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Badminton interest grows
Club format aimed at introducing students to the game

Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, November 6, 2014

LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
If you want to get people interested in something, the usual trick is to start slow and build gradually, something Thomas Simpson School is doing with its badminton program.

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Nathan Betsaka prepares to serve the birdie during an informal game on Monday at the Thomas Simpson School badminton practice. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo

The school has started the season with a club format, instead of the usual immediate focus on practices, hoping to build more interest in the sport.

John Forbes, coach of the school's team, said a club format means they can bring in those who may not have played before and can teach the rules, basic skills and game techniques.

Students on Monday were just playing non-competitively against friends, some playing singles while others doubles.

"It's really about getting them to have fun," Forbes said.

The format, used for the first few weeks, will be used to build interest in the sport among students before switching into practice format ahead of tournaments.

"It's quite busy so far this year," Forbes said Monday referrs to how many players have been attending as students began playing against each other in the school gym.

They've been averaging about 20 players per practice nights on Mondays and Wednesdays after school. He said that's up over previous years in part because of outreach efforts among the junior high school students to get them interested in playing. Contrast that to when Forbes first started coaching badminton at the school in 2007, where practices were often just him and another teaching playing.

Forbes, who teaches in the high school portion of the building, said he usually doesn't get to see the junior high students to recruit them to play.

"This year I made a conscious effort to go down there and see them and make sure that they feel more welcome," he said. "They were more inclined to come and join the club."

By getting younger players, skills and techniques can be learned earlier, making them better players by the time they reach high school.

"It's turned out well, we have quite a few grade 7's and 8's coming out this year," he said.

One of the tournaments on the horizon will be the NWT Badminton Championships in Hay River in December and Forbes said the players are excited about potentially going but how many students going hasn't been decided yet. That will depend on who gets permissions and has schoolwork completed.

Last year, Lisa Muyambo brought home three medals from the tournament and then played in the Arctic Winter Games territorial trials in Yellowknife but did not advance to the games themselves this past March in Fairbanks, Alaska.

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