U11 Nationals to be discontinued

Badminton Scotland has taken the decision to discontinue the U11 National Championships.

It is our intention to arrange alternative, less formal competitive opportunities for this age group of players, but for a variety of reasons we feel that a National Championships at this age group is no longer appropriate:

• Players of this age should be encouraged to focus on developing their skills, rather than focusing on “performance”.
• There are very few competitive opportunities for players of this age group to compete which means that for many, the National Championships would be their first taste of competitive badminton. The situation is even more pronounced this year due to the lack of any competitive badminton during the Covid-19 pandemic. Badminton Scotland feels this is not appropriate and that players at such a young age group should not be thrust straight into a National event without prior competitive experiences.
• When the cut-off point for juniors events was moved to the end of the year (to be in line with BWF), the number of players qualifying at U11 was significantly reduced.
• Entries for the event have been consistently declining, to the point where the event in 2019 was only just viable. Indeed, other tournaments at the same age group also struggle to attract sufficient entries and there seems to be a lack of appetite for this type of competition at such a young age group.

The Events Committee made the recommendation to the Board of Directors and the decision was ratified at the Board meeting on Tuesday 12 October 2021.