Village leisure centre base for Olympic sports teams

OLYMPIC badminton teams from Australia and Canada have chosen a South Derbyshire village as a base for their pre-2012 Games preparation.

Players from both nations will train for a week at Etwall Leisure Centre, in Hilton Road, before travelling to the Olympic Village for the greatest sports show on Earth.

The visits to the facility, which boasts a six-court hall designed to National Badminton England standards, have been organised by the Derbyshire 2012 management group.

Selections for the teams, due to arrive in Etwall on July 16 and leave on July 23, have yet to be made; but each delegation is likely to include around five players and up to three coaches and officials.

The players and coaches will work with former GB badminton director Andy Wood, who was head coach of the GB team at the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympics.

Mr Wood, who lives in South Derbyshire, coached Simon Archer and Joanne Goode to Britain’s first Olympic medal, a bronze in Sydney in 2000, and Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms to their silver in Athens in 2004.

He will help by co-ordinating sparring players from the UK.

“It is a fantastic coup that Olympic teams from Australia and Canada have chosen to come to the county and have recognised what Derbyshire has to offer,” said Rory Slater, Derbyshire 2012 legacy co-ordinator and a member of the Derbyshire 2012 management group.

“This visit is yet another way Derbyshire will play its own part in the Games.”

Frank McArdle, chief executive of South Derbyshire District Council and a member of the management group, said his authority had ‘worked hard over the last eight months to secure this fantastic opportunity’.

“We are extremely proud the teams will be using our state-of-the-art, Olympic-standard badminton facilities,” he said.

“They will exceed the requirements of players and coaches.

“It is exciting to be preparing to welcome international stars into the heart of South Derbyshire.”

David Joy, director of Derbyshire Sport and a member of the management group, said the teams’ decision was ‘a fantastic endorsement of what sport in Derbyshire has to offer’.

“We hope that during their stay the teams will have the opportunity to engage with the community, and during the next few months we will be working with the teams to finalise the timetable for their stay,” he said.

Mr Wood said the facilities at Etwall would be ‘an ideal training ground for the teams in their final preparations for the Olympics’.

Kyle Hunter, executive director of Badminton Canada, and Lasse Bundgaard, national coach of Badminton Australia, expressed gratitude for the opportunity to train in Etwall, indicating that it would be a key to their Olympic preparations.