badminton+England'>Badminton England is hoping to capitalise on a successful Olympic Games for Team GB by supercharging its digital operations in an attempt to attract more people to the sport.

Talking to Sports Management, the national governing body’s (NGB) chief executive Adrian Christy said that it was on the cusp of “kicking off a huge project” which involves creating personalised messages for potential badminton players which appeal to their needs and interests.

Rather than “telling everybody everything”, Badminton England will gather insight about individuals and groups, and tailor relevant content.

Christy said that while some people would be motivated by the exploits of Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge – who became household names by winning Great Britain’s first medal in the sport since 2004 at Rio 2016 – other segments of the population would be more inclined to play if they had knowledge of local facilities.

“We have clearly got a lot of interest in the sport,” said Christy, highlighting a 245 per cent increase in court bookings in London alone since the Games. “So far, what we’ve not been great at is personalising a message to them.

“We know there’s an element of the population that is not particularly interested in world-class sport and just wants to know where they can play. If we’re going to retain and build that audience it’s very important that we personalise the message to them.”

National Badminton Centre

Christy also revealed that plans to revamp the organisation’s National Badminton Centre was still in the pipeline despite some “frustrations” with the Parks Trust, which owns the land and has been slow in giving an expansion solid backing.

As well as expanding the venue, Christy is hoping to transform it from a sports hall to an arena which can replicate the environment of international competition.

He told Sports Management that Badminton England is currently in talks with UK Sport and Sport England about funding for a machine that creates artificial drift to make a more natural environment. The CEO also wants 12m high television lights as opposed to the current 8m apparatus.

“It’s the general characteristics of the building that fundamentally change the way that something as light as a shuttlecock moves around,” said Christy.

“Part of the new facility would include recreating conditions that allow us to make the space colder and put on all sorts of blowers to make the shuttlecock fly around all over the place. In terms of innovation we can't do much with a racket – it’s not like a bike or some shoes. But for badminton the air condition is so critical.”