Young People Leadership & Volunteering
National Youth Voice Forum
Badminton England are all about creating positive experiences for all, and that includes young people! The National Youth Voice Forum brings together young people aged 16-25 to share their thoughts and ideas and is used to ensure the voice of young people is heard. The Forum guides the work we do, ensuring our sport is an inclusive and welcoming place for all young people.
The National Youth Voice Forum was launched in 2022 with a group of 14 young people who helped to shape the badminton offer for young people for 18 months. The Forum was then restructured in early 2024 where committee roles were open for applications, existing members had the opportunity to formalise their involvement in the Forum and new members were welcome to apply.
The current National Youth Voice Forum has 15 members who are involved in decision making and project development. The Forum consists of a Chair, Vice Chair, Communications Officer, Treasurer, 2x Funding Officers, 3x Social Media Officers, 2x Insight Officers, 2x Diversity & Inclusion Officers & 2x Wellbeing & Welfare Officers.
- Young people 16-25 who want to make a difference
- Someone comfortable working in a team whilst also being confident in leading and influencing others
- Someone who wants to use their experiences to help young people be heard
- A person who loves a challenge and working with others to overcome them
- Someone with a keen interest in badminton and wants to help shape the future of our sport
- Raise the profile of young people in badminton
- Represent young people from your region, capturing their feedback and opinions and ensuring their voice is heard
- Support Badminton England to make our sport one that is attractive and accessible to young people
- A great opportunity to contribute to the future of badminton
- A whole load of opportunities to develop your skills and experiences (including volunteering at National events)
- A chance to work with and learn from other young people from across the country
- A chance to be part of the World’s most prestigious badminton tournament – the Yonex All England.
Young Leader Academy
The aim of the Young Leader Academy is to equip young leaders, aged 13-16, with essential skills and knowledge to support delivery in their clubs and community by attending two training sessions and completing tasks related to their area of interest as a volunteer. The young people will be provided with information and training on a variety of volunteering roles within badminton, share learning and become more actively involved in volunteering. They are also encouraged to raise the profile of badminton using the skills they have developed, engage their peers, influence others and seek further opportunities to volunteer.
Click here to download a document with more information on our 2024-25 Young Leader Academy.
The main benefit, according to our young leaders, was the opportunities that followed their Academy attendance to put their skills into action. This included; volunteering, coaching and career enhancement prospects through adding experience to CV’s, and utilising their new found confidence, communication and social skills.
Here’s what our previous young leaders said about the Academy:
- “It was very useful and I feel that I learnt a lot from those 2 sessions while enjoying myself and having lots of fun.”
- “The course was excellent – it was a great experience and a good way to meet other badminton players interested in coaching and to expand your badminton network.”
- “I really enjoyed it and it has inspired me volunteer in various roles and get involved.”
- “Because I enjoyed the Leader Academy, I made friends, I listened and took in the information and I will try and use it at my club.”
- “I enjoyed meeting new people, making friends and also the information that we learned and the engaging way it was taught to us.”
Here’s what previous Club Mentors said about the Academy:
- “Two of our young leaders who attended the Academy sessions regularly volunteer at our weekly club sessions. They both deliver the warm-up and help with the younger beginners. The club has benefited by having this extra support for the coaches and we have seen the improvement in confidence that being a young leader has given them both.”
- “By volunteering, our young leader has more of an understanding on how the club is run and the mechanics behind it. His leadership skills have improved along with his confidence. He is also learning a lot from the other coaches and therefore his ‘badminton’ knowledge is improving. He has the opportunity to communicate with the junior players and his peers thus developing his communication skills.”
- “Having young leaders at the sessions adds a vibrancy different to the adult coaches. It is great to have role models within the sessions for the younger players to look up to. We have been able to split into smaller groups to focus more on individual players and younger players look up to the young leaders and enjoy it when they are working with them.”
- “The Young Leader Academy has been a great success and a great help. As my junior numbers keep increasing, it has been easy to divide into smaller groups for the young leaders to assist with whilst I can focus on the whole group and assist as required.”
Young leaders are offered a variety of different opportunities following attendance at the Young Leader Academy. They are encouraged to get involved in activities at their local club, in their local area and at national events, related to their area of interest as a volunteer.
The different strands of volunteering are:
- Coaching
- Officiating (umpiring & line judging)
- Tournament organising
- Club/County committee roles
- Volunteering at major events
Young leaders are given tasks related to these different volunteering strands and, in 2024, a total of 21 young leaders supported the National Schools Championships Finals, the Disability Junior National Championships and the 4 Nations Graded International Tournament by undertaking roles in officiating, tournament organisation and generic event volunteering.
In 2024-25, four Regional Young Leader Academies are being delivered across the country in the North, South, East and West.
Please find details of the Regional Academy dates & venues below:
North Regional Young Leader Academy –
- Online Session: Wednesday 15th January 2025 (6pm – 8pm)
- In-person Session: Sunday 26th January 2025 (10am – 4.30pm) at Garforth Leisure Centre (Ninelands Lane, Garforth, Leeds, LS25 1NX)
South Regional Young Leader Academy –
- Online Session: Tuesday 25th February 2025 (6pm – 8pm)
- In-person Session: Saturday 8th March 2025 (10am – 4.30pm) at the National Badminton Centre (Bradwell Road, Loughton Lodge, Milton Keynes, MK8 9LA)
East Regional Young Leader Academy –
- Online Session: Tuesday 21st January 2025 (6pm – 8pm)
- In-person Session: Saturday 25th January 2025 (10am – 4.30pm) at the Oundle School Sports Centre (Milton Road, Oundle, Peterborough, PE8 4AB)
West Regional Young Leader Academy –
- Online Session: Wednesday 29th January 2025 (6pm – 8pm)
- In-person Session: Sunday 16th February 2025 (10am – 4.30pm) at Bath University (Sports Training Village (STV), University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY)
Applications are now closed for the 2024-25 Young Leader Academy.
