Inclusive badminton training for young adults with physical and learning disability In Wimbledon.
The disability badminton club run at Wimbledon racquet sports club at Cranbrook road, Wimbledon SW19 . Ms Lorraine Brydie who is an inspiration to young adults with disabilities made a difference in their life by running the session every Saturday on a pay as you go basis. The young adults were improving their fitness while enjoying all technical aspects of the game and some are playing in a county squad while some are taking part in the para championships in Europe.
When spoken to Ms Brydie. She said she was one of the pioneers along with a few coaches who set up the club for young disabled adults in Scotland and her involvement with disability badminton in Scotland was instrumental in setting up disability groups in Glasgow and Edinburgh as well as in Fife.
When she moved to England she became a volunteer in a club in North London where she had the desire to start a badminton club for disabled . Badminton England were embarking on an Inclusive Club programme. They were offering a small grant to clubs that wished to participate and actively promote inclusive Badminton as just as able bodied. Ms Brydie applied on behalf of the club. Their main objectives at the time was to raise awareness within the club and wider community via marketing and taster sessions, form links with local borough councils, be involved in taster sessions within multi-sport programmes and set up a weekly badminton session.
The disability badminton sessions first started at the Wimbledon Club in October 2011. It initially started with one court, one player and one coach. Since then the numbers have grown to around 16 active users, three courts, one coach and a few volunteers. Anders Foundation, a charitable trust is funding the sessions and for the level 1 coach and providing sports wheel chairs. Ms Brydie can’t emphasise enough about the help provided by the Anders Foundation Trust. There are tournaments organised by the club and the achievements of the players were commendable. Ms Brydie said, “I am so proud of these young adults and their achievements.Emma Stoner a 13-year-old with immense talent training with Surrey U15 and representing Surrey, she never misses a session at our club and recently played at the European Para-badminton Championships for U15 in Paris. She also played in the latest 4 nations event this opens up opportunities for others as well”.There are a lot of youngster’s talents which have been broadened. This club really helps young adults to achieve their goal while enjoying the sport. Ms Brydie said, “my aspiration to get more players involved with special Olympics as the players are improving and want to play in competitive games”.She also would like the club to have the deaf badminton session.
The club offers a monthly talent spotting session which allows players with ability to progress, to come along and receive some intensive coaching by Level Two coaches. This was initially set up on the announcement that para-badminton was to be introduced at the Tokyo games in 2020. Visiting the disability badminton club and witnessing what Ms Brydie has done was inspiring.
Any volunteers interested in helping for an hour can do so. They can use this as their voluntary service as part of their DofE. Ms Brydie can be contacted at the club
020 8947 5806
Rohith Ratnam Hampton school
