Avon, as a county, enters teams in the Masters competition run by Badminton England. This competition is open to all players who are 38 or over. To make things fairer the competition is divided into age groups – over 40s (which includes players aged 38 and 39), over 45s, over 50s, over 55s, over 60s, over 65s, over 70s and over 75s.
Avon enters teams in most of these age groups with a team consisting of 4 women and 4 men up to and including the O60s. In the over 65s and 70s categories, the team is made up of 3 women and 3 men, and for the O75s it is 2 women and 2 men.
We play against other counties in the South West (usually on a Sunday afternoon) and each player in the team gets to play 2 level doubles and 1 mixed doubles and for the O75s that is 1 level doubles and 2 mixed doubles. Typically, each team would play between 5 and 7 matches in a season.
We are always looking for new players in all age groups, but especially in the younger age groups. We are not looking for superstars (but if you are one we would love to have you!!) but reasonable standard club players and you don’t necessarily have to play all matches (we all have various commitments and can’t always make every match).
Players come from a whole range of clubs and, to give you an idea, below is a list of clubs that currently have players playing in our teams: Chew Park Keynsham, Severn Vale, Raysfield, Chew Valley, Beaufort, PillKats, RWP, Holly Lane, Fry’s, St Lukes, Frampton Cotterell, Bishop Road, Bristol & District, St Ursula’s, Clevedon Feathers, Academy, Kingsdown Ladies, and Wyvern.
This is one of the opportunities you get for your affiliation to Avon Badminton Association so if you have any interest at all please contact me at bobhammersley.avonba@gmail.com as soon as possible for more information.
To those of you that already play for us, I look forward to seeing you at the start of the season.
Bob Hammersley
Avon Masters Coordinator