Racquet Buddies

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Racquet Buddies Racquet Buddies is an exciting programme for toddlers and children to develop the basics of racquet sports - hand-eye coordination, movement and fun!!!!

That’s a wrap on our first term of the 2026/27 session ☺️🙌🏻 It’s been some term but before we have a quick recap I just ...
11/10/2026

That’s a wrap on our first term of the 2026/27 session ☺️🙌🏻

It’s been some term but before we have a quick recap I just wanted to reflect on something…

A lot of the time, the internal voice is loud, the one that calls ‘not good enough’ and ‘failure’ and questions everything you do. I’ve always been my own worst critic, but recently I’ve been making a consistent effort to really look at things from a different perspective, to see that success maybe isn’t always black and white or tangible.

I sometimes look at others and feel behind. I sometimes look at the business and feel that it should be more than it is.
I’ve stopped myself doing this lately, because reframing ‘success’ is maybe what is needed.

This past term, ‘success’ has been:
• managing to make it to every class, despite a bit of a heart condition,
• further extending what we offer to include another retirement class,
• welcoming a few more Buddies to our kids classes,
• adding more lovely people to our Thursday mixed class,
• seeing improvements in our members, resulting in more feel-good factor for them and also for me watching it happen,
• being excited to get to work and being able to say I love my job,
• making a difference to the lives of the people who come along every week, from those aged 2 up to more than 72.

No, I don’t have my own centre, which has always been the end goal. No, I don’t have millions in the bank. No, I don’t have lots of employees to work together on this and share the mental, emotional and practical load.

Maybe that’s not what success looks like for me.

I get to love every minute of my work. I get to make a difference to people’s lives and be part of the reason they feel good about themselves. I get to help create a growing community which shares the same passions as me. I get to structure my work around my family and be there when they need me.

To every single person who puts their trust in me, I can’t thank you enough for your support, for rolling with my ideas and direction, and for continuing to believe in what it is that we do. Thank you also for all your shares and interactions - these are priceless for small businesses.

Now to switch off a bit for the next fortnight, and to recharge for next term with classes, tournaments and social events making it a full-on term coming up 🙌🏻

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU 🙏🏻

(More news/information to come over the holidays 👀)

Missed quite a few photos this week 🤦🏼‍♀️🥴 but it’s been a brilliant end to the term ☺️ A wee round up of our term comin...
11/10/2026

Missed quite a few photos this week 🤦🏼‍♀️🥴 but it’s been a brilliant end to the term ☺️

A wee round up of our term coming up, but here are some pics of the past week to show a snippet of what we’ve been up to 🎈🎾🏸

‼️Toddler availability for next term 🎈🏸🎾 With only tomorrow’s classes left of this term, we’re already looking ahead to ...
09/10/2026

‼️Toddler availability for next term 🎈🏸🎾

With only tomorrow’s classes left of this term, we’re already looking ahead to our next term which takes us up to Christmas 🙌🏻

We have limited availability in our toddler sessions on Saturday mornings at 9.15am, 10am or 10.45am.

This term, our wee ones have smashed their overheads, forehands and backhands as well as fitness and reactions, but there’s so much more to what the kids have been doing. They’ve been:

👭👬 developing social skills and interacting with other kids,
🥰💪🏻 improving their confidence and self-esteem,
🏃🏼‍♀️🏃🏿‍♂️ improving gross motor skills and hand-eye coordination,
🗣️ working on listening and communication skills, as well as turn-taking and working together,
🎈🏸🎾 developing a love for racquet sports and physical activity.

Classes are led by a fully-qualified primary teacher with international experience in badminton, and these sessions are all run at Menzieshill Community Hub.

Starting on Saturday 31st October, we are looking forward to welcoming some new Buddies, so get in touch for more information and to book in for a 2-week trial before committing to the whole term ☺️

08/10/2026

Rant incoming…..

It takes a lot to rile me these days, but I heard two separate examples today of a few of our women being belittled at other badminton groups in the past week.

At no point do we have an entitlement to make anyone feel inferior, no matter how good we are at any sport or activity or other walk of life. I was horrified and enraged to hear of comments being made such as ‘are you not going to get that shot, why did you not get that?’, ‘are you even going to stand in the right place?’ and ‘you’re not even holding the racquet properly’.

These comments were made by men, alongside another topper, that “‘coaching’ badminton is very different to ‘proper’ badminton.” What I’m very tempted to do is rock up to these groups and play myself against them, and really show them that what they’re doing isn’t ‘proper’, and I don’t just mean their badminton (my two boys could also show them what ‘proper’ badminton looks like), but the manner in which we treat people - this is absolutely unacceptable and I’m completely disgusted to hear that in 2026 this kind of thing is still happening.

These women were brave to go to these groups.
They have every right to be there.
They are learning all the time and deserve encouragement.
No wonder our clubs are dwindling, particularly in Dundee.
No wonder some women don’t play sport.

These men are in the minority, but this is still vile behaviour and I’d like to think that if my own boys, aged 16 and 14, heard comments such as these, they’d have it in them to step in and speak up to do what’s right, the way Andy Murray does. Let’s educate our sons to be better so that this doesn’t continue.

I wouldn’t ask these men the levels they’ve played to, to compare with me, because this doesn’t make me a better person than them. What makes better people is the way we make others feel.

Accept. Encourage. Support. Do better.

Feel free to share so that hopefully it gets the message to the people who need to hear this.

These came up on a memory the other day so thought it was worth a wee reshare….As well as being a mum and teacher, I hav...
07/10/2026

These came up on a memory the other day so thought it was worth a wee reshare….

As well as being a mum and teacher, I have a previous life as a ‘no bad’ badminton player, playing full time for a year before starting uni.

From the age of 12, I became obsessed with the game and everything that goes with it. Weirdly loved training, how hard that could be at times, and then the results that followed, and not just the results on the court - feeling faster, stronger, sharper, and that came from the off-court work most of the time.

I managed to win national titles at every junior age group, and go on to represent Scotland at junior and senior level. Not because I was the best player to pick up a racquet, but because of determination and a drive to be the best I could be.

Being the only one on the area to compete, it was difficult at times too - lonely, demoralising if not being selected, losing out on wins, having nobody but a coach to spar with. From those hard times though leaves me pretty well placed to work with you/your kids now….

What matters is how these sports can make us feel. What matters is slowly building confidence and resilience. What matters is helping people to get to where there want to be, whether that’s playing for fun and social reasons, or training to compete at any level.

We start with toddlers, and I’ve coached to junior international level. Whatever it is you want/need from coming along, I’m here for it 🙌🏻

What I got from competing, I’d need more than this post to tell you, but if your wee one would like to take their ambitions up a notch and aim to compete locally/nationally, I’m quite well placed to help along the way ☺️🏸

DM for more details if this is something they’d like to explore 🤗

(Also some dodgy facial expressions in the action shots for entertainment purposes 🫠🤣)

Did you know that our Racquet Buddies T-shirts are available to buy from our website? Click on the ‘shop’ section and se...
06/10/2026

Did you know that our Racquet Buddies T-shirts are available to buy from our website?

Click on the ‘shop’ section and see all the colours there are to choose from 🤗

These pictures show a selection what we have available, with lots more on the website, and just look how smart the kids look in them 😎👌🏻

We used to have our annual memberships that included a wee T-shirt and racquet for the kids, but I took the decision to remove this due to the cost of living and some people bringing more than one wee one to class. I have to say though, seeing the kids in the colour they love is fantastic, but yet still part of the team with our Racquet Buddies logos.

With hoodies and shorts also on our site, and with Christmas coming up, now is a good time to have a look and see what’s available for your wee one ☺️ (If you’re unsure of sizes please give me a shout).

https://clubshop.macron.com/dundee/racquet-buddies/merchandising

Tell me it’s autumn without telling me it’s autumn 🍁🍂🤣🎾
05/10/2026

Tell me it’s autumn without telling me it’s autumn 🍁🍂🤣🎾

Last week was our penultimate week of term, and it did not disappoint 🙌🏻🏸🎾🎈 So much hard work on show, and we’re looking...
05/10/2026

Last week was our penultimate week of term, and it did not disappoint 🙌🏻🏸🎾🎈

So much hard work on show, and we’re looking forward to seeing more of it in action during games this week to finish off what’s been a fantastic term 🥰

I’ll be posting photos of our week tomorrow, BUT, tonight I have to stick these photos on….Today was a very, very proud ...
04/10/2026

I’ll be posting photos of our week tomorrow, BUT, tonight I have to stick these photos on….

Today was a very, very proud moment as both Murray and Fraser played in the semi finals of the boys doubles in the East of Scotland Gold in Edinburgh - the only issue was that they were on at the same time 🥴🫪🤪, but we were grateful they were on the courts next to one another 🤣🙌🏻

It wasn’t to be for Murray and Max today, losing out to the better pair but still lots to be positive about given that this was only their second tournament together ☺️
For Fraser playing with his partner, Kavin, for the first time, they managed to edge out the no.2 seeds in a tight 3-setter before losing out in the final to a strong and experienced pair - to see him find confidence and start to believe in himself is the biggest shift, and it undoubtedly made a difference in him reaching his first final 👏🏻

Sport gives us ups and downs, leaving no choice but to learn as we go, building resilience and digging deep when things get tough, often dealing with disappointment. What matters isn’t the winning - it’s how we win or lose, and knowing that we’ve given it our all and sometimes our opponents deserve credit for the wins we miss out on 🥰

Address

Menzieshill Community Centre
Dundee
DD24BH

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 11am
1:30pm - 2:30pm
Tuesday 1:30pm - 2:30pm
Wednesday 10am - 11am
4pm - 6pm
Thursday 5pm - 7pm
Friday 10am - 6pm
Saturday 10am - 12pm

Telephone

+447718181323

Website

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