Christine Black and Dan Travers are legends of their sport, competing at badminton’s highest level throughout the 1980s. At 71 and 69 many would think their love for the sport and competitive spark would diminish, but it remains as strong as ever as they continue to collect titles all over the world.
Christine’s storied career includes 56 Scotland caps, a mixed doubles bronze medal at the 1986 Commonwealth Games and Scottish titles. She has contributed hugely to the sport off the court. From 2009-2011, she became the President of Badminton Scotland and was the team manager for the Scottish badminton squad at four Commonwealth Games—Manchester 2002, Melbourne 2006, Glasgow 2014 and Gold Coast in 2018. In recognition of her services to badminton, she was awarded the British Empire Medal in 2015.
Dan Travers won a host of medals during a glittering career. Highlights included doubles gold alongside Billy Gilliland at the 1986 Commonwealth Games, the pair also won European bronze and silver at the All-England final in 1982 which was the equivalent of the Olympics for the sport at the time, in doing so they reached number two in the world.
Their drive continues to this day at Masters level, winning multiple World and European Championships as a mixed doubles pair as well as singles and in doubles.
Christine has Scottish sporting royalty in her family, her uncle is legendary diver Sir Peter Heatly, and from early on Christine held a determination to have a career in sport. Despite brief and successful spells with tennis and ice skating, she didn’t look back after starting badminton.
She said: “I didn’t lift a racket until she was 12. I started off just hitting with my mum and some people said you better get her into a club. Our local church club for some reason had the best players in Edinburgh at senior level. I was really lucky to have players of that standard to learn from at an early age.
“Edinburgh 86 was special. I got a bronze at European junior and senior. Those stick out as highlights and earning 56 caps for Scotland is something I’m hugely proud of.
“I always remember when I was young getting wee presents from Olympics and Commonwealth Games and it was my uncle who was giving us them, so it was always something I was aware of. I always liked sport.”
Dan reflected on his earlier career: “The Commonwealth gold was emotionally the best, to do it at Meadowbank was just unbelievable. But probably our best achievement was getting to the all England final in 1982 which is the equivalent of the Olympics in our day because badminton wasn’t in the Olympics. The Asian players loved it because of the history.
“When we got to the final it was on Grandstand on a Saturday afternoon. Those were the two big highlights for me of my career.”
The pair teamed up to win mixed doubles gold at the World Senior Championships in Thailand in September, where Christine achieved one of her remaining goals in the sport, winning singles, mixed and doubles gold at the same World Championships.
So what is it about the Master environment that drives them to keep putting in the hours on and off court?
Dan’s answer is simple:
“If you become a top athlete in your sport you need to be a winner and that desire hasn’t changed. I just love competing and that’s what’s kept be coming back, but I prefer winning.
“Beyond competing the Masters is really social. It’s a fantastic environment to be involved in. You’re there with like-minded people who are all encouraging each other regardless of their level. I’ve ended up with friends all over the world. People really enjoy the social side of it.”
Christine added: “There’s a huge social element to it. We have a bigger team travelling with us now and there’s a great team spirit in the Scottish Masters team, better than any other team in the world I think.
“We all support each other. Doesn’t matter what level your at or where you get to in the tournaments we’re there to support you and if not in person there’s well done messages on WhatsApp. It’s a great community.
“I went to a European Cup trip with Scotland and it’s over 35s to over 75s and that you’d think that might not be an easy group for everyone to mix but we all got on so well. Everyone is so supportive of each other.”
Christine and Dan are in no doubt that continuing sport into their later years has given them huge physical and mental benefits, encouraging others to do whatever they can to stay active as long as they can.
Dan said:
“If you want a healthy life keeping active is so important. The benefits are immeasurable in my opinion. I’m going to be 70 in June and I’m on no medication.
“When I go to the doctors they asked what I’m on and when I say nothing they assume I must be mistaken. And it’s not that I’ve lived an ultra healthy lifestyle but I’ve kept training. You need to do what you can whether that’s in the gym, playing sport or just getting out walks. If you’re sitting for long periods of the day not doing anything that’s not good for you at any age.”
Christine added: “It gets people out and meeting people, it’s not all about exercise which obviously has so many benefits.
"It’s crucial to stay involved in things as you get older. If I didn’t do badminton I’d do something else. For your physical health, your mental health, it makes such a huge difference.
"The standard or being good at something doesn’t necessarily matter, just get out and do something.
“I think the main thing is people become apprehensive as they get older. They’re less likely to try new things or continue doing a sport they used to do. The hard thing is getting over that initial hurdle, once people go to a walking group, a running club, a badminton club, so often they enjoy it and want to go back.”
