Tyneside Badminton Centre
Steve Abbott
An IT professional with over 30 years’ experience in delivering integrated IT systems, Steve has
been responsible for delivering projects in a variety of sectors, including health, defence and civil
government, the latter including an industry leading command and control system for the Police.
Currently he is part of the Senior Management team delivering a £1.5bn programme to the DWP,
this manages all wide area networks for over 160,000 staff and encompasses the largest virtual
contact centre in the world, numbering in excess of 28.000 seats.
Steve has played badminton all his life from the age of 9 and has been involved in the
administration of the sport from an early age, running his university badminton club and virtually every club of which he
has been a member since. He has been a Northumberland BA Committee member for over 30 years and now holds a
number of positions including chairman of county selectors, chairman of the Competitive Play Board and Vice Chairman of
the association itself. He also referees the major tournaments within the county boundaries from Under-19 (recognised on
the EBU circuit) through the Badminton England national Satellite and Challenger circuits to the Northumberland Veterans
Challenge where last year entrants numbered in excess of 120 in all age groups from Over-40 to Over-70.
He is also involved in administration of the sport at national level, serving on the ICC Policy Group, the governing body of
the Inter County Championship. Recipient of both the Yonex Badminton England Volunteer of the Year award in 2007 and
the English Badminton Award for services to Badminton, Steve remains passionate in his commitment to the development
of the sport in the North-East and is delighted to be involved with the other, similarly committed members of the group.
Steve Porter
Steve is a highly successful entrepreneur who has utilised his qualifications in management,
psychotherapy and mental health to build from scratch a number of thriving businesses,
including:
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Being the owner/manager of a number of residential health units in the North East that
catered for patients with mental health difficulties. Skills applied within this role were:
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Project managing the design and build of 5 units
Financial control
Marketing
Staff recruitment and management
Health and Safety
The owner of a property development company dealing with projects such as new builds, renovations and barn
conversions
The owner of Northern Integrative Health Practice, who utilise an innovative and holistic approach to health and wellbeing by combining both traditional medicine and complementary therapies to help people achieve and maintain
optimum health
Steve began playing badminton aged 10 in both school and with his family. He has represented Northumberland at both
junior and senior level and has competed for St. Gabriel’s Badminton Club in the Northumberland Badminton Leagues for a
number of years. As well as playing, Steve has made major voluntary contributions to maintaining and the developing the
sport in the area, including:
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Chairman of St. Gabriel’s Badminton Club for 15 years
Northumberland County Selector
Member of Northumberland Badminton Association (NBA) Executive Committee
Member of NBA Clubs and Premises committee
Major driver behind the Benfield Centre for Excellence project, including business planning, grant applications and
liaising with partners (e.g. Sport England, Newcastle Leisure and Badminton England
Steve’s intrinsic passion for the sport, allied to his wide business experiences in the area of building construction and
project management, make him a key part of the development team.
Mike Woodward
A sports studies graduate and qualified lecturer, Mike has been involved in the Sports and
Leisure Industry for over 25 years, during which time he has fulfilled the following roles:
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National Development Coach
National U13 and U15 Age Group Coach
Full time coach and coach educator
Course Leader for Sports Science
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Lecturer in Sports Science
Owner/Manager of Brandling Fitness Club
Hotel Leisure Club Manager
Youth Training Scheme Trainer
A former county 1st team player, during the last 10 years he has made significant contributions to the sport of Badminton
in England, including:
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coaching a number of successful junior international players who are now progressing into senior play (Alyssa Lim,
Helena Lewcynska, Emily Westwood, Holly Smith)
designing a number of commercially successful resources (written and film)
developing a number of coaching awards (e.g. UK Coaching Certificate 1, 2 and 3)
taking the National technical lead to establish 28 Badminton Performance Centres
Whilst coaching he has also had the opportunity to acquire extensive knowledge covering all aspects of the badminton
world by:
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Coaching in a large number of countries, including Denmark, Germany, Sweden, France, Switzerland, Northern Ireland,
Gibraltar and Malaysia
Working with coaches from a wide variety of countries, including Korea, Malaysia, China, Denmark, Belgium, Spain,
Portugal, Wales and Scotland
Currently Mike works as consultant to the Badminton World Federation, developing Coach Education Programmes and
supporting resources for countries that have few resources or an established coach education infrastructure
Mike is passionate about the sport of badminton. Having observed how the sport is delivered abroad he is convinced that a
key factor in the development of English Badminton is the creation of dedicated facilities controlled by the sport itself.
Combining his badminton specific knowledge with the business and facility management skills acquired in earlier roles
makes Mike an invaluable part of the team who are striving to make the Tyneside Badminton Centre vision a reality.
Peter McLane
Peter began his working career in the 1970’s as a badminton racket re-stringer, progressing to become
Assistant Works Manager at Vicort, a company specialising in the manufacture and sale of badminton
equipment. A career move into computer programming led to Peter forming Indigo Software in 1980,
a computer software company. As Managing Director, Peter has blended his programming and
commercial skills to grow Indigo into a highly successful global business.
Peter began playing badminton aged 15 and for many years trained alongside a group of high quality
players, including Derek Talbot, the then English no. 1. During this period he competed regularly for
Northumberland and experienced playing in Denmark, the number one badminton nation in Europe.
Although his badminton career was prematurely halted by a skiing injury, Pete has never lost his passion for badminton and
having experienced the Danish system is determined to reproduce this model in England via a dedicated badminton centre
that promotes a sense of community and appeals to families. Peter already invests £5,000 per annum into badminton in
the North East via an Indigo Fund which supports elite player development in Northumberland.
Peter brings to the Tyneside Badminton Centre a depth of commercial experience in company formation, business
planning, and on-going monitoring of business performance, as well as a great awareness of the sport of badminton.