To All Clubs, Members and other Users of ABA Stadium,

Coaches are critical to supporting the growth of Badminton. ABA invests in the development of Coaches, ensuring that ABA development programs, representative squads and clubs have coaches who are always striving for personal improvement and improvement for all of the players they coach.

ABA understands and supports the need for players of all skill levels to seek additional individual coaching that goes beyond what ABA traditionally provided through programs, squads and clubs. There were concerns raised by many parties about the growth of unregulated private coaching at ABA Stadium, with at times it appearing that ABA Stadium was purely a training facility. Many coaches were using ABA Stadium purely to run their own for profit businesses without supporting or contributing to ABA, ABA clubs and other stakeholders. ABA had no oversight of these coaches, with no confirmation of police checks or any recognised coaching qualifications.

At the start of 2024, ABA employed coaches who could also deliver individual coaching, which has proven to be a very successful enhancement to our badminton pathways. In addition to providing individual coaching, they have been an asset for ABA offering assistance with squads, programs, clubs, and competitions. Players can purchase multiple session coaching packs at reasonable prices from our ProShop and are able to have assurance that ABA is behind these coaches.

Building on this successful entry into individual coaching, ABA will be requiring all coaches that coach within the ABA Stadium at any time for any type of coaching to be contracted to ABA and provide coaching that will be purchased through ABA. This change will be in effect from 1 January 2024.

The benefits for ABA Stadium users:

• All individual coaches will be police checked and will need to be compliant with ABA’s child protection policies.
• All individual coaches will be required to attend ABA coaching courses/meetings in addition to BWF certifications, ensuring a high quality of service.
• Coaches will be able to secure coaching sessions at times convenient to players.
• Fixed rate for coaches, including court hire 7 days a week.
• Players will be assured of having standard ABA terms and conditions covering issues including refunds/cancellations.
• All payments are officially recorded including GST and any other tax obligations paid.
• Competitive pricing with ABA maintaining ABA employed coaches’ hourly rates ranging from $80 - $100 per hour including court hire. Clubs receive further discounted rates on all ABA Coaching services for Club Junior and Senior Programs.

We are currently working with coaches who operate within ABA Stadium to transition to new contracts and will be providing information on coaches that are available for individual coaching through ABA in advance of 1 January 2024.