2016 Columbia International Nevia, Columbia

This would be the last tournament for a month and a bit but at this point I at least had a week off after 3 in a row. Now it was time to go to Columbia for the Columbia International, my 7^th tournament for the year and 3^rd tournament with Matt for doubles. This was in yet another little city and not one of the main ones so it meant quite a few flights to get there, 3 to be exact. After arriving into Bogota in the early hours of the morning we had to take a small propeller plane at sunrise to the city of Nevia which was where this edition of the tournament was being held. On arrival we were picked up at the airport which was actually a surprise for me since in South America if you get picked up by the tournament can be a hit or miss. Checking into the hotel we noticed that we were in fact in the center of the city but there actually wasn’t much around in terms of food. The hotel itself was relatively nice and it had a roof top where you could have a 360 degree view of the city.

 

Our hotel, pretty much in the middle of the town

The same day that we arrived we were able to go to the tournament hall and get some practice in, the tournament would start 2 days later. We were fortunate to have a good amount of time to practice in the hall and believe me when I say it was much needed. The venue was in the top 5 for worst venues that I have played in and of course all of them have been in the Pan Am region mainly the Caribbean and South America. This was an open air facility aka there was slits in the wall for air/wind to come through as well as giant open areas so there was a lot of wind and weird drafts. The lighting wasn’t the best but all these holes also allowed for the sunlight to come through and create massive blind spots on the court.

 

The open air venue that we would be playing in

For this tournament I was first seed in singles and we were 2^nd seed for doubles, Guatemala made up the majority of the other seeds for the tournament. Due to this when Matt and I were practicing there was a lot of Columbian players around who pretty much stopped what they were doing and started to watch me practice. It was humbling and made me nervous at the same time as I’m usually the one watching the top players practice when I go to these big tournaments but this time the roles were reversed and I was being watched. It was a different feeling, one that I have only felt a handful of times like in Tahiti back in 2013 when I had lots of fans cheering for me as I won round after round. Aside from this we were able to get some good practice in at the main hall and it would be crucial because as I said before this was an open air huge facility which was definitely not designed or made for badminton in mind.

 

The matches were scheduled to start with singles occurring first, I had a local Columbian player as my first match in single and the same for doubles. The first match went rather smoothly with me getting a feel for the player as well as the venue. The courts were taped out onto the floor and the draft was an interesting one changing every few seconds. I was able to stay on top and made it through my first round with a win, that would be all for the day and with a win I was into the quarterfinals since I had a bye first round. For doubles Matt and I had only played 3 tournaments together and were still coming together as a pair, figuring out what the other does and how we work best together. We had a bye and then would play against a local Columbian pair.

 

Courtside view of the facility, can you spot the badminton lines? Yeah it was really hard to see the duct tape courts.

The next day was both singles and doubles with singles being up first. I had another local player and this time it was a lot easier as I was more use to the courts and just played my game moving him around playing a consistency based match. I won my match with ease and was onto the semifinals in singles. But before all was over there was a doubles match to be played with Matt. This match was not as easy as we wanted, it was a match that would go to 3 games with us winning the 2 games that we did fairly easy yet losing one very close. It was a weird situation yet one that we came back from as a pair adding yet another win to our partnership. This marked the 2^nd semi-final that I would be in for the tournament. Now it meant back to the hotel to rest up and prepare for the following day. In both semifinals I would be playing against Guatemala, singles would be against Rodolfo Ramierz who I previously played at the Pan Am Championships in Lima, Peru back in 2012. In doubles we would be playing Ruban Castellaons and his partner Anibal Marroquin for the opportunity to go to the finals, I have yet to play them in doubles but had played Ruban in singles at the recently concluded US Open.

 

Setting up for the prize giving ceremony.

Semifinals day came and as always it was very windy in the venue. Singles was up first against Rodolfo and it was a tough match, nothing went my way I tried to force too many things and ended up losing due to my errors. This was not the way I wanted to start my first semi-final appearance in an international tournament. I would definitely be wanting to redeem myself in the doubles which would happen in a little while. Matt and I played good together, we were coming together as a pair and this time there was no go again, we lost the doubles semi-final but it was a close match just missing out on the win 18-21, 19-21. We were sad but happy in a way, that meant that I would get two bronze medals at the Columbia international which I was pretty happy about in that regard. Matt would however leave that night as opposed to staying for the medal ceremony the following day. Seeing as how these were the first international medals I would win for the year (aside from the team bronze medal at CAREBACO in Aruba a month prior) I wanted to stay and get my pictures on the podium with my medals as well as collect my prize money.

 

On the podium for men's singles, the other 3 players were all from Guatemala.

The finals day came and I went with everybody as there was only 1 bus there in the morning and then 1 bus back. Up till this point I hadn’t really talked with any other players at the tournament, not because I was antisocial but it just didn’t come up I would play and then leave. This time I sat in the stands and was approached by some of the local Columbian athletes playing and they spoke decent and enough English to have a conversation. So we watched the matches and talked about lots of stuff, they asked about my travels and we talked about school, badminton, etc. There was a substantial amount of wind though during the finals and that was noticeable by the flags that were courtside during the whole tournament. You could see them blowing in the wind as if they were outside just waving back and forth. Finally the finals finished and it was time for the medal ceremony. They brought out the podium and started to do them event by event. I had my name called and went up for doubles first followed by going up for singles to claim my second bronze medal. It felt great to be standing on the podium to receive a medal not only for me but for my country too. Afterwards we took some pictures of everyone followed by the awarding of prize money to the athletes which I got in both singles and doubles.

 

Got some medals and prize money too. Not bad for a few days work.

Now that was the tournament but we haven’t covered Columbia as a whole yet. I decided to write this blog post a little different and get the tournament out of the way and then discuss the exploration of the small town in Columbia. We were not in the capital of Bogata instead we were in the small town to the south about a 2 hour flight away called Nevia. It was a beautiful smaller town with a main river running through it and a small population. Their downtown wasn’t anything fancy but they did have a university and some other big buildings just nothing overly big. Across from our hotel was a large plaza which was always full of people and vendors selling anything and everything. Down the street was the same a slightly smaller plaza that was surrounded primarily by grocery stores and shops. Beside our hotel was also a church which I did venture into and took a look around, it was rather big and definitely stood out in the city.

 

Plaza under the trees across from our hotel, always looked like shady deals were going down

The big church beside our hotel.

Contrary to popular belief I didn't burst into flames upon entering.

Around our plaza at night the side streets or allies would be turned into a market with the entire street being taken up by more stalls/carts catering to anything you could every need. Finding food was actually on the challenging side as there wasn’t many food places directly around us. There was a burger place in the plaza opposite the hotel which I ended up eating most of my meals at. One day though we ventured up the street a ways and were able to find a bunch of restaurants none of which were open for lunch though. There was a Chinese place which Matt and I sat down and ate at and the food was great not to mention a large enough portion that I had food left over for dinner that night too. Aside from that most of the meals were eaten across the street at the burger place where the chicken breast burger was very delicious and filling for a fair price.

 

The side stress at night, set up with temporary shops selling anything and everything.

As for exploring there wasn’t a lot of stuff to see, walking down towards the river lead to some nice scenery and a fantastic statue which you would never guess a place like that had. It was hard to get a good picture of it though due to the lighting. I did miss seeing one thing though it was a giant head which you could climb up into and look out from. I didn’t venture far enough along the river to see it. Aside from some other plazas and statues there wasn’t anything crazy notable unlike the waterfalls and the dam in Brazil.

 

 

Finally though the string of tournaments had come to an end, I could go home for a month and not have to travel. As weird as that sounds to people, who would have thought but it’s true I’m travelling for competitions and not for pleasure. But not only that, for each trip I went back home to Calgary and then back out. That was 4 round trip flights from Calgary to the Caribbean (Aruba), South America (Brazil), North/Central America (Mexico), and back to South America (Columbia). I had gone through the Houston International airport 7 times with the exception of my flight to Brazil going through Chicago’s international airport. On top of this I had already acquired gold status with united and gold status with star alliance so that would make all my future flights even better with all the perks and upgrades. But alas was time to catch my small prop plane back to Bogota and then fly home for some much needed rest.   

 

2016 Mexico International Guadalajara, Mexico

Just like that my time in my own bed was over and it was back into the air to fly away again. Thankfully this time it wasn’t too far and was still on the same continent. Mexico was the destination this time, Guadalajara to be exact. Originally the tournament was scheduled to take place in Cancun but just 20 days before the tournament they changed the location, thankfully I didn’t book my flight yet at that point. Cancun would have been a fantastic place, beach and everything but the location change was beneficial as a bunch of players withdrew due to it. The singles draw was just a 32 size while the doubles draw ended up being a 16 size draw but there was less than 8 teams present which usually would not award any world ranking points. Due to the discretion of the tournament referee he choose to leave the withdrawn doubles pairs in the draw therefore having it more than 8 teams and awarding world ranking points.

 

Being in Mexico for so few days I didn't need much cash

But first before we even get to the tournament it was the matter of flying there. I would once again be going through Houston airport. Matt would have the same route but we would be arriving on different flights, I got in around 8pm and Matt arrived just after midnight. So I waited in the airport for him this way I wouldn’t have to taxi by myself, I did send in a transportation request though but when I landed there wasn’t anybody around to pick me up. So I was waiting for matt for sure. We made it to the hotel in one piece but it was super late already so being able to crash into bed was greatly appreciated. Not that it was super long flights I had to endure but just cumulative it was a lot of travel already and taking a toll on my body.

 

The tournament venue was set up really well

This is the unfortunate blog entry because I really didn’t see much in Mexico I was just in Guadalajara for a grand total of 3 days. But first things first the following day we were able to head to the hall and practice and the set up wasn’t bad. For an international series it was comparable to Brazil the week before, of course Brazil was better but Mexico was in the right direction. The venue itself was good no windows, there was a drift but not the end of the world like in other venues. We used the practice courts behind the main courts at first and then eventually we had our time on the main courts later. So feeling decent about playing there the draws were changed for singles due to the withdrawal of players. I had a bye then a local Mexican for my first round followed by Hock Lai Lee of USA, which was not the most ideal match. But I would worry about that the following day when the tournament started, Matt had a local Mexican first round too.

 

First day of competition kicked off and it went really well, I played against a junior and won my match fairly easily. It was the only match that I would have for the day and I was feeling good about playing Hock the following day as well as doubles. When the second day rolled around I played singles in the morning and boy was that quite the adventure it was a tough match against a good player. Hock use to play under the Malaysian flag and trained with current world #1 and 3 time Olympic silver medalist Lee Chong Wei. It was an uphill battle the whole way as he just had so much more experience than me and was able to read the game so well as to what I was going to play. We did have some good rallies and it was always when I was able to rally him I would win the point. It was not the match that I wanted, if I would have won that I would have made a semi-final and gotten a medal which would have been nice. But alas it was not meant to be that day and I lost, I would have to regroup fast though as we had doubles shortly afterwards.

 

Doubles came around and that was quite the matchup, we would play both the players we played in singles. It was quite the battle with both me and Matt making lots of mistakes and letting the youngsters score lots of points against us which isn’t what we would have liked. 3 games in and it wasn’t our day either, 3^rd tournament for world championships qualifications and we had a disappointing loss in the semifinals. After that happened we were scheduled to leave the next day back to Canada and USA respectively but we decided to try and leave that same night. I had just acquired gold status with united which also gave me star alliance gold status to. This being said we were able to fly on standby and were successful getting through to our destinations a whole day early.

But aside from the tournament I didn’t see much at all in the city. There was a plaza not more than a few blocks away from us but I was so busy that I didn’t get time to go over and fully explore it. Just the quick stroll down the street as we went to find food to eat. There was a giant Guadalajara sign in the plaza though that I would have really liked to get a picture with but that didn’t happen. This just happened to be one of those times where I only saw the airport, hotel, and tournament venue. The real life of a professional athlete not always getting to see the city I’m in or explore. Some things that people always get jealous of me for getting to do or so they think that I get to do. But the truth is most of the time I’m in completion mode and my schedule can be quite packed with training and matches. Usually I will get one day though to at least go out into the city and try and see as much as I can.

 

I don't even have a cool shot of anything, just this random street in Mexico

3 tournaments in a row done for me and just one more left. A week back home in Calgary and then it would be off to Nevia, Columbia for the Columbia International. I was already starting to see negative effects of so much travelling. I had been living out of hotels for 3 weeks and not always able to eat the same quantity or quality of food that I am accustomed to at home. Not to mention all the flying back and forth from each destination. My body was starting to break down and muscle mass deteriorated. But to sleep in my own bed for a week is definitely something I was looking forward to at the time. Thankfully it was a quick flight home just to Houston with a short layover and then straight to Calgary. Something that doesn’t happen much having either a long flight 6+ hours or long layovers 5+ in the airport. At least now I could go into the star alliance airline lounges. But this trip to Guadalajara I didn’t see anything. Hopefully the next tournament in Columbia I would get to venture out and explore the city.  

2016 Brazil Grand Prix Foz Do Iguacu, Brazil

 

So Aruba was last week and now after a quick layover in Calgary, just enough time to do laundry and repack, I was off to Brazil. This was an exciting trip because although I have been to Brazil before this time it would be to a city that I haven’t gone and there was a major tourist attraction there, Iguacu Falls. The city is borders both Paraguay and Argentina but this waterfall is located on the Brazil/Argentina boarder and is massive so that would definitely be something that I would have to check out while there can’t pass up that opportunity.  But before any of that could happen I had to get there which required a flight to Chicago and then onwards the long flight to Sao Paulo, Brazil and finally a domestic flight to Foz Do Iguacu. The flights themselves weren’t bad, the flight from Chicago to Sao Paulo was a long one but nothing I haven’t encountered before.  Matt had arrived a day before me so he rented a car and when I arrived into the small airport he was there to meet me and we went off to our hotel for the night.

Matt booked us a hotel very close to the venue, it was about 2 blocks away so perfect to walk to the venue and not have to worry about catching transportation. This was my first time playing in this city but Matt had played this tournament before in the past and was very familiar with the city. The tournament was a very small one especially for a grand prix level event, the men’s singles was a 32 size draw and doubles was a 16 size at that. There were quite a few Europeans that came over but not many people from the Pan Am zone. It is true that it was right after the Olympics and most countries/players really didn’t have the money to spend on travel. This made it the perfect time to try and qualify for worlds and even better time to get a head start at the tournaments where people were not attending. At this point I was just thinking about qualifying for doubles with Matt, the idea of trying to qualify for singles hadn’t even crossed my mind yet and wouldn’t for a little while.

Our hotel 2 blocks from the venue

 

So we had a day before the tournament started to practice and adjust, the venue itself was actually set up very nice. For the location and the rest of the building they did wonders. The courts were great, no blinding light, no terribly drafts, and good lines of sight all around. There were 3 match courts and 2 practice courts, given the size of the tournament it would be more than adequate to run all the matches with no delays. We were able to get in a good amount of practice before the matches commenced the following day with singles in the evening. Matt signed up for singles as well and had drawn a local Brazilian player first round as did I. My player however did not show up for the match so I was granted a walkover, a walkover into round or 16 at a Grand prix level tournament was a lot of singles points to be awarded 2110 to be exact and more if I won the next match. I would have to play Milin Ludik of the Czech Republic the following morning for my shot at a quarterfinal appearance. That did not happen though and I lost to him, it was a fun match and aside from Aruba and Canada Open one of the few times I had a coach behind my court with me.

 

Singles was done and now it was doubles time, the real reason I had travelled all the way down to South America. We were up against a mixed country pair, how appropriate since we too were a mixed country pair, of Brazil and Paraguay. The player from Brazil was an accomplished player as well the guy from Paraguay was a former Japanese national level (not national team) player and had since moved to work and live in Paraguay but was now playing under their flag.  This was a harder first round than some of the other teams had, a local junior Brazilian pair would have been nice but that’s alright we were up for the challenge. The match started and it wasn’t as shell shocking as the US Open against the other Japanese pair, we were able to have rallies and actually win points. Matt is known for being able to control the net and serve exceptionally well and of course he demonstrated it here but he can also play from the back. Being this was only our second tournament together there was for sure some times of uncertainty with shots and rotation as well as sequences but that was something that we would learn as we went along. We lost the match but weren’t blown out so although a crappy feeling for losing it wasn’t as terrible a feeling as it could have been.

 

Tournament venue was set up very nice for a South American Grand Prix

So the tournament was over and we had a day left in Brazil before heading home. Me and matt were on the same flight from Rio to Houston but we had a different departure time leaving Foz Do Iguacu. The weather wasn’t the best during the week and had limited moments of sunshine with mostly rain both heavy and light. This did not make the most ideal weather to go see the Iguazu waterfalls and the Itaipu dam (largest hydroelectric dam in the world in power generation). But we caught a break, the Friday it was sunny and the forecast said that the rest of the day would be more of the same. This was the time we took the opportunity and drove out to the falls, it wasn’t that far from the city actually which was surprising. It was located in a sort of national park as you would call it and when we paid to go in we boarded a bus which drove us off to the various stopping points. We were interested in the falls but wanted to do the little trek to them in order to get a better appreciation for them as well as see the scenery. The hike started off with a nice open area before retreating to the side of the cliffs for a more intimate view of all the various waterfalls on route to the large main falls. Because we were on the Brazil side we were seeing the waterfalls located on the Argentina side. Likewise the people on the Argentina side would be seeing the waterfalls on the brail side.

 

The beginning of the trail

 

It was simply amazing

 

Nothing short of breath taking

We snaked our way along the trails, stopping at the various viewing points to catch more glimpses at the power each waterfall held. Finally after some time passed we were at the mouth of the beast, the devils mouth as it was called. There was a catwalk of a bridge leading out over the raging water and up to the edge of one of the falls. We were right in the middle of the beast, getting soaked by all the water blowing in the wind. The people on the Argentina side did not get the same experience as their catwalk was at the very top of the falls, allowing them to see a magnificent top down view but not an inside the area experience. From the Brazil side we were also able to go up to above the falls on a tower to get the same sort of top down view but we would do that after. Standing there and seeing all that water was an eye opener to the true power of Mother Nature and sheer force the water had. For those of you who can conceptualize it, Iguazu falls has a flow of 1,756 meters cubed per second of water flow. Once off the catwalk there was a landing area literally right next to the waterfall where you could stand, the area was a soak zone and oh did I ever get soaked. But you could see just how fast and how much water was coming down, not to mention the sound as well. Standing there it really made you think where is all this water coming from that this much flows through every second of every day every year.

 

Those are the waterfalls on the Argentina side

 

Getting closer to the main falls, time to bring out the rain jacket

 

In the soak zone, it was crazy to see so much water falling down

 

Upon completing my time in the soak zone we preceded up to the top of the observation tower and got a nice top down view. You could see the whole area from the river before the falls to where it all ended up, truly a breathtaking and amazing sight to see. We then walked a little further up river and viewed how calm the water was, you would never think there was that monstrosity lurking just a few hundred meters downstream. There was some gift shops and food places but that was about it so we took a quick look and then boarded the bus back down to where we had parked. It was still pretty early in the day though and we had one more stop. It was a dam, but not just any dam, the largest hydroelectric dam in South America and let me tell you it is definitely worthy of that title.

 

View from up top, Argentina is on the other side in the back

 

River up atop the falls, you would never guess what lies beneath and ahead

We arrived later in the evening but were fortunate as there was 1 more tour bus going out to the dam for the day, of course we jumped on to it and got ready to see what all the fuss was about. Matt had already been there before so he knew what was what but to me it was all brand new. The drive up was interesting, everything was so artificial and the dam actually served as a border between Brazil and Paraguay so on the far side there was border control for those driving the route but we wouldn’t have to worry about that. We stopped at 2 different viewpoints of the dam, the first was a ways away to grasp the size of it from a distance which was actually quite hard to do. You could see busses and trucks driving on the road that up the dam but they looked so tiny in comparison. The second view point was closer and offered a little more context to the scale of this man made giant. Ironic just earlier we viewed the waterfalls which was raw and uncontrolled nature but now we were viewing a manmade structure all about the control of nature. Finally the bus took us along the dam, driving the full distance and that’s when I truly got an appreciation for the size of this thing. To see the pipes and sheer size of everything running up and down let alone the distance that it covered was mind blowing. We then proceeded to drive along the top having a view of both the lake behind and then drop off to the waterway below.

 

Itaipu Dam, this thing was damn big... ha ha couldn't resist the pun

 

Driving on the lower level of the dam

 

Looking up from the lower level

The final stop was towards the back on the lake, there was a restaurant and a whole area purely based and run on tourism as nobody lived back there. There was also a cruise around the lake where a large ferry would take you for a soothing sail around the lake to enjoy the view but it had ended for the evening as we were the last tour. So we walked the little dock and took in the view of a setting sun in South America over a manmade lake teeming with the beauty of nature. Boarding the bus the ride down was peaceful and left one with an overwhelming sense of the sheer size of things. You think you can conceptualize distances, sizes, etc but until you are standing right in front of it and seeing it yourself then your mind doesn’t know what it thinks it actually knows.

 

Pristine lake that was created when they built the dam and an amazing sunset

So that was the end of Brazil, I would fly out to Rio the next morning on an early flight and then Matt would join me later in the day for the flight from Rio to Houston. Following that I had my final flight onwards to Calgary which at that point I was super happy to get home and sleep in my own bed for the first time in over 2 weeks. But it would not be for long as I would just be home for a few days and then heading back out to Guadalajara, Mexico for the Mexico international series. I was happy with this tournament, some big results in both singles and doubles getting major world ranking points and this was my first thought of hey my singles ranking is going to go up. I still wasn’t thinking about qualifying or trying to qualify for world championships in singles yet though.

Rio 2016 Olympic touch at the dam

 

2016 CAREBACO Team and Individual Championships, Aruba

It was time to fly out again, this time I would be gone for almost 4 weeks in a row with a packed tournament schedule. Aruba, Brazil, and Mexico back to back then a week break and off to Columbia. This time I was heading to the Caribbean for the CAREBACO championships which happen every year, last year it was in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and we got a bronze medal in the team championships. This year we would see what we could fight to get. I was also the first seed in the individual BWF singles event.

 

2016 Trinidad and Tobago Senior CAREBACO team (L to R: Me, Solangel, Leanne, Kerian, Will, missing Alistair)

Flying to Aruba proved a little longer and harder than expected but nothing terrible just an overnight layover. For all the upcoming trips I would be flying through Houston international airport in Texas as it is a united hub for South America and the Caribbean. It was substantially cheaper to book all my flights as round trips than trying to go from one location to the other, weird yes I know. Unfortunately didn’t have status yet so I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the lounges or anything for the next few trips, I was just star alliance silver which doesn’t get the perks of lounge access but got priority check in and boarding. The last time I went to Aruba was when I was very small and we went island hopping one summer with my mom, aunt, and cousins so I didn’t remember it to well from back then.

 

Who could pass up these beautiful beaches on the island?

Arriving in Aruba was nice, the weather was hot and sun shining bright. It was still summer in Calgary, well ending, but the weather was good there however winter was looming around the corner. Upon arrival I was unfortunately not picked up from the airport which is something I am quiet use to despite submitting my arrival information. After some time and using the wifi I was able to contact somebody from the Trinidad team and the tournament organizers came and took me to the tournament hall where the junior team tournament was happening. I stayed there for a while to support the juniors. The rest of the senior team was to arrive the next day. The venue didn’t look terrible, definitely not the worst place that I have been to before. That night I got a decent rest and the following day me and Rahul (President of the TTBA), Navin (TTBA position), and one of the juniors Renaldo went to have an early morning practice at the hall. It was a good first hit in the venue and something well needed as the Senior Team tournament would start the following day.

 

The tournament venue, practice day

I headed back to the hotel and rested for the majority of the day, venturing out for food and to explore a bit but didn’t stay out long due to the heat. That night the rest of the team thankfully arrived and we were relieved to see them. Team matches would start the following day and was in the format of men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles. To win the tie you had to win 3 out of 5 but they would play out the entire tie for completeness sake. There was only 4 countries entered this year; Trinidad and Tobago, Dominican Republic, Barbados, and Suriname. Every team was strong and it would be a fight right to the end. We played Suriname first and unfortunately lost 1-4. I played singles against Suriname for that tie. While Dom Rep played Barbados and won their tie. Next tie was playing against Dom Rep and we lost 1-4 yet again. This time I played both doubles and mixed doubles having 2 close matches. Suriname played Barbados and won their tie. This meant that playing for first and second place would be Suriname and Dominican Republic. Playing for third and fourth place would be Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. There was only 3 medals; gold, silver, and bronze nothing for fourth place.

 

Tournament venue during the competition, it was actually a good venue for an island

Game day. It all came down to this tie against Barbados, either we would be going home with a medal or we would be going home empty handed. I played first singles and it was national champion against national champion. I was able to beat the Barbados player but it went 3 games because of my nerves and safe play at times. Next up we won women’s singles with Solangel winning in 2 straight. Then came doubles, if we won this match then we would win the tie and be bronze medalists at CAREBACO. Alistair and Will were able to beat out the other 2 players winning us the tie and taking it home 3-0. That was a good feeling to have gotten a bronze medal at least from the tournament which was a big moment for national pride and made me feel good about being Trinidadian.

 

2016 CAREBACO Team Event Bronze Medal, award ceremonies

 

The medals that we got, they are actually pretty cool

That however was not all that took place in Aruba, I was there for just over a week due to the amount of events I was participating in. there was a day where I did have no badminton due to the team tournament finishing and the international starting the following day. What better use of a day than to explore the island or as much as possible and within walking distance of the hotel. There were 2 shopping malls down the road which we checked out earlier in the week to find food but this was the first time that actually spent time walking through them and seeing what was what. There was a dock where the cruise ships came in and then just retail all along the strip since it was a very tourist heavy area. Located there was also a giant “I love Aruba” sigh which of course is the perfect photo opportunity and a must have picture. The walk to the mall/shopping area wasn’t terribly far maybe about 15 minutes but the heat is what was really the killer, it was also deathly dry there so not a good combination. The view however could not be beat, blue clear water just tropical paradise status, and was always a welcome sight. Not to mention very tempting to just jump in and go for a swim.

 

Climbing up on the Aruba sign

 

Another Aruba sign and of course I needed to climb it again

Talking about going for a swim and the ocean this was yet another trip where I was not fortunate enough to actually go into the water. Despite our hotel literally being across the street from the beach the most that I went into the water was up to my knees for a picture…but it was a good picture and the water was so warm. We did however spend some time hanging out on the beach both during the day and at night. During the night there was a food truck which came out and the food that they served was delicious. What better thing to do than grab some food and walk down to the beach. Listen to the calming of the sea and stare into the abyss of space seeing the sky lit up with the stars of our galaxy…alright if you couldn’t tell I enjoy space a lot.

 

Couldn't leave without getting a picture in that perfect looking water

We spent a lot of nights eating at this food truck, it got lots of business

With the team tournament over it was time for the senior BWF individual event to start as well as there was a junior international event happening too. The draws were late to be posted and we only found out the draw 2 days before the tournament was to start which is almost unheard of for international standards. This international was only a future series which is the lowest level offering no prize money, and very limited points. I had a decent draw playing against a Suriname player first round and then that took me into quarterfinals where I played a Jamaican player and unfortunately lost. This loss would cause me to leave Aruba the next day and focus on my tournament in Brazil which was a much higher level and offered a lot more points. Because of the tournament in Brazil I did not play men’s doubles or mixed doubles due to the time constraints of getting to Brazil on time. It would also be the next step in my new partnership with Matt for world championships qualifications so was important to get to and adjust to the venue. All that was left was to leave Aruba and fly back to Calgary for believe it or not a 5 hour layover before flying straight to Brazil. I know what you are thinking that is a major backtrack but it was insanely cheaper (over $1000 cheaper) to do it this way, also I would get a lot of qualifying miles for my United reward status so not a total loss. Just meant that I would be spending a lot of time flying and in airports, something that I have become accustomed to over the past few years. So now onto Foz Du Iguassu, Brazil for the 2016 Brazil Grand Prix.

2016 CAREBACO team event men's singles, me vs. Barbados

2016 US Open Grand Prix Gold

 

The US open had been moved back to LA since its move to New York for 2 years. Despite the move back it was not given back to OCBC down in Anaheim so this was something new. It was awarded to a facility called the Los Angeles Badminton Club (LABC) which I actually played at once before.  This was good news as I would be staying at Yukos house and it wasn’t a terribly far drive, nothing compared to trying to go from Manhattan Beach to OCBC. This tournament I would be playing all 3 events. Singles, Doubles with Matt Fogarty, and mixed with Yoshi (Yukos daughter). So let’s discuss something first, let’s talk about this doubles partnership.

 

Earlier in the year the opportunity came up to play with Matt in the attempt to make a run at qualifying for the 2017 world championships in Glasgow, Scotland. This meant that we would be playing tournaments together in order to get the required points and the world ranking needed. The qualification for world championships is May 1, 2016 to April 30, 2017 so a one year period. The best 10 tournaments in that time count and only 2 teams from the same country are able to qualify. Because we are a split partnership we would count as one team from Trinidad and one team from USA. The US Open would be our first tournament together and first set or ranking/qualification points.

 

At the time I wasn’t even thinking about qualifying or trying to qualify for singles but that would come into play later on. So that is the new partnership that was formed and that would also lead me to some more travels than I had intended for the year. Canada open passed and then a few days later I was on my flight to LA and to see Yuko again. We got to practice at the tournament hall with Dean and Dean’s partner, also with Tuck and Jenn Yee too. The tournament venue wasn’t terrible it was a darker hall and they had adjusted the lighting to make it more “professional” but that wasn’t necessarily the case. Yuko was the nurse on duty so she would be going up each day which was nice for me as it was at least an hour to an hour and a half drive each way.

 

2016 US Open GPG venue at LABC

Before the tournament started though it was time to celebrate 4^th of July American style, aka go down to the beach and suntan. Of course everyone was out on the beach partying and drinking it up so it was definitely a great time and so relaxing as well. That evening we went out to the tournament hall to practice again and while driving back we could see the 4^th of July fireworks being set off all over the place. It is about a 40 minute to 1 hour+ drive depending on traffic but with fireworks going off it was enjoyable. The next day would be the start of the tournament and I would need to get a good night’s rest for my singles match.

 

Manhattan Beach on 4th of July

 

Soaking up some sun

First day of play, singles. It started off just like that and I was playing Ruban of Guatemala, I have never played him before and he is about the 2^nd best Guatemalan after Kevin Cordon. This match was something else, I did not play smart and did not have my focus where it should have been. Because of this it left me shell shocked and scrambling around to try and figure out what to do. Ultimately that did not end well and it was a loss in singles for me. So my day was over, we stuck around and watched some other matches that were happening before me and Yuko did the long drive back to Manhattan Beach.

 

During Mens Singles

Mixed doubles was up first with me and Yoshi playing against Nyl and Britney from Canada. That was a tough match from the start but we didn’t do badly actually and it was a lot of fun. We ended up being on the streaming court as well so that was a bonus. Afterwards I had to play doubles and that would be the debut of me and Matt playing together. We had a decent first round against Dean (his former partner of many years) and a younger university student Ali. This was a good warm up match and ultimately we ended up winning, it was a little bit of a bittersweet win though because I like Dean and we are great friends off the court but I know this one hurt him a little. Every match from there on out I play for Dean because it truly is because of him and Yuko that I am having this opportunity available to me and I don’t think I can ever repay them.

 

Not gonna lie, fanboyed a little and finally got my picture with Peter Gade

This is where things would get once again interesting. We had now progressed to round of 16 at a grand prix gold tournament. The first time I could say I have been that far, even if it is just winning one round. Now we were in for a real shock, we would play a pair from Japan. The match started and I have never felt this lost before ever. No matter what we did, no matter how good a shot, no matter what everything came back with interest. I could hit a net kill straight down at the service line and somehow they would get it back with a crosscourt tight winner. It was brutal, of course they are good and it would be easy but I have never felt that lost, even when I have played top 20 singles players in the world. But the simple fact of the matter was we got absolutely destroyed on the TV/betting court. This was the beginning of a partnership though which would take us too many countries and hopefully many more wins.

 

For the time being my experience at the US Open was done and I would spend a few more days in LA with Yuko and her family before heading back home. The next few days involved doing some simple things, badminton and checking out Venice beach of course. We ended up going kayaking in the marina with Dean and one of his friends which was super fun to do. Having some good food and great company is always the best way to spend time. First doubles win of the year under my belt and onto the next tournaments we had planned out. Aruba with Trinidad and Tobago for CAREBACO team and individual championships in August. Brazil Grand Prix in Iguassu Falls beginning of September. Mexico International series in Cancun, and Columbia International series in Nevia both in September. I would definitely be earning my elite status this year.

 

Some fun out on the water

Can't go to Venice Beach and not see Muscle Beach