As we eagerly anticipate World Badminton Day on 5th July, CommunityAd thought they would delve into the history of the wonderful Angel Centre Badminton Club based in Tonbridge.
Chairman Mark van den Berg spoke to us about this wonderful club…
Can you explain your background in badminton and your role at Angel Centre Badminton Club?
I started by going to the pay and play Badminton on Mondays at the Angel Centre, Tonbridge run by one of the club’s members and have been playing badminton for over 10 years with my role at the club as Chairman.
What would you say have been the club’s most memorable moments?
The three areas I would pick as memorable are: that we have recently increased our membership of ladies joining the club and are now at about 50 members; the successful set up of a club coach who now coaches both children and adults; and, finally, being awarded two shields at the Tunbridge Wells Badminton League Awards ceremony last year.
For any local readers interested in joining, how can they get in touch to find out more or even pop along to training?
For intermediate league standard players email [email protected] and come for three trials at our club nights in the Angel Centre.
If you are new to Badminton or out of practice, there is a very successful Badminton England Pay & Play on Mondays starting at 7:30pm at the Angel Centre run by one of our members who is a Badminton England Coach.
If you’re not sure about your standard and want to have some coaching, contact the Club Coach, Joe Ewins via email [email protected]
Have you had any players from the club go on to represent at county or even national level?
As we are a club that has a more open friendly league standard, we have not had anyone of county or national level.
From a personal perspective, what do you enjoy most about the sport of badminton?
It’s an excellent indoor game, which for our country’s weather, can be played all year round. Apart from challenging, it’s very good for fitness, mental health and socially. Playing in the Tunbridge Wells Badminton League is great as we face extremely enjoyable competition where you meet old adversaries and new people.
Do you have a future vision of where you would like The Angel Centre Badminton Club to be in the next 5-10 years?
The future is us expanding further with more members and maintaining our diverse age range (16 to 80). Also, to have the first cohort of young players join from the club coach to play for the club in the leagues.