Meet Our Coaches We are fortunate to have some great coaches in Sussex…come meet the team. Will Hilton – Jackson Will Hilton – Jackson is a former top 22 ranked singles player in the UK and has been an avid badminton player since the age of nine years old. He was just fourteen years old when he represented Sussex in the senior first team. Will decided to stop playing professionally in 2012 and concentrated on coaching the young up and coming players for Sussex. He has over 14 years coaching experience and has been part of the coaching team at Horsham Badminton Performance Centre since 2006 and became head coach in 2016. Will also concentrates in the local areas and tries to promote badminton in primary, high school and colleges to bring through the next generation of players. Will finds it very rewarding to see the young players come through and develop in their skills and abilities as badminton players. He hopes to continue to help players achieve their goals and be successful in the sport. He looks forward to working with the coaching team at Sussex County Junior Badminton and the stars of tomorrow. David King David has been playing Badminton since the age of 8, in that time he has represented England at two world junior championships, won a bronze and silver medal at the U17 European championships and reached a highest national ranking of 5. Since retiring he has had the chance to coach players of all levels, from beginner right through to junior England players. His philosophy as a player was always ‘work hard but have fun’ and has carried this through to his coaching. Julia Alkema Julia has been a full time coach since 2006 but she didn’t have a what you would consider to be a traditional route into coaching. Although she played county badminton as a junior up in Cleveland County in the North East, Julia then put badminton to one side and embarked on a career in musical theatre performing on stage, TV and radio for many years until she started her family. She likes to think her ‘old’ career has had a huge bearing on her coaching philosophy. She’s very good with people and her friendly and open coaching style puts people at ease; in her experience that’s when you get the best out of them. Although Julia coach’s all age groups and levels, in recent years she has specialised in Primary aged players and has the pleasure of teaching badminton in many junior schools across Sussex. She also runs a Primary Academy at Longhill Sports Centre in Rottingdean which is her pride and joy. Training young athletes has become somewhat of a passion, they are not simply small adults and shouldn’t be treated as such. It’s a fascinating area of sports development which is constantly changing which means she has to keep updating her own coaching skills to keep up. Julia is also a Badminton England Coach Educator, which means she has the pleasure of tutoring new coaches all over the UK and has mentored many of our own Sussex juniors as they make the transition into coaching. Julia’s Coaching Philosophy: I will make you feel valued as a person first and as player second. Jonty Russ Jonty is an ex-England junior and level 2 coach, working toward his level 3. Jonty won 3 junior national doubles titles but then had to stop playing at the highest level due to injury. Jonty is passionate about coaching and at 20 years of age he has already been awarded the Coach of the Year by Mid Sussex Active; coached the County U18 squad; worked in Spain for a year coaching senior and junior internationals at a regional academy; delivered Badminton England’s Racket Pack programme in a number of schools in Sussex, as well as playing for the Senior County team in the national Premier division……WOW, what a busy boy!!!! Achievements U17 mixed and doubles national titles – 2015U17 six nations doubles silver medal – 2015U19 mixed and doubles nationals bronze medal – 2015U19 doubles national title – 2016Mid sussex active coach of the year – 2018