YATE Racketeers may have its home in the popular South Gloucestershire town; but it hasn't always been that way!
Once upon a time, back in the late1970s, Downend Juniors - located a few miles down the road from Racketeers' current HQ - were providing the platform for weekly Saturday evening badminton sessions at Downend School sports hall for budding players of secondary school age. The club had strong links with nearby Ridings High School of Winterbourne, and many of its players came from there.
Experienced coach Penny Shears (second from the left of the picture), a county and local league player, became involved in 1988 when her two children signed up, and the rest, as they say, is history.
She takes up the story:
"I decided to get myself qualified as a badminton coach but because I was the only person running it at the time, it was decided we should switch to a venue that could offer us Saturday morning badminton, as Downend School only had evening slots available. That is when we transferred to King Edmund School's sports hall in 1996.
YOUNGER PEOPLE
"Sue Blackmore (left in the picture) came on board and helped set up sessions for younger people and we picked up a lot of primary school children around the time. For quite a while after that we continued to be called Downend Juniors until somebody made the point that as we were now based in Yate, it would make sense to incorporate the town's name in our title!
"We got a competition going among members to see what we could come up with and the name Yate Racketeers was chosen, around the turn of the Millennium. We carried on playing at King Edmund for a bit before switching to our present premises at YOSC."
By now head coach Nicky Finch (second from right of picture), a one-time England Junior international, was also aboard and the three coaches continue to oversee all Racketeers activity, with Penny, who won a bronze doubles medal playing for England Masters (over 60s) in Dundalk in 2010, combining coaching duties with her role as club chairman and Sue operating as club secretary.
UNWAVERING SUPPORT
Their unwavering support has enabled the Racketeers to produce several county and senior league players down the years, including Jess Hopton, who joined as an eight-year-old and has gone on to grace the international stage with England at junior level and was a delighted Olympic torch bearer for a Bristol leg in 2012.
Yate Racketeers hope more will follow in Jess' footsteps in years to come, prompting Penny to enthuse: "Badminton is a wonderful sport which can be played by people of all ages, shapes and sizes, regardless of standard. It's relatively inexpensive to play and it provides great aerobic fitness workouts.
"If our young players go on to simply hire a regular court at their local leisure centre for a game with their friends once they leave us, then that's fine. If our players have the talent and inclination to play at a higher level, then we are able to provide them with a route into county and tournament badminton.
"At Yate Racketeers everyone has the chance to have fun and show us what they can do."