Junior duo make Caithness badminton history with national squad invite
Two players have made Caithness badminton history by being invited to join the National Pathway Programme to be part of the Scottish junior squad.
Chloe Mackenzie (16), from Barrock, and Sophie Mackay (11), from Dunnet, are the first two Caithness juniors to achieve national recognition in this way.
Their coaches say it is a great achievement for players who live some 290 miles away from Badminton Scotland headquarters in Glasgow.
To achieve the invite they needed to meet various criteria, reaching certain stages of competitions over the previous 12-month period. Sophie recently won the under-13s national girls’ singles, girls’ doubles and mixed doubles titles, putting her in the frame for squad selection, but along with that she had to make a minimum of two gold (A-grade) singles finals, which she did, while winning many titles over the past year.
Chloe moved in January from under-17s to under-19s. At U17 level, Chloe continued to reach semi-finals or finals in the first part of the 2024/25 season and also made semi-finals in U19 girls’ doubles at the nationals in December, followed by some wins and making quarters and semi-finals after the turn of the year in the U19 gold (A-grade) and senior tournaments.

The hard work on and off court does not stop, as they need to continue to improve and perform well to stay with the national squad.
Sophie’s recommended on-court training a week is eight hours and off-court two while she is in the U13 section.
Chloe was given an advised weekly minimum training regime on-court of 14 hours and three hours off-court at under-19 level.
The girls attended their first national camp in June. They have three further camps to come in the 2025/26 season, in August, November and January.
They need to be attending all the gold (A-grade) tournaments throughout the season and they also have to look at competing outwith Scotland. Both have their eyes on achieving a call-up for Scotland to gain their first caps.
Sophie said: “I’m really excited to be in the squad. The first squad weekend was great fun, training and playing with everyone else from around Scotland.”
Chloe said: “I am very proud of this and it has been a goal of mine for a long time. I would like to thank everyone who has helped me over the years to progress and help me achieve my goals.
“I have my eyes set on being selected for the under-19 European junior championships which are due to be held in 2026.”