So many good points raised in these posts.

Sadly we cannot compare the kids of today to how we were in our day. Without going into detail about what we had versus what is available today, I beleive we have become accustomed to be attentin deficit because there are too many immediate distractions in our world.

We now live in a world of immediacy and therefore the approach to training has to be different. The road to excellence is considerably harder in some respects because of the constant distraction from all around us. That said kids can be motivated but you need to choose the motivators very carefully. In some respects badminton players on the world circuit today mean nothing to these kids. They haven't seen them, don't understand how to get on the path to achieve what they have and perhaps aren't that bothered.

It seems that many are comfortable being accepted by their crowd rather than aspring to be a great and have the awe and appreciation of a much larger audience.

If we are develop the players of tomorrow, perhaps even going onto international level and representing England or team GB, then our approach has to be almost radical to attract and retain their attention.

Paul

In answer to the last three posts…

badminton is still played in schools, albeit there is very little teacher education to help the kids learn more and progress faster. There is no connectivity from schools to clubs to Performance Centres, so basically this is the weak link.

Sports in general are being given more money from the Government for schools activities and I know Badminton England have emailed coaches asking for help to deliver the program.

I haven't the time to work in schools and I would think this applies to many coaches.

There is so much badminton available online and the cost of TV screening isn't cheap.

Roger – I am similar to you. I had videos of Liem Swie King and Morten Frost, plus many other badminton greats who the kids of today will never have heard of. When I was coaching kids they enjoyed borrowing my videos to watch badminton, but there again we didn't have the distraction of PS3, X-Box and the internet then.

It seems that kids have lost the ability or the desire to learn from excellence. Many want us coaches to wave a magic wand and all will be good. That said, it's just the same in badminton clubs with senior players. Whenever I am invited to a club, there is always a number of players who only want to play games, or a core of players who would consider they are too good to practice serving.

So, whilst we blame the kids for poor attitude, I think we need to look at other generations because kids have learnt this attitude. From an early age I have taught my children about doing a job properly. They use the internet to learn how to play their WII games better so they are at least doing what I did in badminton to excel, without knowing it.

We know there is a basic lethargy in many adults and a lack of caring attitude. Where this has developed from is difficult to pinpoint. However, I do feel the kids are getting the blame for something which is a lot more widespread.

Paul

Sadly, TV will not lead as the educator in this sport as there isn't the audience to warrant the spend. It's almost a chicken and egg siutation but the reality is a business decision is made.

It's hard to know exactly what needs to be done because the truth is, there are too few coaches for the programs BE would like to run and it always boils down to the same people volunteering. There's a key word too as so few programs build in sufficient payment to coaches.

I don't have the stats to hand, but if we took the number of people who had passed level 1 coach award and had them working on court, we wouldn't have the problem. However many seem to take the award and then disappear into a black hole, never to be seen again. Amazing.

If only 20% of these carried on their education to level 2 then BE would be in a far superior position. Sadly the issues we have discussed about kids is mirrored by adults too.

Paul