters Badminton Committee. A post went out in March 2023 to the 90+ members on the WhatsApp chat showing the paper and asking for any objections to the original volunteers becoming the committee members and did anyone want to join us.

There are now two subgroups; the Events sub team tasked with sorting logistics to take a cohesive Scotland masters’ team abroad and the Development sub team tasked with improving masters’ badminton in Scotland.

So far, the Events subgroup have identified the hurdles preventing us from taking a team abroad, tried to address these hurdles and drafted a procedure. Some of the solutions are being applied already (bank account, expression of interest form, team t-shirts), but the whole procedure will be tested for the Irish match in May 2023. Learnings will be taken on in time for the Nations Cup in 2025.

The Development subgroup have a much wider remit. A web page has been set up on the Badminton Scotland website, the WhatsApp group chat is busy with information and requests, and many ideas have been suggested. It is likely this subgroup will need helpers to progress some of the ideas.

Committee members

  • Chair: Craig Robertson
  • Events subgroup: Julie Dunlop, Ross Gladwin, Dan Travers
  • Development subgroup: Ross Gladwin, Shona Mackay, Steve McGregor

Should you wish to get involved with masters badminton please email goldenshuttlers@gmail.com

Entries are now open for the Scottish International Masters Championships being held on 19th – 21st January 2024.  Age groups span from 35+ to 70+.  Click here for more information.