Thornaby Pavilion has been the home for the past year of the Teesside Performance Centre for Badminton.

The Performance Centre is one of approximately 30 centres setup nationally by Badminton England to provide high quality coaching and training facilities to some of the most talented young badminton players in the region.

The Teesside Performance Centre is cementing its reputation by being used as a model of best practice of how to develop and deliver a high quality Performance Centre.

Former World Masters Badminton Champion and head coach Peter Higman has 3 different squads under his wing and the Raw, Developing and Emerging squads consist of youngsters from as far a field as Cumbria who make a 180 mile round trip twice a week to be able to attend sessions.

Peter is always looking to offer as much holistic support to his players and with the assistance of Tees Active Sports Academy the developing and emerging squads were put through core stability and muscular tension release techniques session by Teesside Sports Injury Clinic Sports Therapist Alex Mirley.

Alex, who has a clinic at nearby Thornaby Pool, said: "Tonight's session was to give athletes and coaches a sample of exercises and techniques that will assist in their performance on court and help in preventing injury. The group have been really enthusiastic and taken on board the techniques and exercises demonstrated tonight."

Peter added" The performance centre is always looking to offer our players the most comprehensive programme available and Alex's session tonight has been excellent and has been of benefit to the squads."