Badminton Wales & Wales Squash & Racketball on 14/06/2016
Badminton Wales & Wales Squash & Racketball are delighted to announce the appointment of Gareth Hall as the new General Manger working across both organisations.
This is a new and innovative appointment to meet the challenge of working collaboratively across NGB’s and is the first venture of its kind in Wales. Both organisations are excited by this opportunity and the joint learning and opportunities that may arise from the appointment. Gareth will start in the role on Monday 4th July 2016.
Gareth comes to the role having spent the last 15 years working across a variety of sports roles, from Welsh Triathlon before moving onto the role of National Development Manager for Triathlon England. He successfully increased levels of participation in the sport, focusing on active participants and the infrastructure needed to support them. Latterly he went on to manage both the Events and Membership programmes for England and Wales, implementing a customer centric and customer care ethos.
In the last year he took on the new challenge with Wiggle, a large, international online sports retailer where he has worked as their Events Manager. This has enabled him to develop an understanding of commercial sport, focusing on the needs of the participant but also meeting the needs of the business. Last autumn he also played a role as Team Liaison Officer for the Scottish team during the recent Rugby World Cup 2015, working directly with the team and team management on a day-to-day basis, and giving him insight and a first-hand understanding of the needs of an Elite sports team at the highest level.
All this knowledge and experience will be invaluable in his new role.
“I am thrilled to be given the opportunity to take on this innovative and exciting role. I fell in love with Sport from an early age and have been fortunate in the wide breadth of knowledge and skills sets it has presented me. I strongly believe we can use the appeal of two fantastic sports, Badminton and Squash, to give the same opportunities to as many people as possible in Wales. I don’t underestimate the challenges facing all Sports across the country, but honestly believe we can expand the reach and broaden the scope of both sports to open the doors of opportunity to as many people as possible. To do this we will need to get the offer right. We can do this by developing and improving what we have, as well as innovating to stand out to potential new and returning players. Whether it’s finding the next champion or building a strong and diverse player base, we must continue to create sustainable clubs and effective coaching, workforce and volunteer structures to grow the game. I’m thoroughly looking forward to taking up my post in early July and can’t wait to get started.”
Phil Brailey, Chair of Wales Squash and Racketball commented “We are delighted to have someone with Gareth’s extensive work experience in the sporting environment, from development, events management through to commercialisation to join and work with us at Wales Squash and Racketball” whilst Hefin Archer Williams, Chair of Badminton Wales said “We’re excited at this great collaborative opportunity and am sure Gareth will rise to the challenges ahead, both in Badminton, Squash and capitalize on opportunities for joint working across the two NGB’s and support more people to play Badminton and achieve success”
