HOLLY MAKES WORLD CLASS START PROGRAMME

Holly Smith from Sunderland has been awarded a place on the BAofE’s World Class Start Programme

Holly, who turned ten years old in July, is a member of the Higman Tees Valley Badminton Academy and the Sunderland Health & Rackets Club. She started playing badminton 2 years ago.

Holly is in the Durham Junior Squad and is ranked Number 1 at the Under 15 Years age group and Number 10 at the Under 17 Years age group.

Holly was invited to attend a National Selection Event at Luton at the beginning of October, following her success in National Age Group Tournaments around the country. Out of 9 girls & 18 boys who attended, Holly was one of two girls & three boys, who were successful

Holly is coached by BAofE Senior Coach Peter Higman at the Higman Tees Valley Badminton Academy based at the David Lloyd Leisure Club at Tees Barrage. She attends the Wednesday evening Junior Intermediates Session and does a one to one session with Peter on Fridays.

The photograph shows Holly & Peter, following one of her coaching sessions, at the Higman Tees Valley Badminton Academy.

WORLD CLASS START & POTENTIAL

The World Class Start & Potential Programmes are Sport England lottery funded programmes with the following aims:

START

The aim of the World Class Start (WCS) programme is to identify exceptionally talented young performers and give them a comprehensive basis on which to build future World Class success.

The WCS programme is for players aged up to 15 years old and the Head Coach for the programme is Jens Grill.

POTENTIAL

The aim of the World Class Potential (WCP) programme is to select performers with World Class potential and develop their talents in order to give them the greatest chance of achieving major senior international success.

The WCP programme is for players aged 15-22 years old and the Head Coach for the programme is Justine Willmott.