Junior Performance Pathway

England Performance Programme Updates

*UPDATED* ENGLAND JUNIOR PERFORMANCE PROGRAMME – CHANGES FROM JULY 2024

Badminton England are excited to announce further planned changes to the England Junior Performance Programme, which will come into effect following the end of the current programme year.

Changes have been announced after recent recruitment in the EJPP team at the beginning of the year, which included an additional National Pathway Coach and five Age Group Coaches.

Some of the key changes proposed include the following:

• The removal of the defined programme levels of Progress, Engage and Discover. There will no longer be identified players on the EJPP for a year at a time and there will be no review process or trials taking place this year.
• The performance team are currently looking to implement a new ‘transition group’, which will include around 10-12 identified players that are committed to badminton with an aim of transitioning towards full-time training at the NBC following the end of their junior career. Identification of players for this group will be based upon consideration by a selection panel of coaches.
• Clearly defined EJPP performance behaviours (see further detail on these below) which the EJPP will align to when delivering activity to support their development and to include consideration of these within selection considerations
• International tournaments attended by the EJPP will move towards providing opportunities and exposure to players from U13 to U19 age groups.
• Training camps will be hosted by age group categories from U11 through to U19, rather than by group as currently hosted by group within the EJPP.
• Invitations to training camps and international tournaments will be via invitation from the EJPP team and will be based on performances at domestic gold tournaments, observations from National Pathway and Age Group coaches amongst other factors which will be published in due course

The rationale for the proposed changes to the EJPP include:

• Providing the ability for the EJPP to recognise and reward players for performance improvements at gold tournaments throughout the year.
• Increase inclusivity and opportunities for more players to attend EJPP camps and international tournaments, as invitation is based on observations at gold tournaments, performances and rankings.
• International tournament invitations by selection from Badminton England to non-championship events based on most recent performances and rankings will give greater opportunity to attend an international event.
• The focus on age groups at camps and tournaments will support an increase in the number of players able to access EJPP opportunities across the pathway.
• Through age group coaches and national pathway coaches, the programme will have a greater understanding and knowledge of players in the junior pathway and the EJPP will have the opportunity to work with a wider group of players, coaches and parents.
• There will be an increased emphasis on the importance of junior players competing in gold circuit tournaments across the year, due to these forming a key part of selections. Non-attendance at gold tournaments could therefore impact selection for camps and international tournament opportunities.
• Changes to championship policies will include a stipulation for players to have played in a minimum percentage of gold tournaments in the required timeframe to be eligible for selection to represent England.
• Defined performance behaviours regarding culture and standards will align to all future EJPP activity to support players developing whilst at camps or tournaments.
• A greater emphasis will be placed on working directly with the network of coaches who are working with junior players.
• More focused support to a small, identified group of junior players who are seriously considering badminton as a career, with the intention to support development and the required capabilities to transition successfully into senior full-time training.

Badminton England will continue to work through the finer details of the changes and look forward to providing further information and detail in the next few months.

JUNIOR PROGRAMME AIMS & KEY PRINCIPLES

The England Junior Performance Programme (EJPP) is reviewed each year for the purposes of ensuring it remains relevant and aligns to our new 10 year strategy and our England Senior Programme, with the following vision and purpose:

• To provide opportunities to individuals to see what they can achieve whilst providing a positive developmental experience
• To successfully support the transition of players from the Junior performance pathway

As a Junior Programme we aim to:

• Provide a system and Performance Pathway training environments that players want to be a part of
• Support an increase in strength and depth across the sport
• Support the development of a diverse workforce capable of delivering against the Player Characteristic Model within the Performance Pathway

EJP PRINCIPLES & KEY PERFORMANCE BEHAVIOURS

One of the key principles of the England Junior Programme is develop and work with individuals who are positively looking to display and develop the following key performance behaviours, with Programme activity delivered in line with supporting development and challenging individuals on these key areas:

• Professionalism
• Communication skills
• Performance focused attitude (desire to learn and improve)
• Independence / self-reliance
• A well-rounded badminton player

Please click on the link EJPP Key Performance Behaviours to read further detail around the performance behaviours we are looking for individuals to develop as they move through the Junior Performance Pathway, which will stand them in good stead moving forwards into Senior badminton. These align to the expectations of individuals on entering the National Badminton Centre senior training environment / Senior Squad.

JUNIOR PROGRAMME PLANNER & SUPPORT OFFER

The current England Junior 2024 Pathway Planner and Identified International Tournaments can be found here.

The guide to the offer of support to those on the EJP during 2023-24 can be found here.

ENGLAND JUNIOR PERFORMANCE HUBS 

Badminton England is pleased to advise that it is supporting the initial set-up of two ‘Performance Hubs’ from September 2023 – one in the north and one in the south of the country, with the aim to expand on these over the next few years to other areas of the country to provide more access to more players (U15-U19), to train regularly together.  These Hubs, whilst not a new concept, are intent on providing the opportunity for small groups of the best junior players (EJPP and identified players) within a region to access additional high-level weekly training and match play on a regular basis, up to a maximum of twice a week.

We understand and support all the great work that is going on around the country by coaches and training environments and we wish to add to this work.  We are fully aware that there is a significant development opportunity that exists in relation to players increasing their rate of development when training regularly with players of a similar level and when weekly training hours are increased.  As a Programme, we want provide support for this increase in weekly training, with delivery of high quality and intense sessions, where players are committed and bring a great work ethic in order to reap the benefits.  We believe this is a necessity if we are to keep pace with the best players in Europe and the rest of the world.

The Performance Hub sessions will be part-funded by the Performance Programme and will be ‘invitation only’ sessions to identified players.  To note, attendance at a Hub following invitation is not mandatory and the sessions are not intended to replace weekly training and instead are aiming to provide additional weekly quality training hours where this can be fitted into player’s weekly schedules. We understand that access to these sessions will vary based on individual circumstances and such things as distance of travel which may impact a player’s ability to commit. However, we fully believe that the following principles, regularly seen to increase rate of development in athlete’s across sports, can be achieved by this initiative:

• Increase the number of quality of weekly training hours and intensity in a player’s weekly schedule to aid rate of development and levels of consistency
• Players of a similar level training / sparring together regularly increasing the rate of development as a collective group
• Regular, healthy competition / sparring between players of a similar level can link to increasing levels of motivation

We also aim for the sessions to achieve the following:

• To support players with their ongoing development and building of relationships between players and coaches
• Provide players with additional coaching perspectives
• Opportunity for the sharing of knowledge and session themes based on Coach’s experience of where the game is going internationally in the world of junior badminton and in turn, be aligned and aid development in relation to EJP themes / focus areas delivered at EJP Camp activity
• To provide variety in a player’s weekly training through training with different players

Player identification and invitation to Hub sessions are from Badminton England via nominations from National Pathway Coaches, Age Group Coaches and Hub Coaches. If you have a player who you believe may fit into any of the below Hubs, please direct your query to one of the National Pathway Coaches or Programme Manager, who will discuss this in line with current player level and capacity within the specific Hub.

The following expectations are set for all BE Hub sessions, which define what is expected from individuals in sessions and also from the session themselves and align to the EJPP performance behaviours noted above. High standards are set within sessions and expectations include professional warm up/cool down routines, hard working attitudes, good communications between players / coaches to create a collaborate environment, working as a collective to ensure each person gets the most out of all sessions and a ‘no phone’ policy for the duration of the sessions.

The below provides the session/s details for the Hubs that launched from September 2023 with invites having been sent out to identified players and with player’s contributing to the subsidised cost of these sessions:

North Performance Hub

Surrey Performance Hub

Midlands Performance Hub

NBC Performance Hub

For further information on the Hubs you can contact Nikki Tarrant (Programme Manager) at nikkitarrant@badmintonengland.co.uk