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Havingretired from international badminton in 2011, you'd be forgiven for expectingAnthony Clark to sit back, relax and enjoy the freedom of not being aprofessional athlete.

But, afterbeing announced as the head coach of new AJ Bell National Badminton League sideSuffolk Saxons on Tuesday, the two-time Olympian admits he would be more thanprepared to dust off his racket and return to the court once more.

Clark, whois also a double World Championships silver medallist, will take on a differentrole in the AJ Bell NBL from October after two years of commentating on matchnights for Sky Sports.

But as thestart of the third season of the NBL approaches, the 38-year-old admits he iskeen to help out both on and off the court.

“I wouldabsolutely love to play, but my biggest challenge is that I haven't played forfour-and-a-half years at a competitive level, so I need to get myself fitenough to do it,” he said.

“I knowI've still got the racket skills, and the knowledge of how to play and thatkind of thing, and actually one of the reasons for signing up to the SuffolkSaxons was that potential to maybe play again.

“I havemissed playing terribly, so to get the opportunity to try and get fit and playsome really competitive badminton in the NBL would be wonderful.

“Thechallenge is to get fit enough to make sure I can compete, and I know if I can,I will be able to compete and that will be really nice for me to do.”

Delighted to officially announce and as the first signings. Great to have them both on board.

— Anthony Clark (@anthonyianclark)

OnTuesday, Clark unveiled Commonwealth Games silver medallists Andy Ellis andSarah Walker as the players that will headline the Saxons team.

TheSaxons, who will play their home matches at Ipswich Corn Exchange, are one ofthe first teams to be added to the NBL roster since the league's establishmentin 2014, and will become Suffolk's first professional badminton team.

And afterwitnessing first-hand the growth in badminton's popularity over the past twoyears, Clark admits he is excited to watch the sport's development further fromthe heart of the action.

“Aftermyself, Nathan, Gail and Donna retired, there was a bit of a drop because wehad a lot of people quit at the same time,” he said.

“It wasleft to the next generation of players like the Adcocks to try and come up, andthey weren't old enough then to play right at the top, but now they have comethrough and they are doing incredibly well.

“I thinkbadminton is going forwards, and there is certainly a lot more money availableat tournaments, but I think the biggest challenge for the sport is always toget it on TV.

“That'ssomething we've really got to push for so people can see what badminton reallyis. It's an incredibly powerful sport and we need to get it out there more.”