BADMINTON

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 726, 27 July 1929, Page 15

BADMINTON

NOTES FROM ST. AIDAN’S

JUNIOR ASSOCIATE SYSTEM (By “SHUTTLE”) Though hitherto less prominent in tournaments than the Parnell or Northern Clubs, the St. Aldan’s Club, playing in St. Aidan’s Hall, Remuera Road, on Monday and Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons, is a well-estab-lished organisation. The club lost several good players last year, but has others whose games are improving with experience, and some promising young members. The president—a great enthusiast—is the Rev. H. A. Coleman, who incidentally is the strongest man. The committee consists of Mrs. C. S. Kelly, Miss R. Innes, secretary, and Messrs. H. R. J. Short and R. ‘W’. Woods. The membership also includes Mr. R. R. Bell, who in addition to being an experienced player, is president of the New Zealand Badminton Association. Mr. Bell, Mrs. Bell and M. H. Tisdall, all of whom joined St. Aidan’s this season, were members of the old Auckland Club. Another welcome addition to the playing strength is Mrs. Clark, a player with English experience, whose play shows that finish one associates with those who have learned their game at Home. Inter-club visits have helped to build up the general strength.

A most commendable feature of the St. Aidan’s Club’s activities is its provision for junior associate members, admitted at a substantially reduced subscription, and entitled to play on Saturday afternoons with the older players. This system allows young people to learn Badminton at the most receptive age, and is an innovation that might well be adopted by other clubs.

“Shuttle” learns that Captain Cun-liffe-Parker has not yet made a final decision about a name for his club, and that when a decision has been reached the club will, in all probability, link up wtih the association. Some of the players hope to participate in the coming tournament.

The difficulty of obtaining suitable playing quarters is a factor that checks the development of Badminton. No club in Auckland has space for more than one court, and such facilities will probably not be obtainable —except at prohibitive cost—until Badminton enthusiasts get together and finance some scheme for a hall of their own.

Of New Zealand clubs, the Wanganui club was in its first year most fortunately situated. It had the use of a drill hall with wonderful height, and ample room for three or four courts placed side by side. The Napier club, which appears to have been the pioneer, has always had very cramped quarters. The club now playing at Wellington on the other hand, has an ideal building, the new winter show building, with room for four and possibly more courts, with the added advantages of good height and a wooden floor. A survey of the Badminton handbook, in which most overseas clubs are listed, shows that many small clubs in the British Isles and Canada can find room for only one court. The Logan club, most famous of London clubs, has only two. As a matter of fact, clubs with more than four courts are rare in England, though the Lytham club, in Lancashire, has the use of an airplane hangar, and can thus find room for seven courts.

In Scotland larger clubs seem to be the rule, and clubs with four and five courts are fairly common. This also applies to Ireland, where in Dublin there are two buildings with room fpr six courts in each. The method of securing such facilities on a co-opera-tive basis is shown by the fact that the Elm Park Hall, with six courts, is used by four clubs on different days and nights of the week.

Of all the world’s clubs, however, the one best situated seems to be the New York club, with its headquarters in Columbus Avenue. The building is an anti-aircraft factory run up during the war, and the club has 13 courts.