Steven Chappell - Head Coach

 

With over 25 years experience as a player and over 15 years coaching experience, Steven brings both his passion and expertise to the court, helping you believe & achieve!

 

Steven started playing badminton at an early age but it wasn't until he moved to Vienna, Austria that he started playing competitively and in 1996 he picked up a Bronze medal at the Austrian U16 National Championships. Upon returning to Scotland he competed at junior level and was ranked third in Scotland in singles in his age group for three years before moving down to England to study French and German at Loughborough University.

 

During his time at university Steven started playing for BC 58 Luckau in the German Bundesliga and continued playing for them for the next 12 years. After graduation he moved over to Copenhagen, Denmark for 2 years training at the International Badminton Academy under the guidance of Mikael Kjeldsen and Lars Uhre where he had to opportunity to learn from some of the best players in the world.

 

Upon returning to the UK Steven moved into coaching working for Badminton England coaching England youngster Lauren Smith. Steven worked with Lauren for 6 years, during which time she won multiple junior national titles before progressing onto representing England at senior level and competing at the 2016 Olympics in Rio in ladies doubles. Lauren is the current English ladies doubles National Champion and has recently broken into the top 10 in the world in mixed doubles.  

 

Upon moving back to Aberdeen and Steven took up the role of UK Badminton Manager for Babolat VS UK and moved back into coaching locally at David Lloyds while setting up Aberdeen Badminton Academy. Aberdeen Badminton Academy currently run a number of weekly coaching sessions throughout Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire as well as offer 1-2-1 coaching.