ALL kitted up but nowhere to go.That’s the sad situation for local badminton players, who have no regular venue to pursue their sport.
They have traditionally used the Empangeni Civic Centre, where court lines are no longer marked out, and the Veldenvlei Community Hall, which is too small for the number of players.
Badminton organisers are battling to book enough hours at these two municipal halls, and when they are successful, have to pay for their use – unlike other sports in the city that use municipal grounds free of charge.
While badminton may be classed as a ‘minor’ sport, there is a large group of outstanding local players, many of whom are national and provincial team members, unable to get enough game time preparation for tournaments.
Hailing from Richards Bay, eSikhaleni and Empangeni, they have in fact not been able to get in a single practice in 2014 due to non-availability of halls.
‘We have to book the hall, pay a deposit, pay per hour and beg for availability, and often we find the hall is double-booked and are chased away by the security,’ said one demotivated player.
‘We have had to sweep the floors left messy from functions, and clean toilets that were left in a disgraceful state.
‘On many other occasions we have been told the halls are not available but when we drive past at night they are empty.
‘Given the situation, we cannot invite teams from other towns for tournaments and we can’t play often enough to get fit.’
Municipal Manager, Dr Nhlanhla Sibeko promised to investigate the matter but said there was no easy solution.
‘The reality is that our halls are always fully booked. It becomes almost impossible to assign one group to use the hall exclusively.’
The only other alternative seems to be the possibility that some company has a large warehouse or open indoor space that could accommodate badminton courts.
Anyone able to assist can call Marina Erasmus on 083 2468575.
