As you may or may not know I’ve taken the running of the Lothian League over from Sue for 2015/16. My main goals are to modernise the league, make it more competitive and attract new teams. While I’ve got plenty of ideas I’m also looking for any suggestions that would benefit the league. Here’s what I’ve got so far:
Results
- League results updated weekly via website
- Score sheets remade larger to make them easier to fill in
- Pictures of score sheets emailed/facebook messaged/texted to me after each match
I had hoped that tournament software would offer good league management that allowed you to give results in online but unfortunately it’s not that good. Until I find something suitable I’ll manually update the results on the website each week.
For handing results in firstly I’m going to create a new scoresheet that’s larger so that there will be more room to fill in names and scores. Hopefully resulting in less scribbles and crossing things out.
Secondly I don’t think there’s a single team that doesn’t have someone with a decent camera on their phone. It would make it much quicker and easier to just to take a picture of the score sheet and email or text it to me.
More competition between divisions
- Two up, two down
- Play offs
- Reward for winning divisions
One of the things I’ve noticed is that it seems to be the same teams in a division every single year. Even though the strength of teams is always moving up and down, there’s relatively little movement between divisions. I’d like to suggest that every season two teams move up and two teams move down.
It’s also possible that one up, one down is guaranteed but having play offs for the second to last team and the second place team to decide who stays/moves up.
I’m also interested in having prizes for winning a division. Medals would be a cheap souvenir for players to keep but we could also do cheap t-shirts. Give me any suggestions.
New teams/divisions
- New divisions
- Add new teams and clubs
- Better visibility
- East Lothian and Edinburgh Badminton Academy expressed an interest in new teams
- Queen Margaret, Heriot-Watt, Napier, Lothian Disability BC expressed an interest in joining the leagues
- Junior teams in lower divisions
Ever since I’ve moved to Edinburgh there’s been a team dropping out every year due to lack of players. Thanks to EUBC entering lots of teams this has been reversed but I’d like to keep the Lothian League growing every year with new clubs, teams and players.
Firstly there will definitely be a new 4th men’s division (small chance of having a 5th too) and hopefully a new 3rd mixed division for 2015/16. There’s still some work to be done before there’s a 3rd women’s division but new teams will definitely help fill the existing divisions out more.
I’d like to create more awareness about the Lothian League. Currently there is no information for new teams looking to join, no explanation of how the league works etc so this will all be put on the website.
I’m also looking to encourage junior players to get involved with the league and will be in touch with local junior squads. I’ve had 14 year olds as part of EBA this year in the 3rd division and they have done fine so I’d recommend that as the minimum age. If junior teams do enter they would have to have an adult with the team to be responsible for them.
New trialling system for new teams
- Teams can trial in higher divisions
- If they come in the top 3 or 4 teams they can remain
- Otherwise they are demoted to bottom division
I’d also like to introduce a new ‘trialling’ system. In the past, all new teams have been entered into the bottom division which makes it less appealing for stronger clubs to enter new teams. It also means weaker players in the bottom division spend a season getting destroyed. Now there’s 4 (or even) 5 men’s divisions I’d like new teams to be able trial in a higher division.
Each season there would be one trial place available in each division given out first come first serve. A trialling team would get added on to a division (so they wouldn’t make a team move down) and the matches would be played as normal. If the team came in the top 3 for a division of 7 or top 4 for a division of 8 then they would be allowed to remain in that division. If they didn’t they would be dropped to the bottom division and forced to work their way up.
What this does is force teams to be realistic about how good they are and prevent them trialling in the top divisions just for the sake of it but allow teams to join at their own level.
More fluid movement between teams
One problem with the current system of two matches in a team locks you to that team is that it makes it harder to have weaker players fill in gaps in the team. While the current system seems to work ok I’m happy to take suggestions.
For example being locked up after three matches. We could even have larger clubs submit rough ranking lists where weaker players can play up as much as they want but stronger players can’t play down.
I’d also like to allow exceptions for struggling teams. I’d rather have 10 players playing for two teams than 6 playing for one team and 4 being left out.
Better contact with players
- Players in the Lothian League would need to give a contact email
- Spread information about tournaments, events, fund raisers etc better
I’ve found that it’s hard work to get in touch with players and tournaments like the Edinburgh Evening Tournament show that. I’d like to have players ‘register’ with the Lothian League by providing a contact email address so that we can easily pass on information about tournaments, events, fund raisers etc. Obviously to prevent spam it would be limited to no more than about one email a month. Hopefully this should strengthen the community and get everyone more involved.
That’s everything for now! If you’re interested in new teams for your club please get in touch asap, otherwise give me feedback on the suggestions above using this form.
Thanks
Greg