Meet Auckland 14s 1 - 2008 Badminton NZ's Team of the Year - A Family of Young Professionals

 

(Auckland 14s No.1 - Insert Top to Bottom: Michael Chi (Coach), Ben Yu

Main Photo Left to Right: Annie So (Manager), Soumiya Pushparajah, Bianca Yow, Angie Leung, Lilian Shih, Katarina Sim (captain with trophy), Roy Wong, Riga Oud, Eric Sow, Benny Suen 

(Photo by Sarah Joe)

 

The Auckland Under 14s No.1 team created history in 2008 by becoming the first ever junior rep team to win the Badminton NZ Team of the Year.    The fact they were nominated by Auckland ahead of the Wisden Cup team who won the cup for the 2nd year in a row shows how special this team was in 2008.   One of the key things that stands out about the team is their professional approach on court and their friendships off court.  As their record shows they were one of the most successful U14 rep teams ever.   This article hopefully will give you a little insight into this team and why they did so well.   Honed by one of the most dedicated coaches in NZ, Michael Chi, and one of the best managers in NZ, Annie So - the team was well supported and prepared in every respect.

For The Record:    Team Titles Won 2008:    Northern Region Local Derby   North Island U14s   National  U14s   Unbeaten all year in all ties.   Total of 218 games (16 per tie) played lost only 6 all year.

 

Views of Michael Chi (Coach): 

 

Pictured - Michael also won the 2008 Auckland Badminton Coach of the Year and 2008 Badminton NZ Coach of the Year Award - receiving his award from Peter Beckerleg - Badminton NZ.

 

 "This was in  many ways a dream team.  What impressed me was that the players would come to me thinking ahead, making their own plans and setting standards over and above the high expectations I already had." 

 

"For example our trainings were pretty tough, but if some players were starting to adapt to that level, they would come up to me and ask for even harder training."  

 

"Also the players would ask me about the teams they were playing in, even 1 or 2 weeks out and what combinations I would be using.  I would always involve them and communicate with them on such things.   They would go away and start talking amongst themselves and prepare strategies.  That is very unusual in my experience with such a young team.  They set their own goals in addition to the team goals."

 

 (Photo by Sarah Joe)

"If they continue to work hard and develop their game many of these players could go on to represent NZ in the future." 

 

"This year we started as favourites, so I talked to them a lot about how it is easy in that situation to be overconfident, and drop standards by thinking you just need to turn up to win." 

 

"Also we talked about setting our own standards and targets of performance, no matter who we were playing.  We also brought guests into trainings to help motivate and give tips to the players."

 

Annie. our manager,  was incredible.  She takes care of everything off court - she develops plans for each individual player, where they need to be, when and what they need to bring.  She rings parents, up even before trainings, to remind each one of them and keep them involved in the team.  She works long hours.   Some in the team call her "Mum" as the mother away from home because she looks after them so well and I know the parents are happy their children are in good hands. 

 

Views of Annie So (Manager)

(Recently appointed as Manager of the June Bevan Northern region No.1 Team)

 

"I didn't feel any pressure to win and I told the team I just wanted them to play their best.  I am very very proud of the team.  The one time I did feel some pressure was in the tight games so then I would put my energy into cheering for them."

 

"Michael was a great coach, the team looked on him not only as a coach but as a friend, brother and counselor.  He had a great relationship with them and he was very supportive of them, but at the same time he would also train them hard.  Sometimes in training he would play with them, which they liked.  He was always in control of the team and had great planning."

 

When Annie talks about the team she is smiling and nodding as if the team is just like any other. And this team is, in many ways, like any other in terms of being a normal group of people but with extraordinary talent and commitment.  Annie also smiles as I ask her that at the busiest times how busy did she get - "Oh when really busy I got to bed at 1 to 2am in the morning and up again at 6:45am the next day". 

 

The Mascot 

 

(Unfortunately was not available for comment

but the word on the street is that he is very happy)

 

 

 

The pre "photo shopped" cover photo taken at Gillies Ave spelling AK 14s - we added the 1 later

 

Views of the The Team: 

Lilian Shih, Angie Leung, Soumiya Pushparajah,

Katarina Sim (Kat - the captain), Bianca Yow

 

Riga Oud, Eric Sow, Benny Suen,

Roy Wong, Ben Yu 

Annie So (Manager), Michael Chi (Coach)

 

Plus Parent Helpers (not pictured): Daisy Poon, Rebecca Leung and Ivy Yow

 

I interviewed the team together.  One thing that impressed me most about them is that despite all the attention they don't take themselves too seriously and while confident of performing the most important thing is being part of the team and part of the family. 

 

To them the awards and extra attention were nice and  a nice surprise, but what was most important was being part of the team and performing well for each other. 

 

Together they feel more like a family and playing for each other, not letting the team standards slip is really important to them. 

 

They had a healthy fear of not letting the standards drop or letting the team down. 

 

Not so they were paralysed by it, but enough so they didn't sit back and cruise either. 

 

 

Were You Surprised When You Won The Badminton NZ Team of the Year Award?

"Yes - we thought what the? ... We didn't expect that, but it was cool!!!"  

 

What Sort Of Goals Did You Set As A Team When Playing?

" One goal was to go through a tie and give away only 10 points to the opposition in the whole tie of 16 matches"

 

"We gave away too many points in our game and we were really disappointed that we couldn't reach that goal then"

 

Did You Feel Pressure Being Tagged As The Favourites?

Like most of the questions there were a range of answers and feelings.   Some did feel the pressure, some didn't.   Some were very confident of winning from the start - something that Michael was keen to avoid becoming overconfidence.  Most felt pressure  in terms of not letting the team down e.g. not meeting a target or being the only ones to lose a match. 

 

Did You Have Any Team Chants? 

"Yes.  One of them was:"

"Who Are We?...Auckland!",  "Who's The Best?...Auckland!", "Who's Gonna Win? .. Auckland!!!".    

 

"Another one was:"

"Auckland 1...Number 1"

 

Did You Train Hard?

That was a unanimous "YESSSSSS!!!"

 

When Asked About Their Coach Michael The Response Was Huge

"He Was The Bomb!!", "The Best!!!", "He knows everything about tactics, technique. training everything".  "He is like a father of the team"  "He was like a brother". "He is the reason we did so well." 

 

As With Their Manager Annie

"She is like the mother of the team"  "She takes care of us"  "She is awesome!!!!"  "She always makes us great food!!!"

 

This article hopefully gives you a small insight into this special team.  But only the team truly know what it was like.  And that is how it should be.  For this team, this "family" and the memories they take from this experience will be with them forever, and as the trophies gather dust , and accolades fade those memories, the pride and the fun they had will stay with them. It be something they will always share together as a team, and as a family.

 

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"Just Do It"  Keeping Success Simple

An Interview With Heather Robson

by Cliff Freeman (Photos by Sarah Joe)

 

Heather and Jeff Robson have formed the backbone of NZ badminton on and off the court.  As players they achieved results that are rare for NZ players and as administrators they helped progress our sport not only in NZ but around the world.   Heather has been a pioneer both on and off the court - she was on the original committee that helped build the original Gillies Avenue hall and courts in 1960 (50th Anniversary coming up in 2010).  She along with  many of our top players have the attitude of finding a way to "get it done", to stand on your own two feet and fend for yourself sometimes against the odds and in administration of ensuring we put the players first.

 

It's a sunny pre summer day and Heather settles into a chair to do a 1 on 1 interview for the magazine.   Thinking of us she checks if the light is ok for the photos and makes sure we are comfortable.    As we speak our photographer Sarah Joe does a great job of snapping photos in such a subtle way that Heather and I are almost unaware of it.   Jeff also pops in and helps during the interview and we are under way.   Heather is very humble about her achievements, a common trait she shares with other high performing players such as husband Jeff, Richard Purser, Daniel Shirley and John Gordon.  They all know how hard it can be on the international circuit.   They are both humble and very approachable and a strong sense of what is needed in the sport to make it successful.    Here are some examples of that successful pioneering spirit of "Just Do It".

 

In 1960 You Broke New Ground When The NZ Uber Cup Team Made The Semifinals In The World Competition - That Must Have Been A Special Experience?

Oh yes that was quite an experience.  We had no idea that we would do that well.  We started off in an Oceania group with Australia and Thailand.  After beating Thailand which was rather unexpected we headed off to the USA (then the holders of the Uber Cup) via England.  There we beat Canada 3-2 to qualify for the semifinal against Denmark  We lost that semifinal but we were very happy with how far we had progressed and it meant a lot to the badminton community back in NZ. We didn't have a coach in those days.  The team had a lot of depth with Val Gow (Daniel Shirley's Grandmother), Glenys Hopkinson, Betty Meyer, Heather, Sonia Cox, and Nancy Fleming as Manager.

 

You Worked Hard Along With Roy Ward From Australia And Others To Start The Oceania Federation How Do You See It's Progress Now?

Well it is very  hard because every country is so spread out.  However I think they get alot more assistance now than they did when we first started.  It is one of those things that you have to just keep working hard at it and make slow advances each year. When we started we gave them rackets from the then IBF, shuttles and things like that. I well remember carrying a stringing machine from Europe back to New Zealand for Samoa.  One of the basic needs is for resources - now Tony Mourdant is working hard there as the Oceania Development Manager to bring more coaching and support to the Oceania Region.

 

There have been several coaches in Oceania and Mohan Subramaniam traveled alot throughout the region in the early times and did a tremendous amount of work in getting coaching systems started.

 

You are only 1 of 3 NZ Women to ever make the Semis of All England's Womens Singles (The other two being Sonia Cox and Nancy Fleming) - Was It Tough?

Oh Yes.  Back then All England's was like the "Wimbledon of Badminton" really.  It took us a month to travel to England by boat and a month back so you wanted to make the most of the opportunity when you arrived there.  I played a  Danish girl early on and won that fairly comfortably then later played Iris Cooley the English No.1 and World No.2 in the semifinal. 

 

I did beat her once to win the Irish Championships

 

We didn't have video analysis or much chance to assess the opposition back then in fact we didn't have a coach either so we learnt to fend for ourselves.  We lived in England for 10 months and spent about 4 and a half months playing badminton before the All England.  That certainly helped assess some of the opposition and to get up to speed but you had to pretty quickly assess the player on court really.  Prior to the All England we played in County tournaments and also the Danish, Scottish and Irish Championships.  Following the All England we turned our attention to tennis.

 

You Also Played at Wimbledon in Tennis What Was That Like?

Yes we played there in 1954 and again in 1957 where I made the 2nd round in singles both times.  In 1954 I made it through a few rounds in Ladies Doubles with Judy Burke and in 1957 I made the later rounds with Ruia Morrison.    Jeff and I also went through a few rounds of mixed doubles.  I was fortunate enough to be placed in the No.1 dressing room and after each match the attendant looking after the room always had a hot bath run for the competitors.  Jeff played at Wimbledon several times.

 

What Was your Style of Play and When Did You Start Playing?

I was a very consistent sort of player - I would clear a lot and smash.  So I would look to position the player and keep clearing deep and set up the smash.  I didn't start playing badminton until I was 20 - so quite late.  I had played a lot of tennis and found that to play badminton was quite an adjustment and it tended to play havoc with your tennis forehand.  I was fortunate enough to win the Auckland Badminton champs about 2 / 3 years after I started so I must have adapted quite well.

(Adapted well is probably an understatement as Heather went on to win 7 National Singles, 9 National Doubles (8 with Val Gow and 1 with Sonia Cox), 3 National mixed Titles 1953,  1961 and 1962 all with Jeff.)

 

How Do You See The Impact Of The New Rules On The Game?

It probably made the game more defensive at least initially.  I think they have adapted a bit more in the last little while.    Note from Jeff: The serve is a defensive stroke - that is it has to travel upwards to clear the net (compare this with tennis!).  So it used to be so important to win the right to serve and to return it, as previously that was the only way you could win points (by serving).  Now, it doesn't matter too much whether you are serving or not - you win points by the rally.  This is a major change in the game and I am not all that convinced that this is good.  It can be exciting now but also a bit anticlimactic sometimes if you win a game off someone serving it into the net for example

 

What Do You Think Is The Key For NZ Players Wanting To Compete Internationally?

Definitely getting overseas more.  Whenever we came back from overseas we could feel ourselves slowing down. Not in terms of fitness or reflexes or moving round court but just the pace of the game and racket work.  It is very hard to maintain that unless you are playing against people who are fast.  Getting coaching is important but I think it is easy to be over coached - I'm not a fan of the coaches sitting at the back of the court and talking to players every 5 minutes I think that stops the player from thinking for themselves. 

 

What Do You Think is Important in Administration of the Sport?

I think it's important that bureaucracy doesn't take over, but a certain amount is needed for the game to flourish and progress.  Someone has to administer and watch the finances!  It's very important to support players to get overseas and to do so in a way that also encourages self reliance and independence also.

 

 

 

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Changing the Public's Perception of Badminton

- Talent Under Cover -

 

Issues 1, 2 and 3 - click on them to view

 

Badminton in NZ doesn't get a lot of profile so the magazine is one way in which we can present a new face on our game and our players both here and overseas as well as hopefully provide some new information to people about how NZ views the world of badminton and sometimes how the world sees us.

 

The Shuttle Express is way to help change the public's perception of what badminton is and help attract new people to our sport.  In doing that Auckland is very fortunate to have two very talented people involved in the production of our magazine covers for the Shuttle Express Magazine - photographer Sarah Joe and graphics designer Claudia Lo.

 

This article looks at the work Sarah does on the photography side to give more of an insight into how pictures can change the way badminton and it's people are perceived.  

 

Sarah Joe - Magazine Photographer   Born 25th September 1991.    In 2009 Sarah will be in 7th form - year 13 - Sarah has been taking photos since primary school and is now keen to study photography at either AUT or AU.

 

Sarah has the ability to bring out the character of a person or a group that is often missed in other photos.  And while she has an instinctive talent for doing this that doesn't mean that it is easy.

 

What Did You Feel When First Asked To Take Photos For the Magazine?   "I was a bit scared at first as it was the first time I had been asked to take photos for an organization before on a formal basis."    "I was scared that I might let people down or not produce a picture that was good enough."    "When I first met the players it was for a photo shoot at a training session but later when I was at a game I saw the intensity and preparation that they go through for a game. It was really impressive watching them prepare and "zoned in" for a match."

 

What Can Change The Character Of A Shot?

"Here are some photos we took during the year.  You can see in some of the photos how the lighting can have a big impact in bringing out the character of the person.  These two photos of Michelle were both taken in the same room just seconds apart.  But in photo 1 the lighting is quite bright whereas 2 has the soft lighting reflects a more relaxed mood also and gives a totally different impact.  Different shots can show different sides to the person which is neat when you can get that coming through the photo and into the magazine." 

 

Michelle Chan - Photo 1

Michelle Chan - Photo 2

 

Heather Robson

"In the above photo the lighting off the shade helps to frame the shot and frame the face in a nice way.  The change in angle of the photo has a big impact on shot also."

 

"Sometimes the change can be very subtle.  In the picture of the Auckland U 14s No. 1 Team  -  (Michael Chi and Ben Yu were overseas) changing the angle makes a subtle difference.  The top photo of the 14s 1 team  was taken from a lower angle and gives a bit more of a "pride in the team standing tall effect" than the lower one."

 

Jack Ngametua Auckland Badminton's Operations Manager At Work

What Do You Enjoy About Photography? "I really enjoy photographing people, especially 1 on 1, as it is a chance to show the situation or person in a new light and help show their character."    "Being photographed is not always a comfortable experience for the person being photographed so I try and help them be as relaxed as possible by sort of being in the background so they can almost forget that I am photographing them."   "For portraits, doing a photo at their home is often good because they are more comfortable there and you can see another side of the person that might not show up on the court shots."   Do You Try For a Certain Shot Or Is It Instinctive? "I just experiment with different angles and positions and timing to see what might work. I sort of just get into a vibe or flow and keep going.  It is only afterwards that you get to see what has and hasn't worked."    "Now and again a "money shot" turns up which is one where it looks really great and is a special photo.  I don't know when that will happen but when it does it really special and hopefully special to the person being photographed as well."

 

"I've been taking photos for quite a while in fact I take so many of the family photos that I end up not being in many of them.  I love taking landscapes as well as people (as shown in the shot of Mt Eden below)."

 

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A Club Evolving to Cope With the Modern Sports Environment

- The Pacific Badminton Club -

 

There's  little doubt in NZ that we are in a transition along with all the other sports.  We need to be smart in order to compete with the growing options presented to the public for their sport and entertainment dollar.  Everything from playstation, internet to roller hockey and American Football. 

 

The Pacific Club has always been a club to embrace new challenges.  Less than 15 years old - they became incorporated in 1999, they are one of the fastest growing clubs in NZ.  They now have 85 senior members and 95 juniors. 

 

The Juniors:  Daniel Lee has worked tirelessly all year not only looking after the junior club every Friday night but then turning around and helping Auckland run junior interclub also.   Daniel (pictured) received the Auckland Volunteer Of The Year award in 2008 - he also went on to receive a Sport Auckland Volunteer Award also.  The juniors have done well producing well over 10 junior reps in 2008 including: - Kaitlyn Mcleod - recent winner of the U12 doubles title and - James Sze member of the Auckland 18s No.1 team.

 

 

 

 

Senior Club:  One of the characteristics of success in the clubs and something which is still key to any club today is the welcoming environment in the club.   Anyone who has attended their prizegivings has experienced their great hospitality.  The Senior club was and still is a daytime club  as that was their original membership need.  However they are looking to establish a night session to help them grow if they can find some courts.  The club's annual prizegiving is a family affair with a great combination of old and young players, trophies, a great meal and prizes for just about everyone who turns up.  When they first started they were famous for having big feasts and teams of supporters coming along to interclub.  Club Captain Kafei Ho - winner of the Auckland Club Service Award in 2008 - pictured - regularly turns up to interclub matches to support their teams The club is very competitive and this extends into seniors and junior clubs.

The Committee for 2009  President Vincent Wong Vice-President Daniel Lee Secretary  Kandic Chan Treasurer  Kenneth Cheung Captain     Kafei Ho Welfare & Liaison Officer Tommy Kwan Assistant Welfare & Liaison Officer   Sam Ng

Caring For and Giving back to the Community. Vincent Wong who is President of the club reflects the strong social conscience in the club.  In addition to club duties Vincent is a court official and is on the Executive Council of Badminton Auckland. In 2008 it was the Pacific Club that came up with the idea of Auckland holding a fundraiser for the Chinese Earthquake Victims.  The club contributed a huge amount to this fundraiser and as a result we raised over $5000. 

 

Linking High Performance to Grass Roots. 

The club in 2008 has adopted and is very supportive of Henry Tam - NZ and Auckland rep who is one of NZ's best mixed doubles players - who is still only 20 years old. 

 

Henry coaches at the club along with Ritchie Marr and club assistant coaches including Kaka Lee, Sally Ho and Winnie Ng.  This now gives them a great base to develop a strong coaching structure.  It also makes them one of just 4 Auckland clubs with a NZ player and having that inspiration at the grass roots level is sure to pay dividends in the years to come. 

 

 

Club School Partnerships:   In addition to this they have  strong club school partnerships with One Tree Hill College where Henry was coaching and helped the performance of their school team.  This is also an important step for the future for both the club and school.

 

 

 

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