Torrisholme BC

I took part in this survey. I got a bit carried away with some of the free-text answers, well, a couple of them anyway. Here’s what I put. Note that these are my personal opinions and not the opinions of Torrisholme Badminton Club, and, on reflection my comments about the organisation leeching from local clubs is a bit harsh, since I do want to see national and international players being supported and that has to be funded somehow, but I just wish it wasn’t all one-way traffic.

For the ‘Why do you say that?” question in follow up to my answer of ‘very poor’ to “Thinking generally about the current benefits of being a BADMINTON England member – how would you rate them? ” question:

A national organisation with literally NO relevance to local players. Despite lip service in the magazine, the organisation leeches from local clubs and gives nothing in return, bar forcing undesired changes on locals just because they suit national and international players or TV producers (e.g. rally points).

When I chose ‘very poor’ for “Thinking generally about the Badminton Magazine – how would you rate it?”, they asked me why I said that. I replied:

No content worth reading for practically anybody. Very limited coaching advice or information about playing badminton at the level of what must be the vast majority of the readership, local league players. Even for higher standard players there can’t be anything worth reading beyond the results and national rankings.

Seriously, who wants to read endless puff pieces about what some national player does on their typical day?

Where are the reviews of equipment? Where are the discussions about tactics that league players and up-and-coming juniors can use at club night? How about some drills that can be put into use by people at several removes from the elite? Or advice on how to organise a club night around 2 courts with 20 people wanting to variously practice, play games and talk about East-enders, before sodding off down the pub? These people don’t need or want advanced aerobic and anaerobic conditioning regimes, they need some basic advice about where to stand to receive serve, how to practice backhands and what to do when the opposition are making bad line calls. OK, lots of people do want more advanced stuff, so leave it in (though I bet if they’re serious they’re getting it elsewhere anyway), but where’s the stuff for the little people?

It really isn’t clear who the audience of this magazine really is.

Pow! All of a sudden, the new season is upon us. Don’t forget that selection starts from this Sunday, 6th September, at Salt Ayre from 2.30 for 2 hours, then we’re right back at the College next day from 7 til 10. Repeat that pattern the following week and then we’re back to matches!

Have you washed your shorts?

The new season is just around the corner and the minutes from the AGM are going out. Along with the minutes comes a note from the revered chairman of the club. I reproduce it for you here in full.

Shuttles

Selection

E-Mail

Web Site

Twitter

Social

Committee Meetings

Following a pre-AGM committee meeting, the club Annual General Meeting has been called for Monday 2nd June (the date is in the club diary).
All members are welcome and encouraged to attend. The meeting will once again be generously hosted by Dave and Janette at their home.

If anyone has any proposals for either the League AGM or our own AGM, please pass them on to a committee member (Stuart Allan, Lorraine, Cynthia, James, Pam or David Sowerbutts) for discussion at the next committee meeting on Thursday 8th March.

Noticed this article in The Guardian this weekend.

Not sure what the point is!

You may or may not have noticed that the calendar link and mailing list link went missing from the sidebar on the main page recently. This is because of a long overdue change of host for the site because of the rubbish service offered by the last provider. Hopefully we should see better availability on the site now than previously. It does mean that I had to remove the calendar and mailing list links, though, simply because these services were hosted by the previous provider.

I have now set up a new calendar for the club, hosted by Google Calendars. You can access this in several ways: If you have a google account yourself (maybe you’ve already got Gmail or a Google calendar of your own) you can subscribe to the calendar and the events can then be overlaid on your own (Google) calender – this is what I will be doing and part of the reason I’m trialling Google for the club calendar – do this by clicking the very obvious button on the side-bar; You can link directly to the calendar using this address; or you can view the calendar on this site on the Calendar page (see also the side-bar, Pages section). I’ll gradually populate the calendar with all forthcoming events and matches. I can’t be bothered to do the whole season right now in one go, but I’ll do the next couple of weeks to be going on with.

Speaking of events, the Golf day I had been going on about for this Saturday looks like a no go at the moment – several people who wanted to come have cried off, and it turns out there’s a comp on at Morecambe anyway on Saturday. I really need to get one of our expert golfers on board to organise the golf side of the day – I don’t mind trying to organise the people to get together, but it would be handy to have someone who’s well into it to help organise tee-times and a format and help out the erm, less able with handicaps and stroke indexes and how to do stableford scoring and things. I’m thinking the Brian Forrest’s and Dave Carney’s and Dave Sowerbutt’s of the club can help out with that side – how about it guys? We’ll try and get something sorted in the next few weeks, yeah?

Follows the text from a document circulated at the end of the last Monday club night before matches start next week. Not sure how many read it, as the team selections may have held more interest. I’ll put up a page with the team selections soon, and then will keep it as current as possible.

Once again, the selection process has been extremely tricky – new faces and an additional team to select have only compounded the usual problem with selection at this time of year, namely the farcically limited time available to observe players and to select teams before matches start. With holidays and other commitments, some players have only been seen once by the selectors prior to this evening, which, as you know is the final club night before the competitive season starts next week (W/C 25th September).

Aside from observation at club nights though, the selectors have, without exaggeration, spent several hours ‘off-court’ deliberating and agonising over the opening selections, so please remember that these were not simply dashed off in the pub in a few minutes, or rashly chosen during the heat of a club night. Nevertheless, we don’t expect to get it absolutely right first time, or expect that the teams will not change throughout the rest of the season. In fact, quite the opposite, the selection process will be ongoing, and we are required by the club to make constant assessment of our choices. Remember, also, that it is our job to select teams, not players, and to select the best teams possible to ensure that the club is as successful in the league and cup competitions as it can be.

Finally, as always, if you have any concerns or queries, or if the selections have puzzled or annoyed you in some way, come and speak to us about it. That goes for the team placings and also for the pairings we’ve made. We’ve spent a long time on this and all of our selections are made with good reason – if our reasoning turns out to be faulty or groundless, we need to know about it.

James Illingworth
Pam Clemmet.
18/09/2006

• Gentlemen
1. James Illingworth.
2. Graham Hewitt.
3. Dave Carney.
• Ladies
1. Janette Sowerbutts.
2. Lorraine Cross.
3. Maureen Forrest.

‘B’ Team

• Gentlemen
1. Matthew Derham.
2. Paul Gardener.
3. Dave Sowerbutts.
• Ladies
1. Pam Clemmet.
2. Tanya Hughes.
3. Daine Williams.

‘C’ Team

• Gentlemen
1. Stewart Clark.
2. Gordon Rutter.
3. John Skelcher.
• Ladies
1. Anne Parker.
2. Lorna Stewart.
3. Diane Williams.

‘D’ Team

• Gentlemen
1. Kevin Thompson.
2. Stuart Allan.
3. Brian Forrest.
• Ladies
1. Cynthia Dickinson.
2. Helen Alexander.
3. Jo Hinde.

I’ve added a mailing list to the site. The intention is to use it for general club announcements and social news and such. Subscribe via this link.

If you are a club member, I strongly urge you to subscribe. You won’t be deluged with pointless mail, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

I toyed with the idea of setting up two lists, one for general club information (e.g. cancelled matches, club night changes and so on) and one for social matters. The idea was that you could sign-up for club news without needing to hear from the social committee ever, if you didn’t want to, but, on reflection, there’s going to be so few mails over a season it seems a bit pointless. If there’s any demand for it, it can still be done. Let me know – email or add a comment to this post.

The link to the mailing list is also in the side bar =====>

As previously trailed on this site, England played Denmark at the Preston Guild Hall on 2nd March. Now, I’m not going to post a match report or anything, since it’s a bit late for that and it’s been well covered elsewhere. I had intended to give my views on the new point per rally system, but I haven’t had time and the moment’s passed. I may well write something about it when I’ve seen it some more at the forthcoming Commonwealth games. What I am going to do is post some pictures from off of the telly!

Some random crowd members.

Some members of TBC enjoying 15 seconds of fame, yesterday.

For all those who are coming to the Simply French meal on 4th Feb, a change in the time. It won’t be 8 p.m. any longer, but 7 p.m.

Sorry about that, I did get an email which seemed to confirm the 8 p.m. booking…

Hi James

I have passed your reservation to Robert and have reserved a table for 16 on Saturday 4 Feb at 8pm.
Thank you for pointing out the link to the menus does not work.

Thank you for your booking

Janita
pp QSF

…but then I got a call saying that they only had 7 p.m. available.

Sorry, and I hope that suits everyone. Let me know if there’s a problem.

Quick update on the QSF meal, this has been booked now for 8 p.m. on the 4th Feb, with 16 places booked.

There will be a cub night tomorrow (Monday – 23rd Jan) at the college from 8 p.m.

This is a cup week, and both the ‘B’ and ‘C’ have matches. Check the diary for details. The ‘A’ team have a bye in this round.

The entry forms for the league tournament have now been distributed, and everyone should have theirs by now. If you haven’t, please see Cynthia for a copy. Closing date is February 10th.

That will be all for now.

There is a new feature on the site. I’ve added a calendar system to be used to diary all club events. I’ve made a start, and I’ve added matches and so forth for the next few weeks. I’ll complete it up to the end of the season over the next few days.

Let me know what you think, or if you have any trouble with it.

I’ve put the link in the side-bar for future reference.

Moving into the final week of the year, the ‘A’ and the ‘C’ team are mid-table in their respective divisions (nice to see that, despite the matches-won advantage, the ‘A’ team have still been placed below Ingleton ‘B’ in the table on the same points), but the ‘B’ team are a very close 2nd in the 4th, only 4 points behind Kirby Lonsdale ‘B’. This still puts us 18 points ahead and a game in hand over the 3rd placed Ashton, so strongly in contention for promotion this year. And this is all down to the selection committee, of course *cough*… See the full details at the league website.

Games this week are the ‘A’ at home to Salt Ayre and the fabulous ‘B’ squad are away to Hest Bank ‘D’ on Tuesday night, at the College, so just like a home game, really. 7pm start like a home game too… The ‘C’ team have no match this week, since it should have been against a team who let everyone and themselves down by dropping out of the league at the last minute, so this means there will be a full club night on Monday night, usual place, usual time. See you there!

Matches this week start with the ‘A’ team at home to Bailrigg ‘A’ (Ooh, that means we’ve been half way through the season – see here for what happened in the first week). The ‘B’ team are away at Ingleton Community Centre, playing their ‘D’ team at 7 p.m. prompt. The ‘C’ team have no match this week (incidentally, they’re more than half-way through their season) – they would have been playing Brookhouse ‘B’ at home, had they not already played that match back in October. I have it on good authority that this means there will be a strong ‘C’ team presence at club night, Monday.

Final mention (until the review) of the Xmas meal, this Friday, 2nd December. If you haven’t already, let Stuart know your menu choices immediately, like, now – go on, email him – the menu is on the xmas meal page. If you haven’t confirmed a place, there might be a chance we could fit you in – email Stuart for details.

A reminder that this week there will be NO activity at the College this Monday night, as far as TBC are concerned. There are NO home matches, and we have cancelled the hall entirely, so NO club night either. With there being no home match, it’s just too costly to keep the booking on the off chance that 3 or 4 people want to come to club night.

There will, however, be the Thursday club night at Salt Ayre, 8.30 – 10.30, so everyone’s welcome to that…

…except the ‘A’ team, who are away to Sunnyside ‘C’ on Thursday night (LRGS, 7pm) – Note that this is a change to the published arrangements.
The ‘B’ have no match this week (so will be itching, no doubt, to go to club night to keep their skills sharply honed).
The ‘C’ team are away on Monday night to Moor Hospital ‘B’ (Morecambe High school, 7.30pm PROMPT).

That’s your lot.

Oops. Who spotted the error in the last post? The ‘C’ team were away on Tuesday night, not Monday, as I stated. Anyone turn up in Caton on Monday night on the say so of this journal? Thought not.

Results from last week were: the ‘B’ team beat Ingleton ‘D’ 13-5, the ‘C’ team lost at Brookhouse ‘B’ (5-13? Can anyone confirm this?) and the ‘A’ team lost at the University to Bailrigg ‘A’, 7-11 (I think – I’m maybe not the right person to be doing these reports…). This is not bad, on the whole, and everything is going to plan (there is a plan, honest). The ‘A’ team haven’t been demoted yet (wait ’til the end of the season for that one) and the ‘B’ team are on target for promotion, probably!

Thanks to Paul Gardner for turning out for the ‘A’ team, and Stewart Clark for the ‘B’.

The ‘A’ team result wasn’t too bad, considering. Bailrigg have a very strong ‘A’ team, and can’t have missed promotion by very much last year (a quick check in the pink book reveals that they finished third, not far behind Kirkby Lonsdale and comfortably ahead of 4th spot (history doesn’t recall their name. Well it does, actually, but I won’t mention it here)), so they’re likely to be up there again this year. Add to that the fact that the venue is rather unfriendly for the visitor, and 11-7 isn’t such a bad result for little old Torrisholme. That venue, though! If you’re from Bailrigg and reading this (not that anyone will be reading this), I know it’s not your fault, so don’t take it the wrong way, but when you can’t commit because you don’t feel you can trust your footing as the court is so slippery with dust, and you can’t see the shuttle because the light is just so awful in so many ways, with lights flickering out, vast dark areas, other sections where you feel you’ll need treatment for snow-blindness and that sodding balcony back-drop, you start to appreciate the true meaning of ‘home advantage’. The University sports hall should be such a great venue. I suppose with a few more games to get the old eye in, the light stops being such a hurdle, and you can concentrate on your game, but until you become acclimatized, well, boy!

Anyway, I thought it was alright, it’s just some of my team mates, you know, I’m just a reporter. Home advantage in badminton is a myth, if you ask me…

Next week:

W/C 03/10/2005

• ‘A’ Team – Home, Overton ‘B’
• ‘B’ Team – Away, Storeys ‘C’ (St. Martins College, Wednesday, 7pm)
• ‘C’ Team – Home, Storeys ‘D’

So, having 2 home matches means there’ll be no Monday club night courts. Watch this space for news on Thursday club nights.

Just a quick post for anybody coming to the site and finding it radically changed. I’m migrating the web site to a more flexible format which should give us more benefits, and allow us to use it in a more communal way.

It’s looking pretty sparse at the moment, but this shouldn’t stop us using it to communucate news and current events within the club.

As the site develops, I’ll start to bring other authors in to add some content and news, and allow members to post comments and the like.

The ‘old’ site can still be viewed here (see also the link in the side-bar.)

Keep an eye on the site for more updates. RSS feeds are also available (here’s what the BBC can tell you about RSS).