NATIONAL OFFICIALS DAY!

Welcome to Badminton Northwest Territories

NATIONAL OFFICIALS DAY!

April 17, 2013

Want to give a big shout out to all our officials today!

You do a tough job! Here are some of our officials at Arctic Winter Games - Whitehorse, 2012

Ron & Laurell Graf

Julie Jeffery

Melanie Kornacki - Marketing and Communications Officer
Sport North Federation

NWT Athletes Battle on the Badminton Courts

Yellowknife, NT (March 12, 2013) – Hard hitting shuttles, overcoming defeat and plain ‘ole fun were some of the many things you may have caught at the Territorial Badminton Championships this past weekend in Yellowknife. With 75 athletes attending the championships, this proved to be one of the closer in skill and talent in recent years.

The tournament saw many close finals in all divisions, with the Open and Junior Men’s single finals having to go to two games. Both Mike Mathison (Open Men’s) and Dylan Allen (Junior Men’s) came charging back from the bottom side of the draw to win two full games against their opponent to capture gold. See second page for full results.

Juvenile Mixed Medal Winners, from L to R: Aodhan Mooney (Yellowknife), Axell Bouvier (Fort Providence), Lisa Muyambo (Fort Simpson), Daniel Melanson (Hay River), Danna Webster (Hay River), Brandon Constant (Fort Providence)

Badminton NT’s president, Julie Jeffery, was astonished at the level of play presented at the championships, “the caliber of play throughout the tournament at all levels was very impressive. There were close games in all divisions. It makes me excited to see what the future will hold in terms of progress of skill and talent in these athletes”. Head coach, Melanie Kornacki, was also thoroughly impressed with the level of play offered this weekend, “it was great to see some returning athletes winning games and even better to see new faces jumping right on to the scene – I am looking forward to seeing what the future holds for Badminton NT and the type of talent we will be able to bring to future southern tournaments and games”.

Although badminton has wrapped up for the majority of the territory, the High Performance Badminton team has one more tournament and clinic set-up for the end of the season. The team is heading to Edmonton, AB for their final tournament and then over to Vancouver, BC to end the season at a player development clinic.

For more information about Badminton NT and upcoming events visit www.nwtbadminton.ca.

For more information contact:

Colin Allooloo

callooloo@sportnorth.com

(867) 669-8332

www.nwtbadminton.ca

2013 Territorial Badminton Championships Results

Pre Juvenile Ladies Singles 1. Aodhan Mooney (YK) 2. Bryn Hill (HR) 3. Lisa Muyambo (FS)	Junior Ladies Singles 1. Sujal Shrestha (YK) 2. Brooke Schaefer (HR) 3. Paige Kruger (HR)
Pre Juvenile Men’s Singles 1. Tanner Mandeville (HR) 2. Yash Shrestha (YK 3. Dane Dupuis (HR)	Juvenile Men’s Singles 1. Axell Bouvier (FP) 2. Brandon Constant (FP) 3. Spencer Bonnetrouge (FP)
Junior Men’s Singles 1. Dylan Allen (YK) 2. Chesley Haqpi (BL) 3. Tyler Pudnak (BL)	Open Men’s Singles 1. Mike Mathison (YK) 2. Yuichi (YK) 3. Jeremy Keilstra (FP)
Pre Juvenile Ladies Doubles 1. Bryn Hill (HR) / Abby Webster (HR) 2. Lisa Muyambo (FS) / Delaney Vandell (FP) 3. Monique Graham (HR) / Reanna Cross (HR)	Junior Ladies Doubles 1. Sujal Shrestha (YK) / Brooke Schaefer (HR) 2. Aodhan Mooney (YK) / Novie Bordey (HR) 3. Paige Kruger (HR) / Kyla Milne (HR)
Juvenile Men’s Doubles 1. Harley Beaulieu (HR) / Kjel Crook (HR) 2. Tristan Cross (HR) / Ryan Dragon (HR) 3. Christian Laboucan (HR) / Alex Huang (HR)	Junior Men’s Doubles 1. Tyler Pudnak (BL) / Chesley Haqpi (BL) 2. Dylan Allen (YK) / Bradley Thom (FP) 3. Drake Robert (HR) / Joel Gorden (HR)
Open Men’s Doubles 1. Eric Frenette (YK) / Martin Deschense (YK) 2. Mike Mathison (YK) / Jim Umpherson (YK) 3. Jeremy Keilstra (FP) / Yuichi (YK)	Pre Juvenile MXD Doubles 1. Dane Dupuis (HR) / Bryn Hill (HR) 2. Tanner Mandeville (HR) / Elaine Chen (HR) 3. Tyrell Willgosh (HR) / Abby Webster (HR)
Juvenile MXD Doubles 1. Axell Bouvier (FP) / Aodhan Mooney (YK) 2. Brandon Constant (FP) / Lisa Muyambo (FS) 3. Daniel Melanson (HR) / Danna Webster (HR)	Junior MXD Doubles 1. Dylan Allen (YK) / Sujal Shrestha (YK) 2. Bradley Thom (FP) / Brooke Schaefer (HR) 3. Reid Hildebrandt (YK) / Novie Bordey (HR)

Badminton NT Shine Over the Weekend

Stettler, AB (February 5, 2013) – This past weekend Badminton NT’s high performance team traveled to Stettler, AB for the annual Junior B Badminton Tournament. Eight (8) athletes from Yellowknife, Fort Providence and Hay River represented the Northwest Territories at this tournament that was otherwise dominated by players from Alberta and Saskatchewan.

The tournament proved to be a challenge as the first badminton tournament to kick off the season for the team. Despite the nerves and excitement, the team was able to perform to the high standards from which they were chosen. Each player was able to produce great and exciting games.

With a tough Friday evening of games, the team was able to rebound and find success on Saturday in the doubles portion of the tournament. Sujal Shrestha (Yellowknife) and Brooke Schaefer (Hay River) were the first on the team to secure a medal, placing second in the U19 consolation women’s doubles. Bradley Thom (Fort Providence) and Dylan Allen (Yellowknife) were quick to follow winning a gold medal in the men’s U19 consolation doubles draw, with Reid Hildebrandt (Yellowknife) and Axell Bouvier (Fort Providence) coming in second. The team finished the tournament on a positive note with Sujal Shrestha and Dylan Allen winning gold in the U19 mixed Consolation doubles defeating hometown favourites in two sets.

With one tournament under their belt, head coach Melanie Kornacki is excited to see the team’s progress going into the NWT Badminton Championships, March 8-10. “The team preformed great this weekend. I couldn’t ask for better results. I hope the team will now take what they learned from this weekend and use it to perform even better at our Championships next month”. The team will be competing at two more events this season, representing Badminton NT at the NWT Badminton Championships, March 8-10 and the Royal Glenora Junior Tournament, March 15-17.

YELLOWKNIFER SPORTS CARD

You can see Aodhan's "Sports Card" in today's Yellowknifer (Wednesday, February 6, 2013).

AXELL BOUVIER GETS NOTICED BY NNSL

You can see Axell's Name in print today in News North. He was honoured with the "Sports Card"!
February 4, 2013.

This past weekend Badminton NT held the high performance team tryouts in Yellowknife, NT. With eighteen (18) athletes participating the try-outs proved that badminton is growing in the Northwest Territories. The two day event held on January 12-13 at St. Pat's High School consisted of fitness and tournament play.

2012-2013 Badminton NT Team:

Men’s	Women’s
Dylan Allen	Sujal Shrestha
Reid Hildebrant	Brooke Schaefer
Bradley Thom	Novie Bordey
Axell Bouvier	Aodhan Mooney
ALTERNATE – Brandon Constant	ALTERNATE – Paige Kruger

A replay from the 2012 Olympics

Women's Doubles Bronze Medal Match Canada vs Russia

Scrambling all over the court

Athletes impress at badminton tryouts

NWT badminton team coaches believe level of play improving

Thandiwe Vela
Northern News Services
Published Tuesday, January 15, 2013

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Coaches had no shortage of talent to choose from last weekend at the NWT Badminton team tryouts held at St. Patrick High School

Sujal Shrestha, 15, goes for a serve at the 2013 NWT Badminton tryouts on Saturday at St. Patrick High School. - Thandiwe Vela/NNSL photo

Seven girls and 11 boys from Yellowknife, Hay River and Fort Providence came out for the two-day tryout last Saturday and Sunday, all vying for a spot on the territorial badminton team. This year, the team consists of four boys and four girls plus one alternate for each born between 1994 and 2001.

The attitudes of the athletes as well as how they fared over the weekend overall determines who is selected, said coach Julie Jeffery, adding 70 per cent of the decision is based on their tournament play, and 30 per cent on their fitness.

"So we spent the whole morning just doing fitness testing," Jeffery said Saturday. "We did a 20-minute run, beep test, ball sits, jump ups, situps, pushups, step ups, scramble run. They were pretty tired. That's our goal."

The team will represent the NWT at three tournaments this season: Stettler, Alta., in February, the Royal Glenora Tournament in Edmonton in March and at the NWT Badminton Championships, in Yellowknife in March.

The tournaments are a means of developing players for higher level competition, said coach Melanie Kornacki, who coached the NWT team that competed at nationals last year.

"It was one of our better showings. Overall, the kids' playing, the skill level here in NWT is improving a lot. Skill level has improved immensely. It's great to see."

All 18 players took part in singles, doubles and mixed doubles tournament action and Jeffery said there were a few surprises, but the level of play between everyone was extremely close and she's excited to see that.

"There were a lot of three-set matches," she said. "It was neat to watch because the difference between the tryouts we're holding this year and the tryouts we hold for Arctic Winter Games is that we put all age categories together (for this event). We had 13-year-olds playing against 17-year-olds and everyone's even."

With Arctic Winter Games, there are age categories and Jeffery said the decision on who would represent the NWT wouldn't be as tough if it were done that way, but if the decision would have been based outside of that, it would have been a lot tougher.

"We have a lot of young kids who have so much potential to be better than the ones who are already on the team," she said. "I can see (the improvement happening) within the next year. We saw kids last year at the (NWT) championships and said we had to watch them. They're so much better already this year."

Jeffery figures one of the big reasons for all the success in the territory is the number of clinics put on by Badminton NT over the past months and the work done there is now translating into success on the court because the younger players want to play.

-- with files from James McCarthy