Yeovil Badminton Membership are making massive strides to beat the gender disparity in age group badminton of their space with a brand new initiative.
The membership have arrange a brand new ‘Women Solely’ badminton session for women beneath 13 to offer a extra comfy house to be taught the game.
Whereas there had beforehand been a scarcity of ladies taking over badminton in Yeovil, the membership’s part-funded periods have given them a recent impetus to take up the game in a protected house.
It has allowed younger women to search out their very own enjoyment from the game away from the efficiency of gender roles that may usually be the case in combined periods.
“We get plenty of women coming in however they don’t really feel comfy enjoying with boys. They get overawed and you may see they need to do it however they don’t really feel they will compete,” stated head coach Jane Lipton.
“I used to be studying about Sport England and the way women solely periods assist promote self-confidence, so I simply determined that I’ll give it a go.
“Final yr we put in for the funding and we’ve been working it for a yr. It’s been actually good. The ladies get pleasure from it, they’ve blossomed and you may see they’re extra assured in what they do.
“It’s now getting them to the purpose the place they exit and compete if that’s what they need to do. They don’t at all times need to however that’s what we’re making an attempt to get them to do, giving them expertise after which making an attempt to see if they will use them.”
Whereas the periods had been set-up to allow participation in a much less aggressive environment with a extra co-operative ethos, as the women’ confidence has grown their very own aggressive streaks have additionally been allowed to flourish.
The ladies, together with their new discovered confidence, had been taken to an exterior session in the summertime the place they had been enjoying with boys aged 10 to 16.
They quickly realised they had been in a position to hit the shuttle higher than among the boys and took to the courts able to problem for a win.
It was right here their competitiveness shone via, as whereas each side had been liable to errors in scoring, it was the women who proved the most important sticklers for correcting their opposition.
Lipton added: “The ladies periods began off as under-13s however there was a gaggle of older kids who stated they wished to have an area as nicely.
“The instances we’ve after we do the junior golf equipment is dominated by boys so the older women determined to return and take part and that’s made it a bit extra attention-grabbing for them and a bit extra aggressive for them as nicely as a result of the older women can hit it a bit extra.
“Women need to be taught the abilities. Boys will simply hit issues and run round. They simply need to do it and hit it however the women really need to know the best way to hit it and the best way to hit it higher in order that they’re extra skill-oriented.
“The ladies simply want that little bit extra time and so they don’t need to be rushed in the identical approach.
“When boys play video games, they like aggressive video games and the women love to do a little bit of studying after which attempt to get to make use of it in a match or a rally as a result of they’re extra interested by creating expertise than simply working round.”
The periods present that discovering the best surroundings is the important thing to permitting any participant to search out their confidence on court docket, and Yeovil’s dedication to making sure everybody can entry this has allowed women within the space to fall in love with sport.
Yeovil Badminton Membership are actually hoping to run a Women’ Badminton Pageant to recruit extra kids to their periods and provide an opportunity for current contributors to indicate off their new discovered expertise and confidence.