Prospectus
Badminton County Champion
Determination and Hard Work rewarded by chance to play for England!
Over spring half term Max, a Downs School student, became Berkshire Under 13 Badminton County Champion in singles and doubles, beating the UK's number 1 player at Under 13 level in 2 sets in the singles final.
He then went onto an England training camp for two days at the National Badminton Centre at Milton Keynes. He has now been selected to play for England in Belgium at Easter weekend.
Max, currently a year 8 student at the downs School, first showed his talent for badminton at the age of five, but it was not until his first year of training with Oxfordshire Badminton Association, that he became the Under 9 Oxon Schools Badminton Tournament Boys Singles Winner and which the following year he defended and again won. After local tournaments, he then competed nationally at U11, gaining experience in various tournaments until in September 2008, age 10, Max was ranked no 2 in England at singles and no1 in doubles, having won 3 national doubles tournaments and semied and finaled in some U11 singles national tournaments.
In April 2009 Max then started training at Wycombe PC and with excellent coaches and good facilities and hard work and determination on his part, has made great improvements in his movement. He transferred to Winchester (Westgate PC) last autumn and now trains twice a week with their Gold squad.
This season has been the reward for the hard work Max put in last year, when he was graded a Level 1 player by Badminton England. In the U13 age group, Max can only play in Gold national tournaments in the season from September to May, of which there were 7 and he entered 6. Of those 6, in the singles, he has been in one quarter final, four semis and one final. In the doubles, he has finaled in five and won one U13 Gold and one U15 Silver Tournament.
In the Christmas holiday, Max travelled to Hoensbroek, Holland for his first taste of an international tournament and managed to get to the semis in the singles, getting the furthest of all the UK entry. In February, he won the U13 Berkshire Singles and Doubles Tournament and also the U15 Berkshire Doubles Trophy.
The National Championships are held this year at Bristol University on 19th and 20th March and Max is now training really hard to get into peak fitness before the most important weekend of the year for him.
His consistency across the season has earned him two invitations to England training camps at the National Badminton Centre at Milton Keynes and his selection to represent England in singles, doubles and mixed at Olve, Belgium at Easter 2011.
Well done Max and our good wishes and support for your coming matches.
