Three years ago, in 2015, England secured the silver and bronze medals in the Boy’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles at the European Junior Championships respectively. Ben Lane announced himself on the scene by winning those medals with his partners Sean Vendy and Jessica Pugh.
Fast forward to today and Lane is playing at the highest level with the same partnerships, building on England’s strength and depth in the doubles category. Speaking with us, we asked about his current training set-up.
-I am based at the National Badminton centre in Milton Keynes where all the top players in England are based. As I am still young and developing my game, I have a mixture of mixed and doubles practices during the week.
Many top doubles players often train both level and mixed doubles. However, Chris and Gabby Adcock are notable examples of a pair who focused on one event, with positive results. When asking about his personal thoughts on this, Lane responded that
-I have not specialised yet in one event as I am keen to do both at the moment and have had good results over the last year. I feel I can play both men’s and mixed events and most of the squad I train with do both doubles events.
Having on five occasions achieved a quarter-final or further this season, it is hard to not see the great strides being achieved in both events. Commenting on this good form, Lane says
-This year I have had a mixture of good results in both mixed and men’s so not one match stands out, however my most memorable tournament this year was the Commonwealth Games in Australia where England won the bronze medal.
In which Lane played with regular partner Jessica Pugh in the Mixed Doubles and then with Chris Adcock in the Men’s Doubles.
A Christmas swim in the sea?
Reaching this level as we all know requires a lot of hard work and dedication, but we wanted to know what Lane has planned for the Christmas holidays. He explains that
-I don’t have much time off over Christmas as I fly to the Far East in early January. I am away from the National Badminton Centre for 4 days but while I’m at home I will be going to the gym and hitting.
But in amongst the gruelling schedule, there is always time for family, as Lane adds
-I spend Christmas Day and Boxing Day at home with my family. On Christmas Day it’s a tradition in Exmouth to swim in the sea when the clock strikes 11 am. Every year about thousand people swim, however this year I don’t think I will be entering the sea!
Future targets
Lastly, we asked Lane to identify his main targets in 2019 and some long-term goals.
-Next year I am aiming to improve my ranking in both doubles and mixed events and to capitalise on some matches that we lost this year despite having match points. My long-term ambitions are to win a medal at the Olympic Games and medal in the individual event at the next Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.