Being a natural nosy parker, it’s great to find out all the league happenings just as the season starts
By Katie Garner
Yes, it’s that time again as September rolls around, when we test out our grips, tighten our shoelaces and grit our teeth as the away club strolls on court for the start of the new badminton season. Matches commence as early as next week, with the first Wychelm game kicking off on Tuesday 9th October with Ladies Pairs 1 (aka myself and Jess). When I attended the league meeting this week, it was interesting to hear all the nitty gritty about the setting up of the season and the work involved. I just thought it may be useful to pass on some details from the meeting to help keep us all up to date.
For those of you representing Wychelm this year, firstly please note the venue change – due to increasing membership we have relocated the matches to Royal Liberty School in Gidea Park with a starting time of 8.00pm. The fixture lists for the matches should be with us by the end of the month which will be extremely handy, but I do have a list of provisional dates if we need them.
If you are burning with competitive fire, then you will be pleased to know that the league is also considering setting up a tournament in May over one weekend. The first choice venue is a brand spanking new badminton centre built in Greys, which is apparently where all the Essex League games are played.
Ramgarhia are also spreading over two venues this season, so if you have matches against them, please make sure you clarify which venue. They also commented that they may have to cancel matches suddenly due to exams which are done in the sports hall – unlike us they receive absolutely no warning about when these are held which is incredibly problematic for them.
In happier news, it is actually the league’s 70th birthday next year! Hooray! With about 300 players in total across the league that would make a stinking good party! Please comment if you would be interested in a league party / dinner or dance as this is also a possibility with some of the leftover money in the pot.
There is also the joy of the Challenge Cup come January, where 10 clubs will battle it out in a knockout competition (remember this is a separate event to the main league matches). Wychelm start off by facing Harold Hill, but the match will be held at ours so fingers crossed that this provides a useful home advantage.
Good luck everyone and let the games begin!
