In September 2009, Portsmouth Football Club and coaches from Shot Choice Badminton Club established a Premier League 4 Sport satellite club at Priory School, Portsmouth. Callum Richards, then year 7 at the school started attending the sessions along with friends having never played the sport before.

As a regular at the weekly sessions, Callum was keen, enthusiastic and always willing and interested to learn from his coaches.  

Within a year Callum had represented his school in a number of local schools competitions and in June 2010 represented his city in the Hampshire Games against players from across the County. In the summer of 2010 he entered and won the Westgate Open Tournament, a graded tournament hosted at the Westgate Badminton Centre and in August 2010 attended the U13 County trials where he was selected for the County squad, a great achievement for someone who had only been playing the sport for 12 months.

With the support of his mum and family, Callum now travels to Winchester every Saturday to train with the County Squad and on the 5th December was honoured to collect his County t-shirt and play his first County Game. In addition to his County commitments Callum still regularly attends Priory School Badminton Club, the PL4S Satellite Club, and Shot Choice Badminton Club.

Callum’s family and his coaches, Jan Cheeseman and Ben Muir are so proud of what Callum has achieved within such a short space of time. Head Coach Jan Cheeseman said ‘ Callum loves to play the sport and is a pleasure to coach. He always has a positive attitude and willingness to learn and it has been a delight to coach and see him develop over the past 15 months’.

Callum’s enthusiasm has even had an effect on his younger siblings, with his brother Luke, aged 9 and sister Lana, aged 7 now attending Shot Choice Badminton Club. Lana has even told her mum that she wants to play for the County like Callum does showing just how proud everyone is of his achievements.