BADMINTON England is delighted to announce it's first Performance Centre - Horsham Arun Badminton Club, which is based at Broadbridge Heath Leisure Centre in Sussex.  Performance Centres will play a major role as BADMINTON England strives to be the world's best badminton nation by 2016. 

Horsham Arun will receive £10,000 funding a year for three years to help in the identification of raw talent and the development of players, both on and off court, and ultimately aim to produce players capable of medal success.  The Performance Centre programme will help to create an increased pool of talent which will not only underpin, but has the potential to increase and challenge for places on the World Class & Start Potential programmes. 

Last year Sport England awarded BADMINTON England almost £2 million as part of a £3.5 million strategy to invest in clubs and coaches, via the new Club Future programme.  The funding will enable BADMINTON England to work with clubs, badminton centres and county badminton associations to establish a vibrant network of forward thinking envioronments that are accessible and welcoming to all.

Nick Chambers from Horsham Arun stated, "It's huge for us to be part of this.  It is one of the most exciting programmes BADMITNON England has ever considered, it is fantastic.  As a club we should be able to take youngsters right the way up to national squads.  Before we didn't have much leeway to allow, Head Coach and ex-England player Tanya Woodward, time to create tailored training sessions, the funding will allow more time for off court work".

Horsham Aurn celebrated this achievement by hosting the first Badminton Youth Festival at DC Leisure's K2 in Crawley.  Around 70 schools in the surrounding areas were invited to nominate up to 10 children to attend the event.  The festival attracted 170 children aged eight to eleven, to participate in a wide range of fundamental activities.  The children that were identifed will be invited to attend training sessions at Horsham Arun and all of the children were given contact details of local clubs should they wish to further their interest in badminton.

Chief Executive, Adrian Christy was at the Festival to present the award and said, "I would like to congratulate Horhsam Arun Badminton Club on becoming the first Performance Centre in the country and it will play a major part in our ambition to be the best badminton nation in the world.  I look forward to working with everyone to introduce new players to the game and to nurture those with talent to perhaps become the next Gail Emms or Nathan Robertson."

The event was a massive success and thanks must be extended to Nick Chambers and Tanya Woodward and their team of Horsham Arun and Sussex based coaches and volunteers.