Henry hopeful for the future
JAMAICA’S TOP badminton men’s singles player, Gareth Henry, says he is excited by the younger prospects in the sport and has also praised the impact of promotion efforts in inner-city communities.
“I’m excited about the junior players coming up,” Henry said.
“When I was 15, I was challenging the seniors, so I want to see who is in Under-17 and Under-19 that can actually come up and go a third set with me possibly,” added Henry.
Henry believes that encouraging players to compete in higher age categories than the ones that they are designated will help their development.
“One of the things we’ve been pushing for is for the younger juniors to enter into the top divisions,” Henry stated.
The Jamaica Badminton Association (JBA) has been promoting badminton in some inner-city communities and Henry, was also quick to highlight that some of the brightest prospects in the sport have emerged from this project.
“We have some really good junior players such as Nicardo Reid. He’s actually from Haile Selassie, and Ashane Newman, also from Haile Selassie. We have a lot of good junior players in the inner city, so that’s really a programme we’re looking at,” said Henry.
Henry says he is looking forward to playing with some of the younger players to assist their development when he competes in a series of tournaments being hosted by the JBA over the next few weeks.
“I can help them by playing against them and showing them the correct things to do.
“Really, I’m looking forward to playing with some of them in the doubles tournament. You have Mathew Yee-Grant, he’s a very good Under17 player and a very good doubles player, so I’m actually looking forward to playing with him in the A Men’s Doubles in order to get his game to the level where my game was at when I was in Under-17,” Henry said.