A Club That Feels Like Home is Dunmore Badminton Club, which is currently hosting a 12-hour badminton fundraiser today (Saturday) in aid of Breast Cancer Ireland, but having visited the club this morning, I came away with something much more than a story about sport and fundraising.

The Smash Cancer event is running from 9 am until 9 pm at St Thomas’s Church on the Dunmore Road in Waterford, with players, families and supporters coming together for an important cause.

I had the pleasure of attending the event today, and from the moment I walked through the doors, the welcome was extraordinary.

Club chairperson Graham Browne and the members made me feel right at home. They even convinced me to pick up a racket and play some badminton, while I also got to sample some of the delicious homemade treats baked for the occasion.

Graham spoke to me about the generosity of the local community, with businesses and individuals getting behind the fundraiser through donations and raffle prizes.

But what struck me most wasn’t the badminton, the fundraising or even the homemade baking. It was the people.

Dunmore Badminton Club is much more than a sporting organisation. It’s a community, a social outlet and, for many of its members, a second home.

The club has been part of life in Waterford since the 1950s and has operated from its current home since the early 1980s.

Today, it continues to bring people of all generations together, from young children picking up a racket to members in their 80s who remain actively involved.

There is something genuinely special about a sporting club where age and ability simply don’t matter, where everyone is welcome and where the friendships formed are just as important as the games being played.

It’s a warm, safe and welcoming environment that clearly means an enormous amount to the people who walk through its doors.

In my time covering sport, I’ve been fortunate enough to visit countless clubs and meet some wonderful people. However, I rarely leave an event feeling quite as impressed by the people involved as I did today.

I must admit, Dunmore Badminton Club might just have some of the nicest people in sport. Period.

And that sense of community is at the heart of today’s Smash Cancer fundraiser.

The event is raising money for Breast Cancer Ireland during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, with badminton games taking place every 30 minutes throughout the day.

Entry costs €10 per person, and the club has also organised refreshments and a raffle, with prizes generously donated by local businesses.

The fundraiser has received support from badminton clubs across Waterford, including Tramore, Waterford, Kilmac, Lismore and Tourin.

Speaking previously on Sport Láirge on WLR, committee member Lorraine Brennan explained that the club wanted to use the sport to make a difference during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

With breast cancer affecting so many families across Ireland, the club hopes today’s event will help raise both funds and awareness for an important cause.

And there is still plenty of time to get involved.

The Smash Cancer fundraiser continues until 9 pm this evening, with members of the public welcome to attend, take part in the badminton, purchase raffle tickets or make a donation.

Those unable to attend can also support the cause through the club’s online fundraising page, with further details on donations and raffle tickets available through Dunmore Badminton Club’s social media pages.

Anyone looking for more information can contact the club at dunmorebc1953@gmail.com.

The club had initially set a fundraising target of €1,500, with strong support from the community in the lead-up to today’s event.

Whatever the final amount raised, the members of Dunmore Badminton Club deserve enormous credit for the work they have put into organising the fundraiser.

Sport has a remarkable ability to bring people together, but sometimes we forget just how important our local clubs are beyond the field of play or, in this case, the badminton court.

They provide friendship, companionship, a sense of belonging, and somewhere people can feel part of something special.

Dunmore Badminton Club is a wonderful example of exactly that.

I arrived this morning to cover a fundraising event. I left having discovered a club that represents everything good about community sport.

And I certainly wouldn’t say no to another game of badminton, or another helping of those homemade treats.