The Junior Section of the Club meets on the following dates starting on Friday September 7th in two sessions from 5pm to 6pm, and 6pm till 7pm
September: 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th
October: 5th, 12th, 19th (no badminton 26th October - Half-Term holiday)
November: 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th
December: 7th, 14th (Xmas Tournaments: 6pm class - Dec 7th; 5pm class - Dec 14th)
January: 11th, 18th, 25th
February: 1st, 8th, 15th, 29th (no badminton 22nd Feb - Half-Term holiday)
March: 7th, 14th, 28th (28th March - End-of-season Tournament for 6 pm class)
April: 4th (4th April - End-of-season Tournament for 5 pm class)Note: The last lesson of every month will be games only, to give you all a bit more experience.
Lots to look forward to - see you on the 7th September!
From Eileen, Sylv, Janet, Sue, Steve, Alex, Rob, Mark and Nick - your coaches
Further information on the Junior Club can be found here:
The junior section of the Unicorn Badminton Club is for players of 8 to 15 years of age and aims to help the children learn to:-
The children spend some of the time playing games against each other, but most of the time is spent on coaching and practising so that they can improve their standard of play. It is important that the youngsters are willing to learn and prepared to try out new things: they need to be able to watch and listen carefully, and to ask questions. Many of the practices require the children to work together and to help each other, so that co-operation and teamwork is also an important part of what they do.
Some of the coaches work with the Somerset junior squads as well as with Unicorn's juniors, so we are confident that players are learning the game in a way that will enable them to progress on to higher levels if that is what they wish. The Club is affiliated to the Somerset Schools Badminton Association and the children are encouraged to play in the various SSBA tournaments during the season: this year, several of Unicorn's juniors brought home trophies to put on the mantelpiece and/or played for Somerset in county matches.
As their play improves, the children are able to enter for the ESBA/Carlton First, Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards. The First and the Bronze Awards can be assessed by the coaches at the club: players wishing to go for the Silver or the Gold are invited to assessment sessions organised by the Somerset Schools
Badminton is an athletic sport, particularly at the higher levels of play. The children are taught how to warm up properly in order to minimise the risk of injury, and they are encouraged to keep reasonably fit.
Please note that parents remain responsible for their children while they attend Unicorn Juniors.
We very much welcome adults who would like to help with the coaching. Whatever your standard of play, or your amount of experience (or inexperience) as a coach, Unicorn Juniors can make use of your talents and perhaps start you off on a very rewarding pastime: please do not be backwards at coming forwards!