Auckland Badminton Association (ABA) is excited to launch three new development opportunities for junior, youth and senior-level badminton players that aspire to be players at higher levels.  We are embracing the 'Balance is Better' philosophy that all national sports bodies in New Zealand have adopted, including Badminton New Zealand.  This year, ABA is offering approximately fifty more junior and youth players development squad opportunities. 

ABA runs junior grading system during February/March and selects the best players from the Under-13 to Under-19 age groups to train together and represent Auckland. For the seniors, we run Box Doubles, Senior Singles Ladder and additional two-day trials to give an equal opportunity to all players interested in being a senior representative. After the completion of these events, we selected the best players possible to represent us.

This selected group trains weekly under the supervision of our coaches in a high performance environment.  For those that missed out on the selection, they traditionally have had to go back to playing in Clubs and train on their own, hoping to make it in for the next year. 

In 2023, ABA has created two new junior-level and one senior-level  “Aspiring” Squads (Junior, Youth and Performance).  This accommodates for approximately 50 juniors and 30 seniors who did not make the selection for our representative squads.

This is an exciting opportunity to enjoy the same high-level intensity of coaching that our representative players experience on a weekly basis.  As these aspiring players work and train over the year, they will have opportunities to ascend to higher squads that they wouldn’t have had before.

The Junior Aspiring Squad is for younger players, which will be led by Head Coach Feng. Hear what she has to say:

"New program, new year. This is for Auckland Badminton's future. The Aspiring Junior Squad is the a new step for our ABA pathway. We are trying to develop more young and talented players for New Zealand's future in the badminton. We hope parents continue supporting our players in our new initiative."

The Aspiring Youth Squad is for older youth players and the Aspiring Performance Squad is for our players who are transitioning from the junior to senior level, with Coach Warren taking charge of both squads. Hear his comments as follows:

"Many talented youth players are eager to be trained in a preofessional environment. I believe that these newly established squads are the perfect opportunity  to receive squad training, helping players achieve their goals. We will guide them in as they train, improving faster and avoiding injuries with proper technique development. I want to see all my players put in 120% effort and determination into training, with a positive attitude and strive to be a the best they can be."

The Aspiring Performance Squad was created to provide consistent weekly training place for about 30 young senior players who aim to be selected to compete in the Senior Inter-association Division 3 and 4 events, or compete in other open individual/team tournaments.  Originating from China, Coach Celine Cai has been appointed as his Assistant Coach for the Aspiring Performance Squad.

ABA Development Manager Tony Naidu expressed his thoughts on the new initiatives:

“We know that players develop at different ages and now by offering these new opportunities for aspiring young players we are keeping more players engaged with us and helping them achieve their badminton potential. 

"Some of these players will develop and will challenge other current representative players for positions this year or over the next few years.  

"Even if a player doesn’t ever make our representative teams, this opportunity to develop their skills keeps them playing and enjoying improving in a high-quality environment. 

"We want our players to have opportunities to keep getting better at our sport, developing a passion for the badminton, a sport that they can play for life.”

Auckland Badminton Association hopes to continue to offer more programs like this that allow more players more opportunities to enjoy badminton for life.

Article added: Thursday 09 March 2023