Daniel Magee: How 'massive changes' have aided Ireland's Olympic badminton prospects

As he prepares to accompany his niece, Rachel Darragh, and Ireland's men's singles player Nhat Nguyen to the Olympic Games, Daniel Magee can reflect on a whirlwind decade for Irish badminton.

The Raphoe man is now working as the high performance director with Badminton Ireland.

A former international player himself, he pursued a career in coaching and worked first as an assistant coach in 2009 at a time when Ireland's top players, including his sister Chloe Magee, were largely based outside of Ireland.

“There have been massive changes in the last 10 years,” he says. “We now have a home-based centre in Abbotstown. That has been a huge benefit in working alongside Team Ireland at the same base.

“We have a bigger base now of coaches who specialise in different areas and we have a junior pathway now. The team is much bigger and we have a lot more players playing internationally.”

In 2021, he hired Iskandar Zulkarnain, a Malaysian international player, as a coach while his brother Sam Magee works as a coach with the doubles players.

Daniel Magee has been the high performance director since 2018 and was in Tokyo for the last Olympic Games in 2021.

Many of the extended Magee family will be in Paris this weekend as Rachael Darragh becomes Raphoe's next Olympian. The crowd will include her father, Trevor, who “has only seen me play a handful of times”.

Darragh is aware of the growth of the sport.

“What we have now in Irish badminton is amazing,” she says. “It's the reason why badminton is growing. When I first moved up to Dublin we were in the Marino Education Sports Hall and I wasn't part of a gym set up.

“Now, we have two coaches, a gym, psychologist, nutritionist and everything is in the one place. You're in a bubble with everyone focussing on the same things.

“It's really nice to have Dan. I have worked with him for years. He has been there with me since the start.”

They have the world at their feet now, but have never forgotten their roots in the heart of Raphoe.

Magee says: “It all started in the Raphoe badminton hall – and we are very proud of where we've come from.”