Jill Pittard profile

There are not many players on the badminton circuit that hold down a full time career and train for nearly 22 hours a week. There is, however, one person and that is 30 year-old Warwickshire and Coventry’s number One Ladies singles player, Jill Pittard.

Pittard, who has been a calibration engineer at Land Rover at Gaydon for the last eight years, is unique on the badminton circuit being one of a few who competes on a National and International level.

Jill trains at Loughborough University, Birmingham University and the Warwickshire Racquets and Health Club.

Jill was given the Warwickshire First Team Captaincy last season which she feels was an honour and will continue as Captain this season. She would like the side to emulate their Championship winning display in 2005 and the County are going in the right direction.

Winning a National Ladies Singles Title is still high on her agenda having been runner up in 2000, 2006 and 2007 and she hopes to compete in the National Championships again this season to try again for the title that has eluded her so far.

Jill became interested in Badminton at the age of 9 when she visited an open day at the Coventry Racquet Centre and has loved the game ever since. She was selected early on for junior county and then for the England Juniors.

She has represented the First Team County side for many years and has to her credit 76 caps. One of her ambitions is to reach the magic 100 in the first team and become the first woman to achieve this.

She is a Coventry City supporter but only manages to attend the odd home game. Her other love is golf which she took up a couple of years ago but she only manages to play occasionally because of her training schedule. Her most treasured medal gained in her career so far was winning a bronze medal with England in the Sudirman Cup in Scotland 2007 as it was England’s best ever achievement in the event.

Her most memorable singles match took place in the Scottish Open in 2004. The atmosphere was nothing she had experienced before as she faced her Scottish (Chinese born) opponent in the final. Bagpipes were playing and the crowd were chanting throughout the whole game but eventually she lost 13-11 in the third game.

Retirement is far from her mind at the moment as she has a number of goals to achieve before putting her racquet up for good. Eventually she would like to give something back to the game which has given her so much pleasure by perhaps coaching some of the up and coming singles players of the future.

Below please find a CV of Jill’s badminton achievements to date.

Personal details

Date of Birth:	5/11/77
Place of Birth:	Coventry
Living:	Coventry
Right/Left hand:	Right
Height:	5”8
Racket:	Metallix 10000 (Head)
Sponsors:	Head, Esporta rackets club (Coventry), Sorbothane
Event:	Ladies singles
Coach(es)	Lorraine Cole, Mike Adams

About me off court

My occupation/ professional qualification:		Full time Calibration Engineer at Land Rover
My hobbies:		Coventry City football supporter, playing golf, reading biographies, playing badminton, chilling out in starbucks, I enjoy all sports and like trying out new ones, qualified personal trainer professional, Level 2 badminton coach

Achievements

JUNIOR AGE GROUP NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

U12 - FINALIST

U14 - FINALIST

U16 - WINNER

U18 - FINALIST

NATIONAL TOURNAMENT RESULTS

SEMI FINALIST

PORTSMOUTH GRAND SLAM 1999, LANCASHIRE GRAND SLAM 2000, CHESTER GRAND SLAM 2001

SUSSEX GRAND SLAM 2001, LANCASHIRE GRAND SLAM 2002, WIMBLEDON ELITE 2003, WIMBLEDON ELITE 2004, YORKSHIRE ELITE OPEN 2005

FINALIST

LANCASHIRE GRAND SLAM 1998, GRANTHAM GRAND SLAM 1999, SUSSEX GRAND SLAM 2003,

SUSSEX ELITE OPEN 2005

WINNER

NOTTS OPEN

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

SEMI FINALIST

2003, 2004, 2005, 2008

FINALIST

2000, 2006, 2007 WINNER 2009

CLUB ACHIEVEMENTS

AMERSFOORT, HOLLAND - 2002 / 2003   - LEAGUE WINNERS

RACING CLUB DE FRANCE 2006 / 2007 - SILVER MEDAL

LAGARDERE, PARIS - 2007 / 2008 - BRONZE MEDAL

COUNTY ACHIEVEMENTS

NATIONAL LEAGUE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS 2004 / 2005 - WINNERS

APPOINTED COUNTY CAPTAIN - 2007 ONWARDS

INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT RESULTS

SEMI FINALIST

SLOVAKIA 2000, ICELAND 2000, LA CHAUX DE FONDS 2001, BULGARIA 2001, POLISH OPEN 2002

WELSH OPEN 2002, DUTCH INTERNATIONAL 2003, SCOTTISH OPEN 2003, WELSH OPEN 2003

AUSTRIAN OPEN 2004, ICELAND OPEN 2004, WELSH OPEN 2004, SWEDISH OPEN 2005,

FINNISH OPEN 2005, POLISH OPEN 2005, IRISH OPEN 2005, BELGIUM OPEN 2006, CZECH OPEN 2006,

WELSH OPEN 2006, IRISH OPEN 2006, AUSTRIAN OPEN 2007, FINNISH OPEN 2007, PORTUGAL OPEN 2007, POLISH OPEN 2007, TOULOUSE OPEN 2007, IRISH OPEN 2007, PORTUGAL OPEN 2008, SPANISH OPEN 2008

FINALIST

CZECH OPEN 2002, SCOTTISH OPEN 2004

WINNER

ICELAND 1998, GENEVA INTERNATIONAL 2001, SLOVENIAN OPEN 2003, WELSH OPEN 2007

ENGLAND CAPS / REPRESENTATIONS

1ST CAP VERSUS CHINA (NOV 1999)

UBER CUP 2000 (BULGARIA) - 4TH PLACE

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2003 (BIRMINGHAM) - 1ST ROUND

UBER CUP 2004 (SLOVAKIA) - 4TH PLACE

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 2004 (GENEVA, SWITZERLAND) - 2ND ROUND

UBER CUP 2006 (GREECE) - SILVER MEDAL

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 2006 (EINDHOVEN, HOLLAND) - 2ND ROUND

UBER CUP FINALS (TOKYO, JAPAN) 2006

ENGLAND VERSUS GERMANY MATCH (DESSAU)

SUDIRMAN CUP WORLD TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS (GLASGOW, SCOTLAND) 2007 - BRONZE MEDAL

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2007 (KUALA LUMPAR, MALAYSIA) - 1ST ROUND

UBER CUP 2008 (HOLLAND) - QUARTER FINALIST

OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS

WINNER OF THE COVENTRY CHAIRMANS CUP 2003

EUROPEAN BADMINTON CIRCUIT 2007 - WINNER

ENGLAND CAPS - 14

WARWICKSHIRE COUNTY FIRST TEAM CAPS - 76

ENGLISH RANKING - 3 (HIGHEST - NUMBER 2 JANUARY 2007)

WORLD RANKING - 50 (HIGHEST - NUMBER 28 - 12/05/2005)