2011 Canadian International Challenge

This was my last International tournament of 2011 and it was the Canadian International Challenge out in Moncton, New Brunswick December 12-17th but I was out there December 11-15th. This tournament is my last of the year and counts towards Olympic qualification points so it attracted a decent amount of people. For this tournament I was up against 5th seed Stephan Wojcikiewicz of Canada 1st round.


Tournament Venue.

The good news was that I could hold a racquet again and even play some simple shots, clears, drops, forehand lifts, etc. The bad news was I could not constantly smash, play backhands, hit drives or play backhand lifts effectively due to no strength in my hands tendons. Playing against such an amazing talented player as Stephan proved incredibly hard and something that I was not able to do well. I played as hard as I could with the shots that I could hit but it was just near impossible to win points against him. I ended up getting crushed but am happy with how things went and know even more what to work on for the next year. I did receive a decent amount of points for a 1st round loss still which will boost my world ranking in the next week to somewhere around 400th in the world.


Rock Tape provided basic support but didn't help the 3 tendons in my hand too much =(

Clip of Me Vs. Stephan Wojcikiewicz [5]
Match Clip

I would like to achieve better tournament results in 2012 and will be working hard to do that. I am happy with where I have gotten in playing/training badminton for the past 4 and a half years. There is still a huge gap that I need to close with the players that have been playing/training for at least 10 years and started when they were young. We will see what 2012 has in store for me what tournaments I will play and how the year will pan out for me. I will finish off Christmas break and 2011/ beginning of 2012 doing footwork every day alternating between no weight vest and a weight vest. This will allow my hand to heal further and hopefully be ready in January when group training starts back up.

Until then I have some finals to write one Friday (tomorrow) and Monday December 19th. And will probably post a year in reflection blog, well I will try to do my best to post one up. A lot of great things have happened this year as well a lot of bad things too, but will dwell into that later.

Memory Lane

Traveling down memory lane
Reminiscing through all that time
Traveling down memory lane
It is a joy, truly one of a kind.

2011 XII Miami Pan Am International

November 9-12th was the 2011 XII Miami Pan Am International down at the Don Shula’s club in Miami Lakes, Miami. This tournament like all the rest I have played since May 2011 counts towards the 2012 Olympic qualification. This being said it was only an International Series graded tournament but still attracted players from all over the world. Players from the Pan Am Region (North, South, Central Americas as well as the Caribbean), also players from Europe (Italy, Greece, etc), and even some players from Sir Lanka attended. Overall the tournament was not bad, had good singles and mixed matches. My doubles partner from Ecuador did not show up so we ended up having to default the match.







I ended up losing to Ilian Perez of USA 2nd round in the men’s singles draw. It was not a bad match but it does suck to lose. He ended up making it to quarter finals where he lost to the Sir Lankan who eventually won the tournament. In the mixed doubles I and my partner lost in round of 16 to Paula Obanana and Philip Chew of the USA they ended up winning the tournament.

The weather was amazing in Miami; it was a nice change from the snow and negative numbers in Calgary. There was a downside though, the whole trip every flight that I took something happened in terms of being delayed. Leaving Calgary there was a mechanical problem and delayed an hour and a half. Arriving into Miami there was a gate issue; delayed 45 minutes. Leaving Miami something happened and the flight was delayed around 40 minutes which ultimately meant that I would and did miss my connecting flight from Toronto to Calgary.



But all that I can deal with, the real downside of the trip was that I injured my right hand during the 2nd last point of last game of the tournament, my mixed match. I played a simple mid court push on my backhand and then felt an extreme pain shoot through my palm on my right hand. I dropped my racquet and clenched my hand that’s how much it hurt. To simply hold my hand still and not move it was a pain that was beyond anything I have ever dealt before, sharp pains radiated through my palm and fingers only to be amplified with any movement or touch. I was unable to use my right hand for anything and it has taken over a week for the pain to subside. I do not currently have any strength in my hand which meant all week at training all I did was footwork and then would do fitness in the gym with some leg work. This coming week sees more of the same and then once strength is restored a gradual progression into training for the Canadian International.

So after this tournament my ranking didn’t change terribly much, it went up 72 spots but I still have a little ways to go to finish off the year in the top 400 in the world. I will play 1 more international this year the 2011 Canadian International Challenge in Moncton. If I get main draw then I will easily meet my goal, if I have to qualify and fail to qualify for main draw well that will be another story. The deadline is November 22nd and we will see how many people sign up then see how many people are ranked higher than me on the world rankings to determine who is put into main draw.

All in all things are coming along as planned; we shall see how the rest of the year plays out. For once I will be able to spend a full Christmas/New Years in Calgary. Not flying over the ocean or in another country for them. Hopefully it is not a lonely holiday season; it would be great and wonderful to spend it with somebody special amongst family and friends as well. Well that is a small update for now and more to come when more happens.

Thoughts of a Badminton Athlete

So I have written a lot about badminton on this blog, not really much about body or mind though. So this entry is a little different it has to do with my mind and thoughts on a few topics.

Something weird has happened in my dreams. In one way or another I always see you in them. Its wonderful to see your face and be so close to you again but at the same time I know none of it is real. The conversations have already happened the jokes already told. The special moments nothing but shadows of the past spent. But it's the reality of this figment of my imagination that scares me the most. Why is my mind doing this to me me now? There was acceptance of what happened and the move on yet now you pop up again.

The memories are nice, seeing old friends again and catching up. Always a fun and great time to reminisce in all the good and bad times. All the stories, jokes and everything else as well. Time has passed, taken its course with us all. Driven us all down different roads. Some which cross again, some go far into the distance alone, some end up at a fork in the road while some are greeted with a dead end. Looking into the past and where I have come from what I have accomplished I know that I owe a lot of it to my hard work and determination but I also owe a lot of it to influential people in my life. From parents and coaches, training partners and opponents. From friends and acquaintances to the significant others who were always there. Your reassurance and belief, your positive attitude helped push me forward. Looking at it I have another 5 years till the next olympics and its going to be a long road. Although I may be on this road alone it is not dark and uncertain. I have the support of friends, family and countless others lighting the way. I want to thank everybody who ever believed in me, everybody who was ever there for me. All those that did, thank you.

I know I would like to have more of a social life but with such a busy schedule it’s hard. I thank all those close to me that understand. You have put up with me not being able to come to your birthday parties or special dinners, to go hang out at this or that place or make it out for wing night. When I do show up to things its usually straight from training or coaching and you are understanding. This does take a tole on my relationships though which at this point in my life im looking to settle down and get married in the next few years. I have expirences so much in the past few years in many different countries to boot it. But one thing is that I feel that desire for commitment and something stable. I will still compete and go for my goals but that is part of what is preventing me from other things.

Overall I discovered badminton late. When I started most people have already trained for 6 or 7 years and have been junior provincial champions or close to. They have put in countless hours of meaningful training and gained valuable expirence. Im about 5 years behind them but I want to take this as far as I can and see how high I can go with it. I have to understand that improvement can be a rapid but also slow and tedious process at the same time. Trying to change and learn new techniques can be stressful and time consuming, 2 steps forward and 1 step back seems to be the story of my life.

Miami international is coming up next week (November 9-12) but I have pulled my inner thigh muscle which is not a good thing at all. My body hates me day after day and my mind tries constantly to do everything I want it to. To make my body move in a certain way, swing my arm a certain way, strategize different plays and just function on everything else that I need it to do. I will take a vacation soon early next year I hope. An actual vacation no badminton at all, we shall see when/if that’s happens. but 1st my goal for the end of the year is to finish in the top 400 in the world, I’m currently 618 after losing over 1000points earlier this year in April. I need to perform well in Miami and in Moncton at the Canadian International (provided I am attending it still).

Summer in Reflection

So it has been a long time since I have published a blog about what's happening. I have been traveling a lot this summer all through Canada and the USA as well as over to Asia and down to that Caribbean. When I was in China the “great firewall of China” had the vast majority of sites I frequent blocked including my blog.

Starting off after playing in Peru and junior & u23 Canadian nationals i had some time before i went to China for training. That time was primarly spent working on fitness and as much on court stuff as i could. I wanted to make sure i would be fit enough to train in Asia. Right before China i had to play the US Open which is a grand prix gold tournament. I was in qualifications again this year but there was only 16 spots in qualifiers. I played an opponent from Brazil and he got the better of me, he played very well and won that match. So coming off of that i was more than happy to be jetting off to Asia for training. I spent a total of 2 and a half days in LA (technically Orange County) and then flew back to Calgary. I then spent 13 hours in Calgary before flying to Hong Kong and then into Nanning China which took me around 28 hours with stopovers and waits in Vancouver and Hong Kong. When I got into my room it was around 11:30pm and I was to train 8am the next day.


2011 Canadian Junior and u23 Nationals, Team Alberta


2011 US Open Grand Prix Gold, during my men's singles match

I will write a completely separate blog entry about China and that will come later. Right now is more about the summer as a whole.

So I spent a whole month and a bit in China training and then started my flight back to Canada. That required spending a night in Hong Kong and then flying out to Vancouver then Calgary the following day. I can officially say that the 11 and a half hour flights from Asia are killer on my body. The fact that I was there for so long, all the traveling, and the amount of training that I did there simply destroyed my body.


2011 Training in China with the GuangXi Provincial Team

When I arrived back in Canada I was only to spend 8 days in Calgary but 3 of those would be playing in the Alberta open which is part of the national circuit. In hindsight that was a bad idea I had some alright games. My body had no idea what was happening and simply didn't want to move or listen to my mind. After playing the tournament and finishing Saturday afternoon with a loss in singles and doubles to the eventual winners I was leaving again Sunday night/Monday morning at 1am.

This time I would be flying down to Barbados for the 2011 CAREBACO international. This was tough with everything that I had gone through recently all the traveling and tired body. I did not take a proper rest after China to allow my body to recuperate and be happy with me again.

Flying into Barbados was good and I can't be mad with the tournament, its rough to have to play 1st and 2nd seeds in my draws but those are challenges that I welcome. In singles I played an older player and was not able to find my bearings, the stadium felt foreign and I did not feel comfortable hitting in there at all. Height of the venue was an issue with me as I messed with my timing. But these are not excuses at all. I am happy with how I played and learned from the expirence. Doubles and mixed were alright, tough matches and 1st time playing with either partner so there was an adjustment period.







I was in Barbados for 7 days more or less but was occupied with the tournament for 4 and a half of those days. Come Friday night though thats when my fun began. I enjoyed the nightlife in Barbados and it was a fun expirence and something long overdue. Just to relax and hang out with friends both old and new. The Beach had been taunting me all week and finally I dove into its beautiful blue waters, I did however go for a run on the beach every morning just to make sure I had some exercise.



After finishing in Barbados I made my way over to Trinidad which was just an hour flight away. I was to finally have my 1st vacation in a long long time. I spent a total of 8 days in Trinidad and it was a nice relaxing time. The heat was killer though and I was happy when it was a low of +23 degrees for the night.

That was the summer of 2011 in a nut shell; those were the major trips that I took this summer. There were a lot of weekends and time that I spent in other parts of Canada and the USA. A weekend to 5 days in Vancouver, a week in Montreal, Boston, and surrounding areas. Now that September is more than half way done focus has been on training and school as well as work. The next big tournament will be Miami Pan Am International in November. That’s all for now but I will have more posts about China as well as other things happening. I learned a lot, experienced a lot, and felt great about everything that happened regardless of the outcome.

US Open GPG and China Training Camp

So it has been a while since I have put up a blog post. I have been busy training. The trip to Indonesia got scrapped because the airfare was to expensive and did not justify the trip. I am instead going back to China to train again in Nanning with the provincial team there. The last time I was in China(Nanning) was in 2009 so it will be awesome to go back and see it again. Hopefully to see some familiar faces too.

Before I set foot in China though I will be playing in the 2011 US Open Grand Prix Gold tournament down in Orange County (LA) at OCBC. The Tournament is July 11-16 but I will only be there July 10-12 as I fly out to Hong Kong on July 13th. This being Olympic qualification year the tournament has drawn out some huge names from Taufik again but this time others such as Chen Jin, Bao Chun Li, Boonsak Posonna, Tain Min Nguyen, and even Lee Young Dae who's competing in the doubles and mixed events.
I will only be competing in the mens singles event but am in qualifications once again due to world ranking not being high enough. There are 16 players in qualifications fighting for 8 spots in main draw. I have been drawn against Houng Nam Nguyen of Vietnam who's also the 3rd seed in qualifications.



Right after I play US Open I will fly back to Calgary for about 12 hours and then will start my long trek to China. That is what my summer has in store for me, for the time being I have but only 1 more day to spend in Calgary which will be spent running errands and packing.

Once back from China I will be spending around 10 days in Calgary before heading off to Barbados for the carabaco international (individual event) as I'm not a part of the team event. Then off to Trinidad and finishing off with the Guatemala international in September. If I can stay longer I would play the Brazil international but that would mean missing 2 and a half weeks of school which would not be good.

2011 XVI Peru International Overview

*I know this is a little late, I have been really busy latley and found the time to sit down and write this up.*

So I traveled to the 2011 XVI Peru International Challange April 13-17 this year. I was put into qualifications for mend singles because my world ranking was not high enough. My flight into Peru was a long one, I left Calgary the Wednesday morning at 10am and didn't get into Lima, Peru until 12:30am Thursday morning. By the time I got to my dorm room at Club de Regatas and into bed it was 3:30am. I had my singles match at 9am the next morning. Needless to say I did get a decent sleep only waking up once in the night. The next morning I awoke at 8:15 ate and got ready they walked over to the venue for my match.




So I was in qualification B which consisted of 6 players. The first round I played a player from chili. Because I arrived so early that morning I was unable to have a hit in the club so my warm-up was my first time hitting there. The venue wasn't bad at all though I didn't have any trouble seeing the shuttle or with height of the roof. That match went well with the final score being 21-8, 21-12 in my favor. The next match that I had was against a player from Mexico, that was a different story though. I lost that match 15-21, 16-21 but am happy to am extent with how I played. It was a flat game for the most part something which I have recently started to work more and more on in my singles play. Anytime I was able to hit down I was able to win the rallies but anytime we played flat for a while things got interesting. Overall the singles portion of the tournament was good and I'm happy with how I played. I can see improvements in my game but still much to work on.




Doubles was next and I partnered with Toby Ng of Canada for that. We had to qualify against a pair from Mexico. Unfortunately I have never really trained for doubles so the fast and flat style associated with doubles is quite foreign to me. I will get put under into pressure situations that shouldn't happen and am unsure at times what shots to play. But I was a little nervous partnering with such an amazing player like Toby, he was kind about it. That doubles match was a close one with the Mexican pair coming out the victor 21-19, 21-19. So after that match it marked the end of my tournament but I still had one more day in Peru before I headed back home to Canada to finish off the exams I couldn't get deferred.




The next day I was able to relax and have a bit of a vacation for a change. I ended up watching some of the first round matches and there were some great ones on. After that I ended up spending around 5 hours on the beach sitting and reading my book with a little bit of tanning here and there. The water was pretty cold but I did go for a dip in the ocean. My day came to an end by watching a wonderful sunset and then I headed back to my dorm room to pack and wait to go to the airport. My flight left Lima at 2am so I was picked up to head to the airport at 11pm. We detoured a little through Lima and got to see a little of the night life in the city but that's the most that I saw of Lima the entire trip. Both landing and leaving lima was in the early am hours so I was unable to see any of the landscape or anything, well another time.






And thus an end to my trip to Lima, Peru had come to and end and as I border my flight I had a sense of accomplishment leaving the country and tournament.