For over 40 years, Margaret Watson has organised and run junior badminton in the Cobram district.
She regularly managed up to 60 children on a Friday night, providing coaching and overseeing games from about 7pm to 9pm.
Venues included the Cobram Uniting Church Hall and the Showgrounds cattle pavilion, but the Cobram High School hall was the primary location until the Cobram Sports Stadium was built.
Ms Watson’s efforts didn’t end there. She was also a taxi service in the early years for any children who needed a ride to badminton.
Ms Watson also ran tournaments and assembled teams to attend regional tournaments in Wangaratta, Benalla and Shepparton, often travelling by bus. There would always be an esky with drinks and a few snacks for the children to enjoy on the way home.
Ms Watson would organise Shepparton’s Commonwealth Games medallist Mike Scandolera to visit Cobram once a year to do a coaching clinic with the kids. There was usually a meal involved and a chocolate sponge roll, which was Mr Scandolera’s favourite, I think, provided by Margaret and other parents.
There was a time when members could do an accredited level-one coaching course in badminton.
A couple of these members, Leigh Adkins and Colin Beer, who grew up knowing Margaret as Ms Watson and went from under-10s to under-18s and then into seniors, took up the challenge to pass on knowledge to the juniors on Friday nights while Ms Watson would organise the kids into sets for the evening.
In 1991, Mr Adkins and Mr Beer were awarded life memberships for their contribution to junior badminton.
Ms Watson is humble and doesn’t like attention or accolades, often saying it is all about the juniors. Still, credit must be given for the countless hours spanning over 40 years through cold winters, providing her time voluntarily to give children the opportunity to play badminton.
Ms Watson’s life membership of the Cobram Junior Badminton Association was a long-overdue honour, which I’m sure many of the hundreds of children who have played junior badminton in Cobram would agree.