Hildenborough Badminton
hit it harder.....
HBC host another succesful summer camp.
44 players, 4 coaches, 21 matches, 7 days of eating, sleeping & playing badminton.
HBC welcomed team TRIF & Roende Efterskole to Wally Hall, Sevenoaks for a week long summer camp with 16 Danish juniors & 28 English players making up 3 training squads ably coached by HBC's own Jo Muggeridge & Steve Higgins with guest coaches Jurgen van Leeuwen from Team Forza & TRIF's Mads Damgaard.
Each evening the camp juniors were put to the test by a varied assortment of teams ranging from the established senior teams from Eltham Green, Trident, HBC, AIT, England & Kent Masters to Martin Cozen's Beaux Bagels team (pictured above with our u11 kids).
A few thank you's are in order given the enormity of the task in feeding, housing & transporting all the juniors.
Well done to Victor for sponsoring our team Skyfall shirts - we love them.
To Tara & her team of assistant pack-lunch providers and to all those parents who assisted with tents, transport & getting the kids to camp on time!
Thank you Walthamstow Hall school for the use of your wonderful new sports hall.
We look forward to hosting another camp next year - watch this space.
On Sunday 17th April the Kent Junior Interregional badminton team competition took place in Canterbury.
Teams of 4 boys and 3 girls from all the regional badminton leagues in Kent competed against each other in U15 and U19 events.
TWBL were represented by:
U15: Holly Williams, Ingrid Ghosh, Emma Goddard, Harry Wang, Mehar Bijral, Sam Goddard, David Lang
U19: Georgia Wells, Rebecca Saunders, Emily Easton, Rory Easton, Guy Jones, Tom Wade, Rico Shergill
All of these juniors are coached at HBC and won both titles despite tough competition from Medway and North Foreland.
Particular mention goes to Georgia Wells, Ingrid Ghosh, Sam Goddard and David Lang who were participating in their first interregional event and filled in at quite short notice due to a few withdrawals. In a team event this can make all the difference!
Congratulations to all participants – keep up the hard work.
9th 10th April 2016, Redbridge
SAM GODDARD
U11 National Bronze Medal, boys doubles
with partner Jack Browne.
The first National medal is very special and hopefully many more will follow!Congratulations to Sam who has worked very hard this season and deserved this result. Also to coaches Alex, Zeyar and Rory who have all contributed to his progress.
The U15 Nationals took place the same weekend. Rory Easton battled through to 3 semi finals and 2 finals. He came home with a bronze (boys doubles, partner Jamie Green) and 2 silvers (singles and mixed, partner Chloe Hunt). Harry Huang took an amazing 3 U15 golds.
3rd April 2016, Milton Keynes
Holly Williams becomes National U13 Mixed Doubles winner (partner Neil Bhabuta who won an amazing treble gold) and Holly was also finalist in the girls doubles and quarter finalist in the girls singles.
A good weekend's work - congratulations.
March 16
TWBL restricted singles winner:
Congratulations to Simeon Whitbourn who won his age group U14 singles title at the TWBl restricted event. Simeon has participated many times in local events and showed increasingly improving and more confident performances - well done!
Feb 19th-21st 2016 U15 European Championships, Kazan, Russia
Rory brings home a couple of medals, Silver in doubles with partner Harry Huang and Bronze in singles. A very solid performance, many positives to take forward but also disappointment not to bring home a European title when so close!
Photos: Mark Phelan
Our new crop our youngsters start to make their mark in u11 BE tourneys.
Congratulations to David Lang as he takes his first gold at u11 BE Devon
David has been working hard with fellow HBC team mates Sam Goddard & Tom Larchet under the watchful eye of Rory Easton, so it was no surprise that one of these 3 lads took gold at an u11 BE event.
Here's hoping for a few more medals from our new crop of youngsters coming through our coaching set-up.
Jan/Feb 2016: Mid Sussex Restricted.
Great results from several young players. Well done all who participated particularly:
Ayush Gupta returns from injury (plate singles winner), Tom Larchet (won singles box and made semi in doubles), Ethan Tarr (semi in doubles), Sofia Bao (won singles and doubles), Krisha Hari won plate singles, Abigail and Eleanor Barnes
HBC Mens A puts out their youngest side ever.
The (young) lads put on a bit of a classy show with a 9-0 win v AIT and they look forward to seeing their team-mate Richard Jackson back in action as soon as possible.
4 of the boys are aged 17 or under & 5 of them are well over 6 foot & that's when they are not standing on their tip toes (note Luke & Guy to right of picture)!
At some stage we will get a photo with all of them in team kit & reasonable shorts but until then may they continue with their winning ways.
4th December 2015:
Rory Easton England selection confirmed to travel to Russia in Feb 2016 to play singles and doubles in the 2016 U15 European Championships.
November TWBL Autumn Restricted
Nearly missed our lads that took GOLD @ TWBL
Thank you to those diligent parents that send in photo's & commentary of our juniors' exploits as otherwise we'd miss all this great content.
Rohan Gupta & Simeon Whitbourn take home Gold in the u14 boys doubles at the TWBL tourney mentioned below.
Well done lads!
Courtney bags a couple of Silvers at TWBL tourney
Another HBC youngster, Courtney King, pops up on the badminton scene and takes home a couple of silver medals after finishing 2nd in the TWBL u14 singles & doubles, played at the Angel Centre.
Courtney, sister Rhianna plus Rebecca & Libby Saunders, Eleanor Grayson, Shivani Bhoombla & Emma Goddard also strode out on court at Walthamstow Hall on Weds 19th Nov to play a new year 7-9 Wally girls team, with our HBC girls coming away 8-6 winners.
3 of the Wally team also featured HBC players in Holly Williams, Jaime Bulloack & Amanda Taylor so we are certainly populating a few teams with quality players!
HBC Ladies A puts out their youngest side ever.
All it takes is a few injuries and a bit of half term luck and the team captain is forced to call on the youngest of our registered players for a Premier division match.
So it was that Ladies A team captain Emily Easton called upon 12 year olds Holly Williams & Emma Goddard to turn out for the A team against newly promoted Sevenoaks.
Luckily the half term holidays were upon us & the girls were well up for playing given that they did not have school the next day.
The result? A 8-1 win for HBC with Emma & Holly picking up all 3 of their rubbers.
Holly wins a couple of big ones @ u13 York Gold
Yes, the medals at Gold events on the junior circuit are bigger than average and taking home Silver & Gold is no mean feat.
Partnering England team-mate Neil Bhabuta in the mixed Holly shone in every match & the pair were never really troubled as they cruised to a 21-11, 21-11 victory over Alex Green & Sofia Nicholson in the final.
The girls doubles was a tighter affair as Holly Partnered up with Sofia & fell short in a 3 set final versus Lisa Curtin & Eleanor Butler.
With a bit of tactical training we are sure our girls will come good.
17th 18th October Cheltenham U15 Gold
Rory won the singles gold star and doubles gold (with partner David Hong) but had to settle for silver in the mixed (with partner Chloe Hunt)
Rory wins Danish Cup U15 Singles!
Another big international win for HBC's Rory Easton as he fought off the challenge of Danish #1 Nicolai Wolf in a pulsating 3 set final.
This win follows some hard fought Silver's at Langenfeld & the Swiss Junior Open and sets up the season nicely for young Rory as he prepares for the u15 Europeans in February where he & doubles partner Harry Huang will both look to do the double.
HBC Ladies captain Emily Easton partnered Eltham Green's Gemma Whiting to doubles victory at the Kent Senior Restricted this weekend at Castlemaine.
The girls fought off strong opposition in Alison Dixon & Gayle Lloyd in 3 sets before a solid final win against Lydia Henderson-Boyle & Erin Parkes in a 2 tight set final.
HBC juniors (almost) clean house at Kent Junior championships with 15 of 17 titles!
An incredible weekend of badminton at Medway Park saw HBC juniors dominate proceedings and prove that hard work & the dedication of players, coaches & parents really does pay dividends in the form of great performances & resultant county titles. Congratulations to all the HBC players who competed as many also gave our winners a run for their money.
Our u11 girls kept play flowing by keeping the tournament desk on their toes. Well done to referee Phil Jones & head of front desk Chris Spring for coping with the weekend's play & ensuring we all got home at a reasonable hour. 2 days tourney next year please.
This lot took home 10 titles between them as well as another handful of Silver places.
Good luck to Luke & Emily in this weekend's Senior Restricted and here's hoping that Rory brings home another international title from Geneva, Switzerland.
So close, but hopefully Luke & Emily will learn from their defeat in the final of the u17 Mixed as they approach this weekend's senior restricted.
Rory & Holly take a break & watch the opposition before they started off their u17 Mixed campaign which ultimately resulted in victory following some fine play from the HBC youngsters.
Both juniors start training in earnest as they are off to the Danish Cup in October with Rory flying to Geneva this Wednesday to compete in the Swiss Junior Open.
Five times All England champion Sue Whetnall is flanked by HBC juniors who picked up all 8 titles at u11 & u15 age groups.
Back Row L-R: Nikita Gosh, Holly Williams, Emma Goddard, Sue, Whetnall, Mehar Bijral, Rory Easton.
Front Row: David Lang, Sam Goddard, Sofia Boa.
8 out of 8!!!!!! HBC win all the U11 and U15 Junior County Titles
Congratulations to all the HBC players who competed on the first day of the Kent Junior Restricted weekend in the U11 and U15 events. All 8 titles were won by HBC juniors together with the majority of the silver and bronze medals.
Double golds go to David Lang and Sofia Bao in the U11 age groups With Holly Williams and Rory Easton taking double U15 golds. Sam Goddard won gold/silver in U11 and Emma Goddard U15 gold/bronze, playing up an age group as she is still U13. Mehar Bijral partnered Rory to U15 doubles gold. Krisha Hari fought well for U11 singles silver to add to her doubles gold with Sofia. Full results to follow after the 2nd day of competition when all the U13 and U17 players will be in action.
Mon 7th Sept:
Out for their first Monday night training session of the season at Wally Hall, HBC youngsters Yash, Sam, Patrick & Tom were happily playing away when up rocks Carl Baxter and Sam's eyes pop out his head. England's former singles star quickly got changed & generously gave his time to show the boys a trick or two.
Emma picks up a brace of Silvers....
Sat 5th Sept:
HBC youngster Emma Goddard came away with a couple of deserved silver medals after some great play at the East London u13 Bronze.
Emma moves up a gear this season as she'll dedicate more time to training & so her coaches expect a bagful of medals in the coming months as she competes on the BE circuit.
Watch this space for more news on her progress.
27-30th August 2015:
Holly & Rory impress in Germany
HBC's Holly Williams travelled with Englamd u13's to the Refrath Cup and came home with Silver in the Girls doubles partnering Lisa Curtin (Bucks). Holly also did well to reach the quarter finals of the girls singles & mixed but fell just short against strong French & German opposition.
Rory Easton proved that his excellent form during his 4 week stint in Malaysia was no fluke as he saw off the Danish #1 & #2 boys singles players to reach the final of Langenfeld's u15 International before losing out to England's Harry Huang.
Rory then partnered Harry to stroll through the doubles event in straight sets every match.
With an entry of over 110 boys from across Europe Harry & Rory's showing bodes well for the forthcoming u15 Euro championships next February where they should be solid favourites. Also worth a mention are England's Ethan Van Leeuwen & David Hong who beat several top European pairs to take Silver in the doubles.
August 2015: 1st National Team Selections of the 15/16 season:
Congratulations to Rory Easton on selection into the England U15 team travelling today (27.08.15) to Langenfeld, Germany to compete against the best U15s in Europe at the first competitive tournament of the 2015/16 season.
Holly Williams nearly misses her flight after being delayed on her return from holiday but just makes it to travel on the same day to the Refrath Cup with the England U13 squad.
Good luck to both England junior players and their teams. News will follow as we receive it.
22.08.15 Paige Butler takes home Hampshire Senior Silver GOLD
And the little one in the middle is....?
She might be a bit older than she was in this photo but HBC's youngster has still got it despite the responsibility of a full time job in London. Paige picked up a groin injury early on in her first singles match by doing the splits whilst lunging for a low one, but she still fought through to the very end beating a determined Lucy Dong in 3 sets.