enquiries@badmintonscotland.org.uk September 2011 23 COMMONWEALTH YOUTH GAMES


Caitlin Pringle (left),Matthew Carder and


Kirsty Gilmour will be joined by Josh Neil (pictured on facing page) for Scotland’s Commonwealth Youth Games badminton challenge


GOFOUR IT


THE Isle ofMan will be home next month to hundreds of athletes, including four of Scotland’s elite junior badminton players. Matthew Carder, Josh Neil, Kirsty Gilmour


and Caitlin Pringle will make the journey south on September 6 to prepare for their matches from September 9-11 and they will be joined by other youngsters from Youth Team Scotland, who will be competing in the seven sports that make up the Games. For all four players this will be their debut


playing in the Games and, according to John Quinn, BADMINTONscotland Performance Coach and Head Coach for the Youth Games Team, playing in such a prestigious event will be more than just another set of matches. The former England internationalist said:


“Badminton is a strongly contested sport across the Commonwealth with very talented players from countries such as England,Malaysia, India and Singapore so our players’ abilities will be very much put to the test.” The top Scots have been hard at work over


recent weeks preparing for the Games with the last major test being the European Junior Championships in Finland in April, in which Matthew, Kirsty and Caitlin competed. Since finishing school in June they have all been training six days a week with the senior national team at Scotstoun Academy in Glasgow. Scotland’s CGY Badminton TeamManager


and Under 19 national squad coach, Julie Hogg, has been working closely with the team and hopes to repeat the success of the last Youth Games whenMartin Campbell brought home a bronze medal in the men’s singles, beating fellow Scot Paul van Rietvelde in the play-off match. She said: “The team’s training regime has been extremely thorough and we’ll be doing all


Scotland quartet out to impress in Isle ofMan


By NEIL ARCHIBALD


we can to prepare for the challenges that the Games will demand of us.” In addition to their regular training and


preparations, the players were part of the Commonwealth Youth Team Camp in Stirling in mid-August. The camp was organised by Commonwealth


Games Scotland and served as an orientation experience for everyone involved in the Games. Quinn, who has previously been a perform-


ance coach for the French Badminton Federation and BADMINTON England and who attended last year’s Commonwealth Games in Delhi as a Team Scotland coach, knows the benefits of such an event. He said: “A lot of emphasis is put on these


Games, which are seen as a multi-sport event and a forerunner to the main Commonwealth Games being held in Glasgow in three years, so preparing the players and officials so thoroughly will stand them in good stead for the Youth Games and for future competitions.” Josh Neil, who was unable to attend the


recent European Junior Championships due to injury, is the Scottish national Under 17 men’s singles and mixed doubles champion. He also lifted the UK School Games Under 17 singles title in 2010, a title he is defending this year only days before the commencement of the CYG. Josh already has some Commonwealth Games experience, having been selected to be part of


the Achieve 2014 initiative, which gave youngsters the chance to visit the Commonwealth Games in Delhi to gain experience of a senior multi-sport event. Matthew Carder, 18, from Edinburgh is the


Scottish National Under 19 singles and mixed doubles champion and finished last season as the top-ranked Scottish Under 19 boy. He triumphed in the SSBU Secondary National Championships and the Glasgow Junior Under 19 championships, winning the singles in both tournaments, and he was also runner-up in the under 23 national championships men’s singles. Caitlin Pringle of Giffnock has had a busy


couple of years playing in a range of tournaments which will serve her well as a member of the Scottish CYG squad. The 17- year- old is the 2010 Under 19 Northumberland Junior International mixed doubles champion as well as the 2010 Scottish national Under 17 girls’ doubles title holder. Caitlin also reached the quarter-finals of the women’s singles and doubles in February’s senior Yonex Scottish National Championships. She is another player who has had a previous taste of a Commonwealth Games, having also been part of Achieve 2014 along with Josh. Kirsty, a former Glasgow School of Sport


pupil, is already no stranger to the big stage. The Bothwell 17-year-old represented Team Scotland in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi last year and has already been won six senior caps. She also reached the semi finals of the


singles of the 2011 senior Scottish National Championships, reached the same stage in the mixed doubles at the 2010 Belgian senior international event, and set a record in 2010 when, aged 16, she won a treble of women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles.


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