The winners of Badminton Irelands Yonex Club and Killester Travel/Stein Travel Volunteer Awards were announced at a ceremony held on Saturday 21st April in the White Sands Hotel, Portmarnock, Co. Dublin. These awards are held on an annual basis in recognition of the importance of grassroots clubs to Badminton in Ireland and the efforts of members and volunteers who work hard to maintain and improve their clubs.
The overall winning club received 50 dozen Yonex shuttles along with four hours of Coaching from a High Performance Coach. The overall winner this year was Carlow YM Badminton Club. This club is estimated to have been formed way as far back as 1861! Today they are a dynamic and vibrant club who have teams competing in leagues in Wexford, Carlow, Kilkenny and the South West Leinster League. Members from the club undertook the challenge of creating a new World Record for the Longest Doubles Badminton Marathon which was recorded for the Guinness Book of Records as being 24hours 21minutes and 19 seconds. In conjunction with this very successful record attempt, the club raised €12,500 for Temple Street Childrens Hospital. The club also undertook to build a new 2 court hall in the year 2000, a venture which has proved so successful that they are now considering another extension to keep up with demand!
There were also five regional winners who each received 10 dozen Yonex shuttles and two hours of coaching from a High Performance Coach. These were:
o Scrabo Badminton Club from Co. Down
o Kilmacthomas Badminton Club from Co. Waterford
o Carlow LTC Badminton Club from Carlow
o Aer Lingus Badminton Club from Dublin
o Ballina Badminton Club from Co. Mayo
But we wouldn’t have clubs if it weren’t for the volunteers who contribute in many ways to their running and existence. Killester Travel sponsored a holiday voucher worth €1000 for the overall winner and again there were five regional winners who each received a €100 travel voucher from Stein Travel. Stein Travel also gave a €50 voucher to all Volunteers nominated as part of the Awards Scheme.
The overall winner of the Killester Travel Badminton Volunteer of the Year is William Martin who was nominated for the work that he does for Ulster Badminton. Some of the statements that were made about William on nominating him included:
n “He is involved with every tournament that is held in Ulster”
n “During the International Championships in Lisburn, William took the entire week off work just to be there full time”
n “He also looks after the other volunteers at each tournament”
n “It is hard to believe that William is only a volunteer – he does as much work with badminton as nearly his full time job”
n “Much of his work is done behind the scenes and not with much thanks – he quietly gets on with his duties and anyone working with him can be assured of his 100% commitment and enthusiasm”
The regional winners were as follows:
n Margaret Mooney from Gransha Badminton Club, Co. Down
n Patricia Buckley from Banteer Badminton Club, Co. Cork
n Pat Furlong from Co. Wexford, nominated for his work on Inter County Level
n Judith Kinsella from KADCA Badminton Club, Dublin
n Therese O’Brien from Castlebar Badminton Club, Co. Mayo
Congratulations to all nominees, regional winners and national winners from the Leinster Branch Badminton Union of Ireland...