Hi Everyone,
ACT Badminton Open
We are almost half way through the year and I am pleased to say the ACT Badminton Open held last weekend was a great success. Feedback from players, parents and officials has been very positive and I am very proud of the wonderful job the organising Committee has done (under the leadership of Brideen Allen with great support from Alan Kisbee, Sheehan Lim and Aaron Chuah). We had approximately 150 local and interstate players competing and I would like to congratulate everyone who participated and made it such a fun event. The spirit of the game was alive and well throughout the 2 day competition, with great sportsmanship, high quality badminton and lots of smiling faces and appreciation of great rallies on and off the court. The Committee is looking forward to an even better competition next year! We have uploaded many photos from the tournament on our Facebook page (courtesy of our official photographer Bas), if you would like higher resolution pictures, please contact us on info@badmintonact.org.au. A special thanks to Hatori for providing shuttles to the Open winners.
Committee Update
Apart from the organising the ACT Open, the ACTBA Committee has been busy in getting several key priorities underway including:
- Supporting our representative players to compete in the national competitions;
- We have been organising and supporting several members with gaining coaching and referee qualifications;
- Last week, Badminton Australia have agreed to provide funding and collaborate with ACTBA to increase participation in badminton across ACT, particularly targeting schools and junior players. We will undertake special training programs over the next 6 months in conjunction with ACT schools and our affiliated Badminton Clubs;
- The Committee is looking at developing an “Interstate Challenge” competition specifically to provide our advanced players with opportunities to represent ACT and compete with other states in a friendly “state versus state” event(s). We are still working out details and I will communicate next steps over the coming months;
- The Executive Committee is undertaking a strategic planning session in June to develop a new business plan for the next 3 years. We will communicate the key elements to our affiliated clubs at the next quarterly ACTBA Committee Meeting with our Clubs and through our web site;
- I recently met with key representatives from ACT Government to discuss badminton in ACT, some of our challenges and opportunities and how ACTBA plans to address this. The meeting was very positive and we will work closely with the ACT Chief Minister’s Office moving
forward.
Finally, a reminder that the Australian Badminton Open http://australianbadmintonopen.com.au/ is starting next week from 4-9 June 2019. Many of the best badminton players from around the world will be competing next week and many of our members (including myself) will be attending and supporting the event as officials, volunteers and spectators. I will provide you with further updates after our planning session in June. In the meantime, if you have any questions or feedback, please contact me on actba.president@badmintonact.org.au
Cheers,
Vikram Varma
President – ACTBA
