Opinion : National sporting championship is just what High Wycombe needs

Did you know that a major national sporting championship in currently being held in High Wycombe?

For the rest of this weekend the Wycombe Leisure Centre at Handy Cross is hosting the 2017 English National Badminton Championships with players competing to be crowned the English National Champion in their respective discipline.

Over the next few days Wycombe will be the centre of the Badminton world in England. Surely this is the best thing to happen in Wycombe for years?

In my opinion holding a major national sporting championship in Wycombe is just what the town needs. For too long backward thinking and stagnation has stifled our town resulting in not too much happening here.

It was the Editor of Wycombe Today who first told me about the 2017 Badminton Championships being held in Wycombe. Apparently the Editor ‘thought I might be pleased at the news‘ which I most certainly was.

Regular readers will know that my good self is an avid watcher of sport so your humble servant purchased a ticket to the event and, late on Friday afternoon, paid a visit to the Championships to see some of the action for myself.

It was the first time that yours truly had been to the Wycombe Leisure Centre. It’s an impressive facility and one that is a fitting venue for major championship level sporting competition. There’s plenty of parking nearby not to mention the Park & Ride and ‘Coachway’ as well as a large supermarket.

The organisation at the Badminton Championships is excellent. Regular readers will know that my good self was a regular visitor to the London 2012 Olympics as well as the many other major international sporting events held at the former Olympic Stadium. I can honestly say that the organisation at the Badminton championships in Wycombe is on par with with London 2012 and the like.

I sincerely hope this weekend marks the first step in Wycombe becoming a player on the national sporting stage, its about time the rest of England and the UK hears about the wonderful sports facilities we have at the top of Marlow Hill.

Wycombe is located well for public transport, we’ve got a motorway close by and several venues with excellent facilities. Wycombe needs to think big and go out to the country rather than hiding in a corner with its eyes closed as the town appears to have done for so many years.

What other events could be held in Wycombe? I’m sure there must be lots of events that Wycombe could host and raise the profile of the town even further.

Surely the powers that be need to to set up a department to promote Wycombe by identifying the best facilities we have in the town and then reaching out to national organisations to make them aware of what Wycombe has to offer for national level events.

Let’s hope this is the first of many prestigious sporting events to be held in High Wycombe. It’s about time that our town got the recognition that it deserves.

What do you think?

My blogs are published every Tuesday and Friday evening around 8.00pm here on the WycombeToday.com website.

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