The review of our performances in Team events in 2023 found that we struggle on the court in actual competition. Our players train and don’t play enough competitive matches. Our program, especially Saturday morning age groups, needed to be rebuilt to have better on court performances. The Yonex Youth Super League is the start of this rebuild.

• Term 3 YYSL Singles ladder

• Term 4 YYSL Doubles ladder

• Term 1 2024 YYSL alternating weeks Singles and Doubles

• Term 2 2024 YYSL teams for Palmerston North selected and all players will compete/train in their teams.

• All YYSL Saturday sessions include tactical training which are planned by Head Coaches Feng and Rhona.

Yes, ABA will publish names of players selected in the email invitation to players as we always do.  Players will have 7 days to accept their position in the squad.

ABA uses the Free Team Reach App for all communication with our squads, including training dates/times, etc.  You can download this app for free from both Apple and Android phones.

2024 Codes

Junior Squads

Performance and Emerging – PERFEMER

Rangitahi and Tamariki – RANTAM

Te Kaha Youth – TEKAHAYTH

Te Kaha Junior – TEKAHANEW

Yonex Youth Super League -

Senior Squads

Wisden – Wisden

Division 3 – ABADIV3

Aspiring – ABAASPIRING

All Players

ABA Footwork – ABAFOOTWORK

You should only be a member of a current squad.  If you move up or down a squad, please join the new group and delete your access to your old group.

ABA in 2023 based on a review of 2022 stopped offering coaching at all tournaments.  ABA still provides coaching at Auckland tournaments and all BNZ national individual and team championships.  Rep fees were reduced $300 per player with this change.  ABA also adopted a user pays option that players could sign up for ABA coaching at tournaments: 

Criteria for ABA to provide Coaching Support will be based on meeting the minimum requirement of 5 entrants willing to pay a player contribution:

• $20 per player per tournament within Auckland City Boundaries (i.e. hosted by Harbour, Waitakere, Counties).

• $50 per player per tournament outside Auckland City Boundaries in the North Island (e.g. Waikato, Wellington).

• No ABA support for non national championship South Island tournaments.

ABA will review this policy for 2024 by December 1 2023

ABA has held meetings previously where very few parents had shown interest.  Based on recent meetings, ABA will provide more opportunities for parents/players in our rep programs to meet with us more.  ABA will also start a quarterly newsletter in 2024.

Our Junior Representative 2024 Program is overseen by Coaches Feng Li and Rhona Bramwell. They will be responsible for working with our squad head coaches for planning and delivery for sessions throughout the year. They will be seen often at trainings providing support and guidance to our coaches and players as senior mentors.

Each squad will have a Head Coach, will have qualified assistants supporting them.

• Head Coach Performance: Zeck Li

• Head Coach Emerging: Elia Widjaja

• Head Coach Rangitahi: Laura Lin

• Head Coach Tamariki: Zeck Li
  

• Head Coach Te Kaha: Laura Lin

Under Feng for Seniors and Rhona and Feng for Juniors, who are our program head coaches, each Squad has a head coach.  The Wisden Squad has a Singles Lead and a Doubles Lead coach.  Underneath the squad head coaches there are assistant coaches.  On some nights there may be 3 coaches for 14 players, with Program Head Coaches, Squad Head Coaches and Assistant Coaches all in attendance.

ABA is still investigating options for footwork sessions.  In 2023 we offer a morning session at Gillies Ave and another at Lloyd Elsmore.  We will continue a central and an eastern option in 2024, with the day/time to be confirmed.

ABA tries to make accommodations when our partner venues are not available.  When we don’t have a venue, we try our best to provide advance notice through Team Reach.  Unfortunately ABA often gets late notice and sometimes has to cancel training after we are notified.

ABA does encourage a “Team ABA” approach and coaches and players hopefully will support their team when at events.  This is not something we can force players and parents to do.

ABA in 2023 asked all senior players to fill out a goals sheet to share and work with their coaches on setting and achieving their personal and team goals.  Junior players were provided the template and encouraged to do the same.  During the year Coach Rhona’s daughter for a school project created training diaries which ABA encouraged players to purchase.  ABA supports players setting goals and tracking their efforts to achieve their goals and will continue to look at ways to provide support for this. 

ABA Coaches should be providing feedback to players on a regular basis.  Our new structure in 2024 should enable more feedback from head coaches of squads.  Overall, through Team Reach ABA has improved significantly with providing more feedback overall on what is happening in our programs, and we will continue to try to improve this area.  Parents are encouraged on a regular basis after the end of the session to talk to coaches and seek feedback also.

ABA in 2024, with the changes we have made, has been able to reduce all program costs per player per court hour.  The price per player per court hour is between $2 and $8 across all our rep squads.  ABA invests heavily in our rep program, on average subsidising each player by approximately $1,500.  ABA is confident that we offer exceptional value for our programs.

Badminton New Zealand does not allow any player under 15 to compete in any senior Division, which includes Wisden, Slazenger, Division 3 and Division 4 that ABA sends teams.  With this rule in place, ABA would not allow any player under 15 to play for ABA in these senior divisions.

ABA does allow any player 15 years and older to compete in the highest level they choose to compete at.  Players under 15 can train as high as the Division 3 squad, if they are chosen based on merit, however, they can only play competitively in junior age group competitions they are eligible for.

ABA coaches meet 4 times a year to review players and to decide if they will move up, stay in their current squad, or move down a squad.  Players develop through our programs, and we need to regularly do this evaluation to ensure players are in the right squad for their current ability.

ABA invites all players to register their interest in being part of the ABA Rep Program.  If you are selected to be part of one of our squads, you will need to join an ABA Club.  If you are not a member of an ABA club, please contact ABA management who will assist you to join a club that suits your needs.

ABA affiliated representative players who are in the Wisden or Emerging Squads and are at least 15 years old can apply for individual player financial assistance for tournaments/events they wish to compete in 2023/2024.

ABA does not have a lower age limit on our Junior program.  Our junior program training squads are completely ability based.  However, to go to Palmerston North with our age group rep teams, players must turn 11 or older in 2024.  If your child turns 11 on January 1 through to December 31, 2024 they are eligible for ABA’s Under 15 or Under 13 teams.  Note, the cut off for being under any age is also turning that age that year e.g. to qualify for under 15 you must not turn 15 until January 1, 2025 or later.

Initial selections will only consider players who have completed the expression of interest form.  ABA will continue to allow other players to join ABA programs throughout the year as we have in 2023.  Players who miss the deadline can enter the following ways:

Juniors - Register for YYSL and Te Kaha.  Players will start at the bottom of the YYSL table.  

Seniors - Register for Aspiring.

If you do not wish to be part of a senior program and you are under 19, you can choose to take up a position in the Junior Performance Squad instead.  You will be given these options to choose within 7 days of being offered a position in either Division 3 or the Wisden Squads.

All ABA rep programs are subsidised, therefore missing sessions doesn’t automatically allow you to get a credit.  Each case will be considered individually.

If a player has to leave early, either one off or regularly, they need to work through this with the Squad Head Coach.  With the Wisden and Division 3 squads, players who are still in school will likely leave by 7.30am to get to school.  This is understandable and allowances will be made.  The key is having open communication between players and coaches.

More information on the New Zealand Junior Team Championships in Palmerston North can be found here.

ABA wants to see our Wisden Squad players make the Badminton New Zealand squads.  Our morning training for our Wisden Squad should help prepare our players by getting them used to training at the same time as the BNZ squad.  BNZ training takes priority over ABA training, however, when possible we would like to see ABA players attend the Wisden Squad training.  

The Wisden Squad players that can’t make morning training will still be able to participate in the Yonex Senior Super League which is Thursdays 6-9pm at Gillies Ave, and can enjoy all the other benefits of being part of the Wisden Squad.

The squad fees for the Wisden Squad are heavily subsidised by ABA already, however, for players that are in the BNZ training squads and train with them at least twice a week in the mornings consistently, they will be eligible for a rebate of 25% of the Wisden Squad fees they paid at the end of each quarter.  Each quarter the BNZ squad players will only have to provide confirmation of their training with BNZ via email and will have part of their ABA fees refunded.