Not just any ol’ racquet now

Chloe Magee flashes a wide smile. She is talking about her future targets and ambitions. And her goals are big.

Like Irish badminton’s other flag-bearer Scott Evans, Magee has qualified for the last two Olympics and the time has come to kick on.

Evans wants to make the world’s top 30 while Magee is looking at podiums.

“What’s realistic is a European medal” says Magee firmly. “That’s realistic for everybody in our group at the minute. If you’re looking at being competitive in the world, that’s also a realistic goal. Looking at being a world champion, I’m not sure that’s possible but you’re always going to target that. You have what you want to achieve this year, then you’ve longer-term goals you believe you can achieve if you work really hard, and then you’ve got what you dream of. It’s important to be realistic but you have to set the bar high too.”

The current players have a better chance than previous generations because of the support system in place in 21st century Ireland. Breaking into Europe’s top eight nations is a real possibility now, particularly with former European junior doubles champion Sam Magee teaming up with last year’s No. 9 ranked junior Jonathan Dolan as a doubles pairing.

Two-time world para badminton champion Niall McVeigh, and up-and-comers Josh Magee and David Walsh are others who are prospering, and adding depth.

Badminton has always had a strong club membership but the pathways to elite participation weren’t clear. Coaches weren’t sufficiently qualified. Facilities weren’t good enough.

Then along came Richard Vaughan. A former world No. 7 and European medallist, Vaughan hit the heights despite coming from a similar background in Wales. The knowledge of what is required to flourish, and familiarity with the hurdles facing a sport operating in the margins have proven invaluable.

Vaughan, with his staff of five, has systematically addressed glaring weaknesses despite a prohibitive budget. He has aggressively pursued sponsors to alleviate that situation. Thanks to securing sports brand Carlton as main sponsor, as well as establishing other commercial partnerships, he found an additional income of €141,250 in 2012 alone to turn around the finances at Badminton Ireland.

The improvements have taken place at every tier from the grassroots to elite in a multi-pronged approach.

This year, more than 13,000 children in around 200 schools were introduced to the game, with Badminton Ireland providing start-up kits and assisting teachers with basic coaching plans.

A national schools’ competition has been established on the back of that and membership affiliations – which increased 8% to 17,000 this year – look set to rise as a result.

The national junior teams (U13, U15 and U17) were reformed last year, catering for more than 450 players. The Badminton Ireland academy was also launched. These require elite coaching and Vaughan has actively looked to reintegrate many coaches into the system that had fallen by the wayside.

At the very top end, Vaughan sourced the Marino Institute of Education as a base for the country’s high performance group who train there along with the national junior squad and academy under the watchful eye of national coach, Dan Magee (a brother of Chloe, Sam and Josh).

Added to that is the relationship with the Irish Institute of Sport for key areas such as strength and conditioning, and the employment of former world top 10 player, Irwansyah from Indonesia as a coach at Marino.

“We had a very big base already” says Vaughan ahead of the opening day’s action at the 100th Carlton Irish Open in Baldoyle today. “We have a very good branch, county and club system and some very good elite players. All we needed to do was give it a structure to link them all together and I think we’ve been able to do that. We are trying to build to make sure not only so we have Olympic players, but that players are continually getting better and trying to achieve more. We’re trying to make not much money go a long way. With that comes frustrations from the players, which you can understand, because they want to do more to go to the next level. We do have a big membership so you’re trying to balance expectations. It’s great to see it all coming together over the last 12 months and hopefully we’ll see it improving further next year.”

Chloe Magee reached the Irish Open final last year, while Evans became the first Irish winner in over 25 years but with the tournament upgraded to Challenger Series status, the opposition is even better this time. Which is exactly what they want.

“It’s good now we’ve got ‘Irwan’” declares the female Magee. “We needed something to get us to the next level. We’re at a good standard, towards the top in Europe, but we want to get to world class level and want someone to give us that bit extra and I think Irwan’s got what we need. Richard knows what it is to be on top of the world and you can see everything he has done. He’s turned it completely around. It’s now a great organisation with things happening everywhere.”