US Junior Badminton

1. Junior Nationals
     A. Site – Reafirm if greater than 250 entrants expected 10 courts needs 6              days, 14 or more courts may have 5 days. For 190-230 entrants, 10 courts         for 5 days.
        - Maximum play of 9-10 hours (8-9 am to 5-6pm)
        - Criteria for site selection (if more than one bid)
                1. Regional priority to region that has had longest time without a Junior                     Nationals.
                2. If two sites in same region bid goes to site which has had the longest                     time since hosting.
                3. If site has never hosted a Junior Nationals, a member of the Juniors                     Committee must visit during another tournament to assess facility.
        - Current Potential future sites include
                    Bay Area
                    Seattle

    B. Size – as long as an adequate number of courts and less than 300                     expected athletes –
            - if a regional site reasonably expects greater than 300 athletes, a                           regional qualifier may be required

    C. Structure –
        VOTE – to end U-7 event. A particular site may have demo events/e.g.                 Olympic qualifiers, U-7, etc.) but no formal U-7 event anymore.

    DISCUSSION – U-9 retain for 2009, U-22 retain for 2009.

     D. Goals of Tournament
            1. Establish Junior Rankings
            2. Junior Teams – only in past, now replaced by JIT. (But if Squads are                     redeveloped, this may come from Junior Nationals).
            3. Development of the sport.
            4. Marketing – both Locally and Nationally
            5. Regional Cohesion – Tournament is an opportunity for diverse clubs,                 Board, Community, adult players to pull together.
            6. National Badminton Community Development – unlike brief weekend                 tournaments, kids/families are together for a week to create ties.
            NEED – Development of Marketing Tool Kit

        E. Time lines
                1. Early deadline – entries “6 weeks”.
                2. Post rankings within 9 to 10 days before
                3. Post draws 5 days before
                4. Agenda for Junior’s Committee – 4 weeks

        F. Coaching
                - Credentials – Overall Process went very well for the first time.
                - Plan – Credentials to be worn by all on-court, on-floor, in-chair                                 coaches – Head Coaches, Assistant Coaches, Junior (Athlete)                             Coaches, Parent Coaches.
                - Outcome – Playing floor was uncluttered by spectators. Courts looked                     much more professional. Court Umpires could more formally                                 address coaches.

  FUTURE ISSUES –
    - One or two coaches for each team on court. Issues of pairs from 2 clubs, of         Head Coach teaching a Junior Coach.
    - How do we effectively train Junior coaches.
    - Coach may have video camera on tripod, but not hand held camera.
    - No cell phones.

PROPOSAL –
        1. WBF Code of Conduct Sheet, to be signed at coaching registration
        2. Education re Yellow Card – if given based on coaches behavior, is                     assigned to player on court and by new WBF rule follows player through             all events for the whole tournament.
        3. On first evening, a 30 minute training session for all Junior/Athlete                         Coaches (mandatory).
        4. Using Junior Nationals as selection site for Young Assistant Coaches for             Junior Coaches to accompany Junior Pan Am/Jr World Teams for                         coaching training.

    G. Referee/Umpires
        - Organizers need to provide number of umpires equal to the number of                 courts plus four more.
        - As addition to Entry Form, we need a registration form for athletes who are             interested in training as an official with a 3-4 hour session the afternoon             before tournament registration
        - Need funding for umpires to come a day early to do training.

    H. Lines people – The Committee continues to believe that having all athletes             serve as lines people meets several important goals
        - Responsibility to give back, not just receive.
        - Better appreciate the work involved.
        - Play is better when athletes don’t need to worry about lines.
          However, if not run efficiently, the process can be very hard on the                         officials.

    GUIDELINES
        1. A separate roped off seating area one for on-call athletes, one for lines                 people.
        2. After a match, the official takes both singles players, or losing doubles                 team to the lines people area.
        3. If the player needs food, water, etc – a teammate or parent must either                 take their place in the box or bring the necessities.
        4. If a coach wishes to do post match coaching, he/she should go to the box             or may take the player/s to the box personally.
        5. For start of play each AM, or after lunch break, courts are assigned to                 clubs, e.g. Court #1 to OCBC, Court #2 to Bintang, etc. One or more                     courts/club based on number of athletes.
        6. An umpire picks up the players for their match from the player on-call                  box, and picks the 2 lines people who have been waiting longest. At an              umpire’s discretion, older, or younger lines people may be selected                      based on the age of players in the match.
          7. A Parent/Volunteer may be needed to oversee lines-people area as                   athletes tend to wander away. (Question – would it help to have punch               cards, with 10 punches equaling a reward – drink, etc)

    I. Marketing Materials – It would be valuable to create a set of marketing             materials – print or electronic re USAB, USAB Juniors, USAB Junior                     Nationals.

    J. Media Plan – A Media Plan would be helpful with media contact                         information for players and one central media person to send out daily/end of     tournament news bulletins to increase publicity.

    K. Wrap-up session –with organizers to review problems, and implement             improvements.

    L. Draws – It would be helpful if athletes name was followed by DOB and             State.

Miscellaneous suggestions for improving Junior Nationals
    - Guarantee of Internet Access in Gym
    - Score Boards on courts for lines people to turn
    - Locally trained volunteer line judges for finals day.
    - Media Badges for any on floor – photographers
    - ? Assigning specific warm-up courts to Clubs (possibly same as lines                     person issue).
     - Courts need towels, bird baskets
    - Main Desk needs adequate line of sight
    - Health Issues including competition guidelines for participants with asthma,         diabetes, injury (eye), First Aid Kit Requirements, Medical Resources                 posted re nearest clinic or ER

    PROPOSED CHANGES
    a. Clarify on entry that players will be put in draw based on region, state, club         – if any of these are blank or incorrectly filled out it will affect players place         in the draw.
    b. If any event needs to be redrawn, it will be announced at the coaches                 meeting the 1st night. It will be redrawn at the end of the meeting. It will be         posted the next morning. If the draw was scheduled to begin at the start of         play on day one, matches may be delayed.
    c. Athlete/Coach training session
    d. Young officials Training session.

2. Ranking/Rating – Note that USAB may contract with a firm to do a variety of services including rating, ranking. (on line tournament entry, on line draw, on line tournament brackets – which could post over to tournament software.com, Rating based on all head to head matches in USAB sanctioned tournaments which would have to be run on the managed service program, rankings based on rating.

This would raise concerns including but not limited to:
    a. Weighting of tournaments
    b. Rating/Ranking for doubles – not just an averaged singles ranking
    c. Use of Shadow seeds – Injury, absence, new players.
    d. Data pool to be entered from preceding 1, 2 or 3 years to form starting                 benchmark.
    e. Interplay of new electronic draw format and tournament event scheduling.

For Now
    a. Adult Ranking will be used only if player is top 10 in Men’s ranking or top             10 in Women’s ranking.
    b. DISCUSSION – should seasonal weighting be considered, e.g. does a win         in April mean more than a win the previous November – No decision.
    c. Recombined pairs – discussed. No change in rules.
    d. Shadow seeds – no change

3. JIT – (Formerly the Junior International Team Trials – now the Junior International Trials since it is also a competition for places in the non-team, individual events).
    A. Site – In the past 4 years it has been awarded to a site hosting a                             tournament (BAJO, Smashing Juniors, USBDF, and in a different region             than Junior Nationals.

- The Trials has become too large to co-host with another tournament. IT has become too large to run in 3 days (18 plus matches is too many in 3 days and risks injury to the athletes). Other geographic criteria may matter, e.g. it might have been wise to compete JIT 2008 in Denver – a similar altitude to Guatemala City. 85% of the competitors and qualifiers come from Northern California and Southern California. While it is not fair to always have the other regions have travel costs, it is not economic to have the same families that pay most of the costs for international travel to increase expenditures (see cost-sharing proposal below). Despite the very clear agreement signed by players and parents that participation in the trial is an agreement to go – we still have players decline to participate on the team. These – non-competitors increase the severity of the trials (number of matches to play) and may knock another deserving player out in a pool play round (see deposit proposal below)

Proposals for 2009 JIT
    1. Houston – Pro – neutral site, different than Junior Nationals. Con – Costs             everyone, no local players

    2. Bay Area – Pro – non Junior National site, players who are not from site             selected get to practice in a hostile environment. Con –

    3. OCBC – Pro – OCBC is bidding for Jr Pan Am's thus all US players get to             practice on the same courts for JIT to Junior Nationals to Junior Pan Am’s             (the US Home Court). OCBC has offered to work on a rebate of entrance             fees and/or travel pool of money to assist non-California players. Con –             Lack of regional variety for major tournaments.

B. Date – Memorial Day is too late for a July Junior Pan Am. April is ok but barely enough time. Christmas vacation did not get a positive response from those surveyed at Junior Nationals. RECOMMEND – Presidents weekend, February 14-17. Tournament begins Sat AM, finishes Tues in time for afternoon flights. Four days allows fewer matches per day. Schedule minimizes school days lost.

C. Size – Especially with the Junior Pan Americans in the US the size may grow further, and even with an extra day there may be too many matches. Alternatives include;
    1. Give up pool play for draw. This has problem of greater dependency on             Ranking/Seeding. In fact – up to 24 player pool play vs. feed in consolation         is very close in number of matches.
    2. Restrict size of pools to 16 based on junior national outcome (12 slots) plus         2 designated tournaments (1 east coast, 1 west coast) as pre-qualifiers.             Problems – would it mean closing tournaments to non-eligible players?             Many of our Junior Tournaments have International and US non-eligible             players. Also, no prior notice was given re Junior Nationals.
    3. Restrict size of pools to 16 based regionally (e.g. 6 to N Cal, 6 to S. Cal, 4         to rest of country). Each region to plan its own pre-qualifier.

D. Structure
    - Require a $200 DEPOSIT to enter. If you qualify and don’t go, you forfeit the         deposit (except if you submit a documented medical excuse).

E. Goals – Field strongest possible teams.

F. Timeline – Post schedule by October 1, 2008

4. Junior Teams –
    a. Managers – see draft of Team Manager Guidelines
    b. Agreement to go – see Deposit above
    c. Funding – VOTE – Committee voted to fund $1500 for coach, $1000 for             Team Manager for both Jr Pan Am and Junior Worlds 2008. No decision             yet for 2009. Need team fund raiser or sponsorship
    d. Coaching – Plan for lead coach and development coach.

5. Development Plans – No time for discussion
    Clubs
    Training
    Coaching

6. Athlete Development –
    a. Squads – inactive due to lack of National Coach.
    b. Camps – to have successful OTC camps we need materials, coordinator,             and transport.
    c. Teams – see above
    d. Other International play– not discussed
    e. Olympic – Need to develop “Road to Olympics” outline.

7. Awards – Need Awards Coordinator for 2009
    a. Ken Davidson – need statement about each top player (bio) as to why                 she/he deserves this award. Helps committee to make decision.
    b. Deb Brown – Last 4 years Sandra Lim, Barb Mckinley, Amy Ng, Yvonne             Chern need to receive individual plaques
    c. HSAA – Need early identification of ???? outreach to possible recipients.

8. Regional Junior Committees – need to recruit, name and post

9. Junior Circuit
    Manhattan Beach – August
    Smashing Juniors – Fall
    NEJO – November
    Mid Atlantic Juniors – December
    USBDF – December
    Midwest Juniors – Jan/Feb
    USBDF – April
    Maryland Juniors – May
    BAJO/Smashing Juniors – Memorial Day
    Washington State Junior Championship- last weekend of April

10. Funding - ???

11. New Bylaws/New Board

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OCBC has unfortunately decided not to bid for 2009 Junior Pan Ams. We certainly hope they bid and get 2010.

Our planning for 2009 KIT may need to wait a bit (Sept/Oct) until we know where Junior Pan Ams may be.