Grant serves up free badminton sessions

Young people in Cramlington are being given a free opportunity to take up badminton thanks to new community funding.

The John Watt Academy has launched free Saturday morning sessions at its Cramlington Learning Village headquarters, aimed at introducing players aged ten and over to the sport.

The small-group sessions, which run from 9am to 10am, focus on the basics of badminton and are designed to help beginners build their skills before deciding whether they want to progress further.

All equipment is provided, removing the need for families to invest in kit before youngsters have had the chance to try the sport.

The sessions will run until the end of the year after the academy secured a £1600 grant from the Banks Group’s community fund.

The funding is also supporting free coaching sessions during school holidays, helping make badminton more accessible to young people across the area.

Established in 2005, the John Watt Academy has five qualified coaches, including two who progressed through the academy as junior players before gaining their coaching qualifications.

Around 30 young people already attend its existing Saturday morning coaching sessions, while a number of former players have gone on to compete at league and representative level.

Julia Holcroft, chair at the John Watt Academy, said: “Badminton is a really simple, fun and social sport that’s easy to pick up, and with lots of local young people already on our books, we realised there was an opportunity to give even more of them a chance to give it a try.

“Children starting out on their badminton journey always benefit from being in a smaller group where they can get lots of individual attention and they tend to make progress more quickly than they otherwise would.

“The Academy will also benefit from the increased number of young people coming into and hopefully staying in the sport, while these sessions will also enable our junior coaches with more opportunities to refine their coaching skills, which will benefit everyone in the long term.

“We know that everyone’s facing money pressures at the moment and wanted to make these new sessions as accessible as possible, so that no-one was missing out for financial reasons.

“The Banks Group’s backing for this project has meant we don’t have to charge our new players any kind of fee and it will help us maximise the local participation and impact we can deliver over the coming months.”

Jamilah Hassan, community relations manager at the Banks Group, whose community funds are independently managed by Point North, added: “Giving children more chances to get active and have fun with their friends can only benefit their physical and mental health.

“The Academy is opening up new opportunities which could inspire local children to take up a sport that they’ll play right through their lives and we hope as many families as possible will take advantage of what’s on offer.”

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