Get to know our coaches at St John’s Performance Centre:
Lydia Powell
Qualification: Level 3
Joined: 2014
Highlight: National Junior Champion
Lydia, a former England International, is the Head Coach for our Junior teams at St Johns Performance Centre. She recently completed her Level 3 coaching qualification with Badminton England, making her one of the highest qualified coaches in the country. Inspired by her experiences training alongside World and Olympic medallists, Lydia is driven to helping our junior players come through into the senior setup, as well as preparing them for regional and national competitions.
Liam Chan
Joined: 2017
Highlight: Mixed-A 2017/18 Division Winner!Liam plays a key role in the early stages of a junior players development here at SJPC. It’s a critical time for a player to learn technical aspects of the game and understand correct form before progressing through to the next stage.
Whilst doing this, Liam provides endless amounts of fun and energy for our players, using his winning experiences as a player at SJPC to keep them on their toes.
Antony Barnett
Qualification: Level 2
Joined: 2019
Highlight: Top 25 Men’s Doubles (U19)
Antony has joined our coaching team at SJPC for a number of reasons. His love for coaching and his desire to give back to the sport he’s enjoyed multiple successes in as a player. His broad coaching experiences including assistant coach to the Brighton and County squads. But most importantly, it’s his natural ability to communicate and demonstrate everything he teaches. With all of his knowledge and experience, Antony will undoubtedly improve our junior players and prepare them for the next stage.
Molly Thomson
Joined: 2019
Highlight: Representing Sussex at ICT
Molly is one of our assistant coaches at SJPC and in a short space of time has become one of the most important coaches here. Her enthusiasm and energy for the sport is infectious and her positive attitude helps get the best out of everyone. Not only does she support players across all of our sessions (influential!), she gets involved in sparring sessions for the ‘Performance’ group.
Dominic Burns
Qualification: Level 1
Joined: 2019
Highlight: Kent Junior Open MD Finalist
Dominic is our newest member of the coaching team. At just 17 years old, he’s already completed his Level 1 coaching qualification and is currently in the Senior Men’s B team. Dom has been playing in the senior setup for a couple of years now, and is living proof that our pathway for younger players is working.
