Badminton in Seville
Badminton was my life when I was much younger and much more flexible, and it has always been my number one passion. However, as the lower back gave up on me, I moved on to less spine and groin breaking stuff such as hockey, tennis and latterly the ubiquitous padel, although don’t get me started on the walls. I can’t deal with walls.
As someone who likes to thrash something over a net, badminton has always occupied my thoughts and I’ve followed the various British champions from Gillian Gilks who reigned in the 70s and 80s through to Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson in the mid noughties.
Which brings me onto badminton in Spain. Where are the clubs? With the women’s game being dominated by the Asians and Danish, Spain, Huelva no less, has the current women’s Olympic and European Singles Champion in Carolina Marin. Up until 2015 she was the World number 1. So why don’t more people want to play? That’s the rule, your country does well at a particular sport and there’s a massive charge onto the courts, field or pitch, right?
Anyway, not to bother as I have found the only central Seville club and it’s on my doorstep in Triana. The Club Badminton Triana is 25 years old and has 4 courts occupying a third of a sports hall just off Lopez de Gomara; conveniently close to the ‘Grande’ for a refreshing beer and plate of prawns after a session. Kids over the age of 6 can play from 4-6pm and then the adults (a friendly bunch) flex their shuttlecocks from 6-8pm. The club is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday and Miguel Angel (who discreetly explained that the scoring rules have changed since I last played, ahem) is in charge. It’s 30euros a month or 70 for a quarter. Sadly, play usually comes to a halt at the end of May as the sports hall gets too hot and resumes in September.
Ready? Play.
Calle Mar del Plata, 41010
678 501 347
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