Toby Ng's Official Badminton Blog - Adventures of a Canadian National Team Athlete!

Week 15 & 16 (2013)

2013-04-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

Week 15 & 16: April 7 - 20

(Week 15)
Badminton: 4.5 / 5
School: 2.5 / 5
Misc: 4 / 5
Overall: 3.67 / 5

(Week 16)
Badminton: 2 / 5
School: 3 / 5
Misc: 2 / 5
Overall: 2.33 / 5

I apologize for lumping both weeks together, but I was away in Lima, competing at the Peru International in Week 15, and then coming back for 3 final exams in Week 16. To top it off, I also had the BC Provincials to play on Friday and Saturday. I am finally done, so hopefully I can keep updating a bit more regularly for the next little while! I will do my best to update chronologically, so I guess the most interesting part will be up first: Peru International!

As Air Canada was sold out on flights coming back, all of us Vancouver booked the flight with United/Continental to fly down to Lima, Peru. Typically, there are 2 major routes down via Star Alliance partners and it would be usually United or Air Canada. I would fly Air Canada if the flight is cheap, but it connects in Toronto and sometimes the flights don't sync up, meaning that if you flew to Toronto early in the morning, you still might miss the flight to Peru and have to go the next day. The other option, which I've done a few times now, is fly from Vancouver to Houston, then Houston to Lima. Unfortunately, the flight to Houston is really early in the morning (~06:30) but it gets us into Lima on the same day (arrive ~23:00). The reason we stick to these airlines is to gather Aeroplan status miles, as options are limited in Canada. Perhaps if Westjet joined One World, maybe that would be a cheaper alternative, as you could fly American Airlines, British Airways, and Cathay Pacific. Otherwise, you're stuck with Air Canada, Lufthansa, United, and a couple other ones, but apparently it's not easy getting into Asia. It was quite costly booking flights to Malaysia for the 2013 Sudirman Cup coming up at the end of May.

My unique luggage stickers

Anyway, I traveled down with the ClearOne group, including Adrian Liu, Joycelyn Ko, Derrick Ng, and Christin Tsai, so it was nice to travel with some other people. The flights went quite smoothly and I ended up doing a lot of studying. I remember going through my neuroanatomy textbook and the flight attendant asked me what I was studying. I showed her the cover, and she gave me this... look (the 'ugh' look), so that was kind of funny. Perhaps she was just empathizing, but regardless, I found it quite humorous. The flights were quite long, and I ended up watching a couple of movies, including 'Jack Reacher' (2012) and 'House At The End Of The Street' (2012). I actually watched 'HatEofS' first, as I enjoy watching horror movies, but I felt both movies weren't too bad and they entertained me thoroughly. Perhaps it's due to the limited options you have on an airplane, so I may be over-rating both these movies. I felt 'Jack Reacher' kind of ended a little abruptly, while 'HatEofS' was a simple movie, and giving away any more information might spoil the movie, so I will leave it at that. By far, the best thing I saw, was a TV series called 'Impractical Jokers', where 4 friends have competitions with each other in various scenarios and the biggest loser out of a set of challenges per episode have an extra punishment they have to do that humiliates them even further. It's definitely worth checking out, and it made about an hour and a half of the plane ride go faster, as I watched all 3 episodes that United provided.

Official Website

Finally, we arrive in Peru, where we begin our first set of 'challenges'. Christin arranged rooms with the Ontario people, so I suppose they contacted the tournament organizers directly. Unfortunately for the rest of us, due to communication errors, we didn't have an airport pick up, nor did we end up getting a room at the tournament hotel we booked at. So, we were at the Bayview hotel which had no rooms, and we were desperately searching for a nearby hotel. Joyce remembered a nearby hotel they stayed at last time, so with the help of Google Maps and some locals (remember, stuff isn't always labeled correctly on Google!), we walked with our luggage to the El Tambo hotel, maybe 5 blocks away. By the time we got our rooms, it was probably about 1:30am and we had practice at 9:30-11:00am the next day! Oh well, such is life.

(Source: Me) El Tambo - Lobby

(Source: Me) El Tambo - Room

(Source: Me) El Tambo - Restaurant

We made it to the practice without too much difficulty and had a decent practice. The venue was the same as the 2012 Pan Am Championships, so I didn't have much trouble adjusting. After practice, we had lunch with the other Canadians before heading back to the hotel to rest. I ended up studying the whole afternoon, went back out for dinner, then... the fun began. We decided to extend our rooms for the rest of the week, but unfortunately the hotel was fully booked! There was a fashion trade show in Lima that weekend, and everything was pretty much booked up. They told us to wait til the morning to check with their sister hotel nearby, but Adrian suggested we go find it ourselves and try to book first. It was a really good thing we did that, as it ended up being fully booked as well. We decided to check out the Lima Wasi, another tournament hotel, but they were fully booked. We started getting a bit nervous, when we walked to the Mariott (4.5 star, $360/night) to ask for a room, but they were fully booked as well! They told us that all the popular higher class hotels were fully booked, including the Hilton, so that saved us a trip. We continued walking further, checking out the Ibis, Colon, and Embajadores, then finally came to the Ferre, the other tournament hotel. Fortunately, they had one double room, but they weren't sure about the 2nd room, but at least guaranteed us 2 single rooms. At least we found a hotel...

Follow the (Purple) letters!

So the next morning, I was off to play Men's Singles, as the other Canadian player withdrew from the tournament due to an injury, and I won a 3 setter against a player from the Dominican Republic. He had a pretty good attacking game and I also made a lot of mistakes, but I was able to adapt a bit better at the end and came through with the win. Unfortunately, my next round would be the tournament's top seeded player, but that was the least of my worries at the moment. I took a taxi back to the new hotel we were staying at to confirm rooms, then walked back to the El Tambo to check out. Fortunately, the others didn't have to play until Friday, so they were okay. After moving hotels, the rest of the tournament went quite smoothly, minus the fact that the tournament kept changing the transportation schedule on us, so a few of us ended up taking taxis and getting reimbursed later on. That evening, I went 3 sets with Kevin Cordon of Guatemala, the top Pan American Men's Singles player. Even though it went 3 sets, I never felt in control of the game and was always chasing. It didn't really bother me as his skills were much better than mine in Singles, but it was nice to challenge him and it was overall a great learning experience. Definitely gave me a lot of things to think about after the match!

Lunch at Chili's

The rest of the tournament went quite smoothly for the Canadians up until the semifinals. I actually think that all Canadian players that went down made at least the semifinal or better in one event! I think that's pretty good for Canada! Some really close matches, especially the Women's Singles semifinal where Christin defeated Michelle Li for the first time! The match was well over an hour and it was a really good match between the both. I think it will be interesting how it turns out the next time, as Michelle will be eager to try to establish her dominance in the event, while Christin may have new found confidence... but that may have to wait a while as we will all be teaming up at the World Mixed Team Championships (Sudirman Cup) in Malaysia next month! In terms of the other matches, things typically went the same way they had in the past except for the Women's Doubles final, where Michelle and Grace Gao defeated Joycelyn and Christin in straight sets. After the tournament, I went to study for the rest of the day until we had to go to the airport and take a red eye flight to Houston. From Houston, we flew to Los Angeles and then back to Vancouver, as it was better than waiting for the direct flight from Vancouver to Houston, which would have gotten us home at about 10pm Vancouver time, making it almost a 24 hour travel period. Unfortunately for me, I had to keep studying...

XD Medalists

WD Medalists

MD Medalists

WS Medalists

Working hard, or hardly working?

(via PhotoGrid - Android)

The NEXT MORNING (Tuesday), I had to be up and ready to write my deferred neuroanatomy exam. It wasn't so easy and I felt I could have studied a bit more, but perhaps my approach to the course wasn't so accurate. I spent a lot of time with the textbook and reading things that were a bit too detailed at times, when I probably should have focused on just the lecture notes. The textbook made some things confusing, which ended up wasting time because I had to look it up to try to understand it, and it ended up being too complicated and non-examinable anyway. Although at times, it was interesting to delve deeper, the information I remember wasn't of use in the context of the course and I probably didn't remember everything about it anyway. I suppose it will be a valuable lesson on being more specific in what I have to learn and that I shouldn't try to learn everything, because that's simply not possible. Anyway, I went home right away after my exam and began reviewing for my biochemistry final, which was the next morning, also at 8:30am. You can start to see how Peru International is kind of on the brink of "academic suicide". Regardless, I was able to focus and study and overall, I felt reasonably prepared for my biochem final. Again, there were many things that were too detailed, but my approach to the course was slightly better, as I spent the majority of my time on the lecture slides, and just skimmed the textbook. Actually, I skimmed 3 different textbooks, and I think that may have been what saved me from failing (well, we'll know for sure when my marks come back...).

(Source: serc.carleton.edu)

I took most of the day off after, as I felt a bit burnt out and did very light studying for my Friday exam on skeletal muscle physiology. I actually went to train, as I had to prepare for the BC Provincials on the weekend, and I'm quite glad I did at least a bit of conditioning. Unfortunately, later than night, I started feeling an itch in my throat and by the next morning, I was dealing with runny noses and sore throats. Studying was still fairly productive, but since my final was at noon on Friday, I still had the morning. On Friday, the sore throats were getting worse but not enough to become a cough yet, fortunately, so I was able to go through my exam without coughing up a storm, because no matter what you do, nothing seems to come out of a 'dry cough'. Regardless, I finished the final and had to get ready for the tournament. No rest for the wicked.

(Source: cheezburger.com)

Due to low entries in the tournament, we were playing everything round robin (play everybody in your pool), and then crossing over, then having the winners play the final. The shuttles were incredibly slow to begin with, but we found better ones at the correct speed fortunately. Unfortunately, it cost me the first game in my match and I really struggled to pull things together, as I was exhausted mentally from the studying and exams, and physically from my illness. Long story short (for the whole tournament), I didn't play very well overall and I was also dealing with a forearm injury which has probably gotten worse. As much as I want to get back into training, I understand that I need to rest and recuperate before I can get better. I suppose this could be an example where 'short term pain, long term pain' can be referenced, because if I keep training with my injury, it will only get worse and there will be no 'gains' at all. I would like to thank my partners, Hugh and Phyllis for playing, and I apologize if I got upset at times because, well, I was pretty much 'out of my body and mind' in terms of physical and mental exhaustion, sport-legal medication (pseudoephedrine-less cold medicine), and whatever else was going wrong those two days that were out of my control. Now I can finally rest a little more and do all the things I have neglected due to final exams!

All matches within about 24 hours (XD final was at 7pm)

Anyway, that's probably all I'm going to write (no more reading, yay!), so until next week! Hopefully I can do something productive so I won't be writing about how I played video games for a week next time. Thanks for checking out my blog!

Oh, lastly, before I forget, one more thing that happened this week was the launch of a new badminton footwork app for your iPads and tablets! I'm actually endorsing this app because I'm in the demo video :P I think it's a neat thing to have, especially if you really want to improve your badminton. I would probably rate footwork as one of the most, if not THE most important thing, and no matter what event you play, solid footwork will always help! Anyway, check it out when you can (not out on Android at the moment, but coming out soon) and support a local developer's app! Support badminton! Support me! Pretty please? :)

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Thanks for visiting! See you next week! Some matches from Peru International can be found on my YouTube Channel: towbsss

For the rest of the matches, please visit my YouTube Channel!

Time to relax!

Week 14 (2013)

2013-04-06T19:00:00.000-07:00

Week 14: March 31-April 6

Badminton: 2.5 / 5
School: 4 / 5
Misc: 4 / 5
Overall: 3.5 / 5

Song of the Week: Ryan Star - "Brand New Day". Wow, actual lyrics. I'm more of a hip hop fan, but I usually rather work with instrumentals as I can easily drift into my own thoughts and what I am doing (e.g. studying). However, I must pay tribute to 'Lie To Me', a TV series that only spanned 3 seasons long before it got canceled by Fox, for reasons I'm not sure why. The premise of the series is about a group of experts that specialize in lie detection, and some of the show is actually based on the works on Paul Ekman, a psychologist who researches emotions and facial expressions.. It's a pretty interesting mystery show with a pretty good cast of characters. Tim Roth really does shine in his role and it's definitely worth a watch, as you can probably find an entire season for only $15-20 if you're lucky. I liked Season 2 the best, as it has 22 episodes. Seasons 1 & 3 have only about 13, unfortunately. So, if you haven't guessed by now, this is the opening theme of the series. I also highly recommend checking out Paul Ekman's books.

This week I think I'll review my courses for the term. UBC BIOC 302 is pretty much the 2nd half of a general biochemistry course. The first part involved more of an intro, with general protein structure and carbohydrate metabolism, while this second half focused on lipid metabolism, protein metabolism, and nucleic acid metabolism and structure. I found Biochemistry quite interesting, though my marks may show otherwise, but I can really relate to concepts in terms of nutrition. Also, some of the medical case studies we came across were quite engaging as well. Unfortunately, the driest part was the DNA to RNA to Protein part, including DNA replication, protein transcription, and protein translation. It's not THAT bad, but the other parts were better I guess. Overall, the professors were pretty good, although we had 3 different professors this time. Makes it a bit hard in adapting to each one, but generally, it wasn't too bad overall. Course objectives and everything are very clear cut, and exams are non-cumulative, but basically, they are just testing on both sections (i.e. fats/proteins, then nucleic acids). It would be pretty crazy to have a cumulative exam, though I think it would be cool to get the interactions. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the course, despite how my grades turn out to be: 4.5/5 (-0.5 for difficulty).

(Source: lifesci.rutgers.edu)

My skeletal muscle physiology course UBC KIN 462 was like a roller coaster ride. There were so many things I didn't understand at times, but I think it finally came together in the end. It's still a relatively new course (3rd time taught at UBC) so I'm sure it will work out it's kinks along the way. The instructor basically designed the course from scratch, so imagine having to make up a course from scratch? Not easy. The first part of the course was quite relevant to muscle physiology, as it was a giant overview of everything we've done with muscles, although I felt the Bioenergetics was rushed a little much. People without a Biochemistry background will definitely be swamped, and it's not an easy task to go learn it on your own. Instead of understanding things, it ends up with memorizing numbers (ATPs) and gets quite overwhelming, with 10 steps in glycolysis and another 8 in the TCA cycle. There's also the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex between the two, which gets overlooked usually, so you get contrasting numbers of ATP. Considering that older texts use a P/O value of 2 and 3 (per FADH2 and NADH), instead of the the 1.5 and 2.5 in Biochemistry, you'll end up with a whole mess of numbers if you don't know what's going on. Regardless, that's a problem that I didn't have, but what I had problems with was understanding transcription factors and intracellular signaling. The signalling cascades were foreign to me (and they still are), but I've finally just buckled down and accepted that they exist and just followed along. To me, it just feels a bit like memorizing, but I'm doing some extra reading about them. We dabbled a bit with it in the end of Biochemistry, touching very briefly on eIF's and eEF's (eukaryotic initiation/elongation factors) but I don't think we need to know which one is which, fortunately. However, to lump them all together seems kind of unfair, and shows a really superficial understanding. BUT, I guess our prof in Biochemistry did make the statement that we will have a "superficial but sufficient understanding" and that seems fair to me.

(Source: rockland-inc.com) So... which ones do I need to know again?

The other major part in this course included seminars and group projects. Seminars were where we discussed a bunch of questions in groups, and it was quite good because it was nice to see where you stood with other classmates (i.e. equally confused hahaha). The group projects were quite nice, as they gave perspective into many different aspects of muscle physiology. Some of the ones that spoke to me more were topics such as rhabomyolysis, Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), and recovery modalities including massage and contrast baths. There were other really good presentations as well, but I may save it for a blog next time. Overall, the course came together and I think I really learned a lot from it: 4/5 (-0.5 for difficulty, -0.5 for order).

(Source: http://www.nature.com/ejhg/journal/v20/n8/fig_tab/ejhg201244f1.html)

Finally, my last course is Neuroanatomy, or UBC KIN 473. Overall, it's a pretty simple course, with 2 midterms (25% each) and a cumulative final, so it's a pretty straight forward course. The material was sufficient, although a bit shallow, but since its focus was a bit more on clinical examples, it was overall a pretty good course. We spent the first third of the course with motor/descending pathways and problems, the middle third with sensory/ascending pathways and the basal ganglia, and the final portion covering the cerebellum, vestibular systems, and blood supply to the brain. The only problem with the course is that there were no online materials, so we would have to write down everything in class. Attending class is absolutely crucial, and I found it difficult at times because you were busy scribbling stuff and sometimes you lose focus. It's like continually stalling between rallies and slowing the pace down in a badminton game. But aside from that, it was quite an interesting course and gave me much more respect (and a bit of fear) about how complex neuroscience can be: 4.5/5 (-0.5 for no online materials).

(Source: flashcarddb.com)

My forearm injury has been hampering training slightly, but the extra rest seems to coincide with tapering for the Peru International next week. We leave on Tuesday and the tournament starts Wednesday. Draws don't look too tough, so I hope things work out (and I get some good quality studying done)! On Wednesday, I went for a haircut in the Kerrisdale area and we decided to check out The Red Onion, which seemed to be like a fancy burger place that has been around for a very long time. I've been there as a kid probably more than a decade ago, so this place has survived the test of time. As I went with Carmen, it worked out better because we could split burgers in half and get to try both of them, as I ordered a Hawaiian chicken burger, while she got a gingered salmon burger. Both were incredibly delicious and I would definitely recommend people to try it out, but it's a bit pricey, being $11 and $12 respectively for the burgers. With a half order of onion rings, it came out to be about a $30 lunch after tax and tip, so it's not for those who prefer a more budget friendly meal. However, it you love great tasting food, I guess your money's worth!

(Source: Me)

Thursday night, Carmen and I went to an event in Gas Town called "Share Your Heart with Haiti", where it was a fundraiser for medical supplies for doctors and nurses volunteering their time in Haiti. My friend from class, Aja, who is a nurse and a promoter of the event sent me an invite, so I decided to go with Carmen. I very rarely do these things... actually, this may be the first time I've ever went to something like this, but it was a fundraiser and a potential networking opportunity. After reading Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers", I decided that opportunities should be taken, and I guess this was no exception. It was held at the Secret Location's tasting bar and it was a pretty interesting evening. We got a free drink, chatted with some people, had a bit of food (exceptional crab cakes!), and Carmen even bid of a few silent auction items. We didn't stay too long, but it was nice to see so many people out to support a great cause and I even got bear hugged by a male nurse named Hugo. Nice guy. But anyway, a big thanks to Aja for the invite and I hope the event was a success!

(Source: Carmen)

(Source: Me)

My Tokidoki stuff finally came, and I got an exclusive skate deck because I purchased a combination of their exclusive Tokidoki x New Era hats! By far my favourite clothing brand at the moment, even though I don't get the chance to wear it out as much as I want. Typically, I'm stuck wearing my badminton clothing supplied by Yonex and anything from previous multi-sport Games events from the Candian Olympic Committee (COC). As I'm training most of the time, badminton clothing is so comfortably, casual, and simple :P Regardless, I have a LOT of hats, and I've added 2 more to the bunch, along with a hat carrying case. That will prove useful on the airplane rides. Also, I got a couple of shirts, one for Carmen, featuring Psylocke, as it is a Tokidoki x Marvel crossover. Anyway, check out their website for more information! To finish off the week, we went out for dinner with our Korean friend Jiwoo, as he is going back to Korea for a while. He took us to this Korean BBQ place out in Coquitlam, called To-Dam (I think). He's a VIP there as he eats there a lot, so we had some pretty good service. The food was excellent, but not sure what the price was. Usually, Korean BBQ is on the more expensive side, especially as it wasn't AYCE (All You Can Eat). However, the quality of the food was very good!

(Source: Me) Carmen modeling a TKDK hat

(Source: Me) Korean BBQ!

So, that's all for this week! Next week I will be in Peru, so I will try to take more pictures and video, but no guarantees as I will be studying like crazy too! Thanks for visiting!

Week 13 (2013)

2013-04-02T22:58:00.001-07:00

Week 13: March 14-30

Badminton: 4 / 5
School: 3 / 5
Misc: 4 / 5
Overall: 3.67 / 5

Productive week as all of our group's effort came together for the final copy of our Creatine Supplementation paper and presentation on Thursday. It was also nice to have Friday (and Monday) off so I can get caught up with some studies, but it was a real downer that I did badly on my Neuroanatomy exam. The UBC x ClearOne Tournament was this weekend, so it was nice to be in the tournament environment again as well :)

Song of the Week: Kingdom Hearts Piano Collections - 2nd Mov. Kairi - Andante Sostenuo. I tried playing this piece a long time ago but the end was kind of a turnoff because it was so hard to play. Now I'm trying to get back into it and I've forgotten some things, but still remember some parts, so basically it's just a huge mess :) The song is from the video game 'Kingdom Hearts' (somewhat of a cross between Final Fantasy and Disney characters, with original characters mixed into the franchise as well). This is the theme of Kairi, the female character in the game that the lead character kinda has a thing for. But stuff happens and I like to think of it as a song of enduring or patience. Beautifully crafted piece, though I don't know if I will ever play it as well as the recording. Maybe someday :)

Let's start with the rant about my Neuroanatomy midterm. Well... I really don't know what happened. It's not like I didn't study for it, but I think I just didn't know what to expect. I ended up studying too much extra stuff and spent too much time typing things out of the textbook to learn which weren't even tested. I suppose I'm either losing touch with what I need to know in school, or still trying to recover from being out of school for so long. I feel I'm a bit mixed up with what I need to know for the exam, and what may be interesting or of practical use to me. I love learning about things that I can relate to, but I guess I process things differently. I apologize if you expected this to be about Neuroanatomy, but I will be talking about exam writing. If the TA is marking my exam, it would really not matter so much what the prof is saying, to the extent that he provides what I need to know, but the answers I give should be catered toward the TA because he is marking. Therefore, it would be much more interesting to figure out what the TA is thinking, or asking the TA questions, if he is the sole marker of the midterms. This would be the second time I have been killed by TA's because they are the ones marking. They have a marking scheme, leaving less to the imagination, and it's also based on their own judgement. But that's just life... sometimes, things just don't work out. It's not that I didn't try, but I won't give up either. I'll see what I can do on this final, and at least I can try to fix a few things. My answers weren't detailed enough and I suppose I misinterpreted a major set of questions (got pretty much a page of zeroes). For the final, I'll make sure I work on giving more detail, and spend more time on knowing different types of neuro exam techniques for various scenarios.

In my Muscle Physiology class, we had our group presentation on creatine supplementation on Thursday. My part was pretty simple, despite an idea I came up with. I decided to present an analogy to my section on osmolarity, hypertrophy, and side effects and it actually turned out pretty well. I actually got a little nervous, though I'm not too sure why. Maybe I haven't been competing enough lately :P Regardless, there were two points in the presentation where I had to present, so after almost dying in the beginning, I regained my composure, put my flash cards away, and just winged it. Fortunately, it worked well enough! A big thanks to my group for putting everything together and doing a great job on their parts! We had about 50-60 references for our paper, so we really did cover a lot. After doing the paper, I think I might try supplementation, although I will wait until after my finals. There aren't really any side effects if you're healthy, except for some minor case studies here and there. So, if you are an athlete who could use a bit of extra power, then maybe try it out and see how it works. Remember though, there's about a 20% chance that someone could be a non-responder, so there is a little gamble. Also, it's probably not useful for endurance exercise, as the oxidative phosphorylation mechanism via the electron transport chain is much more effective than the phosphocreatine shuttle system. I won't get too detailed right now, but please ask away if you have any questions.

(Source: Me) Wearing the UBC x C1 Tournament shirt!

So, for my Easter long weekend, I participated in the UBC x ClearOne tournament. I entered singles and mixed (with Carmen), and there were quite a lot of matches to play. Overall, I think there's some good players out there, even though a lot of them play for fun. In the singles, I had a fairly easy time because we play so many matches in a short period of time that most of my opponents were really tired after the first set. Actually, I was starting to really feel the tiredness in the final, but it was worse for my opponents as I'm sure they're not used to playing so many matches. Regardless, I will definitely reconsider playing singles next time and let everyone else duke it out. As my level of singles isn't that great, I still hope people learned a few things here and there so they can improve their games. It's not that I want people to go out and train and compete more, I just think it's nice to learn something, practice it, and have a goal to look up to :) Mixed was a whole different story. I think I pretty much went all out and had to use my tactics to get the upper-hand on some teams. Mixed was a lot tougher than singles, even though it was my event. Carmen did well to hold her own, but it was probably helpful that I kept instructing her to do things. This lesson always comes back to haunt me in that "I told you so" kind of way, because it's just a sign that things may still work out if you don't give up and try your best. Trying your best isn't always about running faster, jumping higher, or smashing harder: sometimes it just means repeating instructions to your partner constantly to keep them in the game. Even though you may have said it a million times, to forgo a chance to speak up means that you didn't give it your best. Anyhow, some really good games and again, it's nice to see a good level of recreational players out there! I think it'd be nice to do some recreational player clinics, not so much about forcing them to do drills and stuff, but mainly just to answer some quick questions so that they can make tactical changes that will add to their games. A big thank you to UBC Badminton Club for organizing the tournament and ClearOne Badminton for hosting! It was a good weekend :)

(Source: Me)

(Source: Me)
Victory dinner w/ Carmen and Jiwoo at Gangnam (yes, really) Korean BBQ

(Source: Me) With Carmen!

(Source: Me) Okay...

(Source: Carmen) Victory Pinkberry!

Now that the tournament is over, my forearm is not in good shape. I suppose it's overusing my forearm muscles (especially the forearm flexors) to excessive levels, so it's actually quite sore and I really need to rest it and make sure it gets better for Peru. Some things I will try is to minimize using grip strength outside of badminton, so no more playing piano for a while (not that it's very useful anyway), and definitely no 1-3 RM deadlifts, which are probably responsible to that additional strain on the forearm. I may have to limit rows and TRX exercises as well, so I guess I'll be doing a lot of leg work this next week. Hopefully, the tapering period will aid in the recovery as well. My injury has not been officially diagnosed, but I'm pretty sure it's Golfer's Elbow, or medial epicondylitis. Obviously, the badminton is the key cause of the injury, but I think it may be due a bit to the shoulder, as I've had shoulder problems previously. The shoulders have been a bit better, but it's probably because I'm using more of my forearm to play. Basically, your body is really good at cheating for you, so technique is important, fixing imbalances is important, and recovering properly from injuries is very important. Oh well, hopefully heat, compression, and topical analgesics will tie me over this week. I might take an additional day off to rest my arm and maybe study for the upcoming finals coming up in a few weeks!

(Source: Me) UBC x ClearOne Tournament - MD

So that's it for this week! I know I'm late again, and it's getting pretty bad. I might need to make this biweekly because I don't have the time to write as carefully as I want to. I don't want to say anything bad, or wrong, and I would like to research and source my information properly, so either I write less per week, or more per two weeks. I don't know yet, I guess I'll see what happens in a week :P Sorry for rushing through this week!!

Thanks for visiting!

Week 12 (2013)

2013-03-25T10:13:00.000-07:00

Week 12: March 17-23

Badminton: 2 / 5
School: 4 / 5
Misc: 4 / 5
Overall: 3.3 / 5

Interesting week as I finally finished all my exams and I could relax a little bit. I also want to try a new thing this week, so I will now add a cliche "Song of the Week" so you can listen to it while you read the blog! Lame? Probably, but oh well. Here is "Purgatorial Road" (AKA Via Purifico) from the Final Fantasy X Piano Collections. I am actually learning how to play it and I'm pretty close to being able to play it decently :)

Although I have finished my exams for now, I still have a group presentation and paper to do for my Muscle Physiology (UBC KIN 462) class. Oddly, I'm the only guy in my group of 5, but hey, I'm definitely not complaining :P Our topic is on creatine supplementation, which has been extremely interesting and rewarding. After about 20 research papers later, I am starting to convince myself that I should be supplementing with creatine for my badminton! Ironically, I did the side effects section, and unless you have kidney problems, you're good to go if you want something extra for strength and power. It's not so useful for endurance athletes, although there have been mixed reports on creatine being an antioxidant. Apparently, it plays a secondary role and is very selective on what it can act as for an antioxidant, and the arginine (an amino acid) part of creatine is what plays the antioxidant role. However, a different study said that supplementation induces oxidative stress. Theoretically though, creatine supplementation is meant to increase your levels of creatine which will aid you the most in those very short bursts of energy (i.e. anaerobic alactic energy system) which neither requires oxygen or builds lactate. It gives you that extra ATP you need at the very start up of exercise. If you are using the aerobic system, which most people do in endurance type exercises, the aerobic energy system is much more effective than the PCr system. That's why, in theory, it probably isn't very useful to endurance athletes. However, if we were to use it for badminton, I think it's good for those quick bursts of energy, where you may go and jump smash and charge the net for a finish. Then, while you rest between rallies, you quickly try to replenish as much of the phosphocreatine stores as possible, so you can repeat it again if necessary. I don't know how practical it is, but I will get a chance to try it out. I think I will wait until after Peru to start my one week loading phase though. Keep in mind as well, maybe 20% of people are non-responders to creatine supplementation.

(Source: Mechanisms of muscular adaptations to creatine supplementation. Rawson & Persky, 2007)

I also learned about Complex Training in my muscle physiology class, as my professor works extensively with rugby athletes. The idea of complex training (CT) is that you do heavy strength exercises between 1 RM to 5 RM lifts, then go into a plyometric or power exercises. For example, doing deadlifts and then going into some power cleans. The idea is that the heavy strength lift will activate your central nervous system (CNS), so in a way it gets your nervous system ready to activate your muscles. To elaborate, I think the idea was that you may only be using Type I and IIa muscle fibers, but with the CNS activation, you can get in those IIb/x fibers to lift even more. It's still a relatively new concept, but it seems to make sense. However, there are drawbacks and if you don't train properly, fatigue is probably your number one problem, as you won't have enough energy to go on with your other workouts. I will clarify this with an example: if I want to train twice a day, with a weight training session as one of those sessions, it is better to do the weights BEFORE. I've always been an advocate of weight training first anyway, but I know some people prefer to do running/training first, then weight training. Regardless, if I did a heavy strength workout first, it might help activate my muscles better for the later session so I can work harder. I'm going to test it out pretty soon, as I need to get back into strength mode as I'm supposed to be in power mode at the moment. It might have to wait until my tournaments and exams are over first!

I didn't like some of the videos I saw, but here's a paper on Complex Training if you are interested:

(PDF) Complex Training: A Brief Review (Ebben 2002)

Badminton has been a bit stale this week because I skipped out on training on Wednesday to go to a resume workshop offered by Canada Sport Institute (CSI) Pacific, which I will talk about in a bit. Unfortunately, my training partners have been rolling ankles the past few weeks, so Friday was a relatively tame day, though I did get a little bit of a hit in, and I had a couple of lessons as well. As I figured that I should do something, I did some heavy squats and I have some DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) still lingering right now. However, I hope to amp up the training a bit more next week, as I will try out some of that complex training and I just got some more Yonex Arc Saber 11's! Thank you Yonex Canada! Also got some supplements from CSI Pacific so thanks to them and Pfizer for supporting Canadian athletes!

(Source: Me)

The resume workshop was run by Ken Graham and Kevin Morrison from Adecco. The Adecco group is apparently the world's largest provider of HR solutions so we got some pretty good information on how to do a resume and even how to make a LinkedIn account. I will briefly highlight some of the things we did, so bear with me if you already know how to write an awesome resume, or just skip the paragraph :P I found it quite informative as I've never had to use a resume. However, I figure it's probably something worth learning how to do. Some key things are that people may only spend 10-12 seconds per resume, so long engaging sentences or paragraphs (much like my blog) are not so good on a resume. Keep it less than 2.5-3 pages and have all the main stuff on the first page, and no grammar mistakes (pretty common knowledge here). A trick they said for proofreading though is to read your resume backwards. I guess that might catch spelling errors but I don't know to what extent it will play on grammar. Another thing is not to write anything that can be used to discriminate against you (i.e. political views, religion). The reason is that if they feel there might be conflicts or issues, then they will less likely hire you, based on your views. Some other tips are to explain what your previous company does, or what your role is in certain positions. Also, for sports, you should clarify your role as a National Team athletes, or what it takes to qualify for the Olympics. It's what they were calling the "So what?" editing. It doesn't mean that people won't care, but if you don't tell them the specifics, it's less likely for them to understand what you've gone through. A final point is to be able to identify interests, values, skills, traits, and give examples in a resume. From sport, you can identify how well you take to coaching, talk about the struggles you overcome, how you can stay consistent with training and diet, etc. To finalize, here is an interesting on Social Media video by Erik Qualman who wrote "Socialnomics".

I know this week is a little bit short, but I've been pretty swamped with my research paper for my Muscle Physiology class. Hopefully, I will start working a little earlier on next week's blog! I will be playing in the UBC Tournament at ClearOne (Browngate) over the Easter weekend and hopefully I can spend a bit of that time updating the blog! I will try to take more pictures too!

See you next week! Thanks for reading!

Week 11 (2013)

2013-03-16T11:58:00.000-07:00

Week 11: March 10-16

Badminton: 3/5
School: 3/5
Misc: 3/5
Overall: 3/5

It was a pretty normal week, although I had a midterm in my Neuroanatomy course. Overall, everything went pretty smoothly, badminton included, but I think I'm not getting enough sleep for the amount of training I'm doing. I am starting to feel it significantly, so I will do my best to make adjustments starting this weekend. The next couple of weeks will be quite hefty, as I need to work on a paper and presentation for my Muscle Physiology course, all while training and getting ready for Peru International in April.

The week started off with Biochemisty (UBC BIOC 302) where we are covering DNA structure, including how it works with proteins, coiling, super-coiling, topoisomerases, etc. It's been quite confusing as I do recall learning a bit of stuff from my second year Cell Biology class (which I did terrible on), so I really need to spend some time to review the material this weekend. It sort of makes sense, but it's a bit like learning new material so maybe I just need a little more time to digest it. If you aren't clear about DNA, it is basically the blueprint of your genetic information. Kind of like your genetic fingerprint, you could say. In reference to what I was learning, DNA needs to condense to be packaged into a tiny cell, so you get these supercoils and such, so the function of a topoisomerase (an enzyme) is to help it out when it is underwound or overwound. I know you probably don't care what a topoisomerase is, but what if I said that some antibiotics work that way? For some bacterial infections (which should never be confused with viral infections e.g. cold or flu), you may get antibiotics know as quinolones which will affect the functioning of bacterial topoisomerase. Without the enzyme to make modifications to the bacteria's DNA, it dies. A common drug you may have had at some point is called Ciprofloxacin which is commonly prescribed for urinary tract infections and gastrointestinal problems. Again, this is not medical advice and if you are in search of medical advice, please consult a practicing medical professional, preferably not online. Below is a brief animation of topoisomerases which basically explains everything I said in less than 2 minutes :P

I had my second Neuroanatomy (UBC KIN 473) midterm on Tuesday morning. It was fairly straight forward, but I ended up studying too much, because the assigned readings actually encompassed more than what I needed to know. Basically, I knew things that weren't going to be tested. Useful in general? Yes. Useful for the exam? No! It's one thing to learn extra material, but for the sake of wasting valuable review time, I guess I should have clarified with my professor. In the meantime, we looked at some additional treatments for Parkinson's Disease which involved deep brain stimulation. Basically, an electrode is carefully inserted into the basal ganglia (Globus Pallidus or Subthalamic Nucleus) of the brain. Through magnetic stimulation, the indirect pathway is affected and as the stimulation is reversible and tunable, it can be controlled. The effects can be quite immediate and it is a very remarkable treatment!

My Muscle Physiology (UBC KIN 462) class went over the midterm on Tuesday for most of the class, and we got back into some molecular differences that happen in the cells between resistance training and aerobic exercise. I didn't do very well on the midterm, but it was better than my initial mark. I got a few marks because a couple of points were missed, and it was also nice for the professor to inflate the mark a bit by making the written section worth more. The idea was because the written portion was 4 essay questions, 5 marks apiece, but what probably took the most time to write, was only worth 20/55 marks. So she decided to double it to 10 marks apiece and make it out of 75, and after a couple of corrections, I got boosted almost 5%, making my mark a bit more tolerable so I don't want to walk in front of a bus anymore (metaphorically). Anyway, at the end of the lecture on Thursday, we were discussing concurrent training. A good overview of what it is in found on the Optimal Sports Performance blog as there is no Wikipedia stub. I suppose it is quite new, but as a badminton player, it is a very intriguing question, as badminton is a very mixed type sport in terms of using all the energy systems. I've had discussions with a few players, but what do you think is more important for badminton? Strength/power or endurance? Most importantly, why do you think that way? I will address my thoughts in the next paragraph, but I would like to add a bit more about concurrent training, for those who may be curious. A primary difference between strength training and endurance training at the cellular level is the effect of calcium. In those who are training aerobic endurance, there is more of a calcium dependence, while those who train for strength work more through a calcium independent pathway. Without getting too much into specifics, a key problem with strength training is that there will be hypertrophy (increase in size) of muscles. This increase in size makes it harder for oxygen to diffuse and other substrates to get to where they need to go. It's kind of like working in an office building that gets an expansion. You used to work on the 5th floor, but now you have to work on the 10th floor. So every time you go work, you have to go an extra 5 up and 5 down. In contrast, endurance training has a negative effect on protein synthesis, hence endurance training people don't get bigger; therefore, they don't get stronger (assuming hypertrophy = increase in strength). The picture below is a map of the molecular markers of both training regimes. The dashed line that doesn't have an arrow head means that it is inhibiting (stopping) the thing it points to (Source: www.8weeksout.com)

(Original Source: Hawley, 2009)

Well, to compete the discussion on concurrent training, it would be best to try to relate it to badminton. Honestly, I am not too familiar with endurance training except for my preconceptions of LSD (Long Slow Distance, not Lysergic Acid Diethylamide). As primarily a doubles player, I never found it useful (or pleasant for another matter) to do running for long distances for extended periods of time. Even since training for the 2012 Olympics, I never ran more than 20 minutes continuously. However, the question is not so black and white, but at least it's not 50 shades of grey (intent in the pun, not in reading the book). I find that long slow distance is probably never used in badminton, and HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) would probably be the best answer for building that aerobic base. I will probably do a bit more research when I have the time, but the way I like to approach badminton is sport-specificity and technique. That should always come as number one. If you cannot hit proper shots, then you will be terribly inefficient and then have to waste a lot of energy trying to retrieve the shuttle because of poor shot quality. After technique, I would go for power training. I think power is essential in being able to generate enough strength and speed into movements or shots that can help you win the rally. However, shot selection is important as well, and there is no reason to do full jump smashes on the backline as it is not to your advantage; ie. it is the wrong shot to hit. That would be a fault on both systems, as you would be wasting valuable energy and hitting a poorly selected shot. After that, I would go into anaerobic training and improving lactate tolerance. Basically, you will probably be working pretty hard running around, but if you move efficiently and take the right chances, you can reduce the amount of 'wasted' energy. Hence you can reduce the lactic build up with every break between rallies, hopefully which you've won. Having a good lactate tolerance will help you maintain a good level of performance at a given level. Finally, the aerobic base, which you probably would be training slightly when you do any anaerobic training, should be the final component. The reason is if you work backwards, you will lose before you get tired, and that's a terrible feeling. It's like, not finishing a test because you ran out of time. I will come back to these points when I have more time to research, as I am spending the whole weekend researching Creatine supplementation, which will probably be a topic that will show up next week!

(Source: Google Image search)

So for my final overview of the Arc Saber 11, I think I will probably switch to it. My shoulder has been acting up a bit and when I switched back to the Arc 10 because I broke my strings on my Arc 11, it felt a bit rough on the shoulder. I am trying to take measures to improve my shoulder health with TRX exercises, resistance band work, and really trying to strengthen my back, but if I'm training often and having to hit smashes, it's probably best to work with a racquet that's compatible with my problem. The racquet is slightly lighter than the Arc 10 (to me), and I think I'm adjusting pretty well to it. Most likely I will try to get a few more and I will be using it for the 2013 Peru International coming up in a few weeks! The flight has been book, I've entered the tournament, but I still need to arrange accommodations, though that should be alright. Not quite sure where we are playing this year as well. Regardless, I'll be armed with some new Yonex gear! Thank you Yonex!

(Source: Me; from Yonex Canada)

So some other stuff that happened this week included a certification fair at UBC for the Kinesiology faculty. It's kind of cool to see what else I can do to supplement my degree and I'm quite interested in getting a CSCS certification from the NSCA. I will do some more research but I think it would be good to supplement my degree, in addition to any coaching certifications for Badminton. Currently I hold a full NCCP Level 2 with a NCCP Level 3 Technical, but I hope to complete the Level 3 NCCP as well. The CSCS certification would make me a much more well-rounded coach for badminton, and perhaps I will looking into being a certified Exercise Physiologist as well. However, I'll need to get the hours for that, but I'm thinking either CSEP or ACSM. Or, if I make it into medical school, then all my money will go there. However, I'm having some second thoughts, as an MPT (Masters of Physiotherapy) can keep me involved in sport. Then... maybe Rio 2016 could be a possibility?

(Source: Me)

Here are some extra things that happened this week. On Monday night, Carmen made me some spaghetti sauce and left me some for lunch for a couple days (see picture). Unfortunately, on Wednesday, she forgot her lunch when she came over so she ended up eating the other half of the spaghetti! Regardless, it was some good homemade sauce and I hope she will make some more next time ;) On Thursday night, I decided to work on an idea I got from a Street Fighter wallpaper I had, as the characters were kind of darkened, with certain parts of their costumes glowing. I decided I would try to duplicate it for badminton and I chose the 2013 Canadian National Team. So I pretty much used Photoshop Touch on my Samsung Note 10.1 and did my best to try to duplicate the idea. Although it wasn't really what I wanted, I finished the rest of the pictures and put them together on PhotoGrid. So, the final result is displayed below (see picture). Lastly, I am trying to sell some used Playstation 3 games! Preferably locally, so if you know anyone is interested in any of the games, please contact me! Nothing is more than $10 :)

(Source: Me)

Hope you enjoyed this week's blog! See you next time :)

Thanks for visiting!

- Toby

Week 10 (2013)

2013-03-09T10:46:00.000-08:00

So, this will be the first of a new style of blogging. I'm not sure how things will turn out, but bear with me. I hope to write a little more so I don't have to immediately vent on Facebook. If I'm still bothered by something at the end of the week, then maybe it really is important. Otherwise, it's in the past. I will also bold face / highlight the beginning of the paragraph so you know what it's about. I know not everyone is interested in my ramblings, so feel free to pick and choose.

[Week 10]
Badminton: 3/5
School: 2/5
Misc: 3/5
OVERALL: 3/5

School has been a bit tough this week, getting some of my midterm grades back from last week, which were disappointing. I also dropped my statistics course as I already had a statistics credit, so hopefully I can use my time wisely to catch up with my other courses and train more. I really have nothing against the course, but I'm pretty sure I did pretty terribly that week on all my midterms. The irony is that I dropped Statistics because I was afraid it would skew my average negatively. I actually don't mind Statistics at all. It helps me understand research papers better, and probabilities are cool too, but I don't think we would be cover it in that class. I went and returned my textbook as well. As I'm now missing a bit of KIN credit, I will be taking a course on coaching in the summer to finish my degree.

In Muscle Physiology (UBC KIN 462), we are starting a new unit on training adaptations. We are highlighting the two extremes, which would be Resistance Training and Aerobic Endurance. I suppose there are parts of both in badminton, but I'm definitely more interested in resistance training. I don't think I've ran more than 20 minutes straight in a very long time, and I don't see why I need to as well. For a Kinesiology course, I find it gets a little too detailed, going into biochemistry and molecular biology. I know it's a Physiology course, but it feels so in depth at times that it's like a Faculty of Science - Physiology course. For example, for hypertrophy (increase in muscle cell size as an effect of resistance training), is a calcium independent pathway due to IGF-1 release, which works through 2 different pathways: 1) The PI3K - Akt pathway [via A) PI3K-Akt-mTOR, B) PI3K-Akt-GSK3B, C) PI3K-Akt-FOXO-MuRF1/MAFbx] and 2) Ras-Raf-MEK-ERK pathway. So you can see that you probably just skimmed through all those letters and acronyms and continued reading here. I don't blame you, but to me, this feels like memory work in a way. It doesn't look too much better on a diagram, but this is what I'm struggling with now I guess. If I didn't take biochemistry, I don't know how I would approach this course. For example, PI3K, is phophatidylinositol 3-kinase, which makes no sense to most people (even in my class). From my biochem class, we actually had to draw the structure of it, so at least I can give a good guess. I'm not going to look it up, but if I had to really guess what it was, it's probably an enzyme that adds a phosphate and is some kind of cell membrane receptor. The structure of phosphatidylinositol is actually kind of close to trigylcerides or triacyglycerols, or... fat! Too many triacylglycerols contribute to that much dreaded body fat that people are constantly trying to lose (albeit a bit too quickly at one, I might say). Regardless, glycerol is a sugar backbone which carries 3 chains of fatty acids, unsaturated or saturated. So, if I remember correctly, phosphatidylinositol has a glycerol back bone, 2 fatty acids, and the 3rd one consists of a phosphate and an inositol, which is kind of like a 6 ringed sugar with a bunch of alcohol groups with some that can be phosphorylated (add phosphate). The term 'kinase' refers to an enzyme that adds a phosphate group to something. ANYWAY... perhaps this level of understanding isn't needed, but it bothers me to just memorize PI3K. Another example, which I haven't researched on is GSK3B. It's not GlaxoSmithKline, and the B stands for Beta. So, is there an... Alpha? Why is it 3? Perhaps I'm going to far...

KIN 462 Notes (Source: Me)

So in my actual Biochemistry class (UBC BIOC 302), we are doing Nucleic Acids now. We did Fats and Proteins for the first midterm, which didn't go so well, so at least it's more of a new start I guess. If I could take a couple sentences to vent about the midterm, it's not that I don't know my stuff. I studied hard for the exam, even with jetlag and all, but I don't know if it wasn't enough, or if all their questions are like 2 scales above the question you typically see. It's like training for a high school or varsity level tournament, and you play against an International level player. Sure, you know the basic concepts, but apply it in THIS situation! Perhaps I need to dig deeper with my studying and know a little more than I'm expected, but I wouldn't know which direction to take. Anyway, that was like a small paragraph, so some cool things we covered were purine and pyramidine synthesis. What are those? Well, what are nucleic acids? They are structures made with a base, a sugar, and a phosphate backbone and it's the structure of your DNA! So, we definitely need the stuff. As you may or may not know, DNA makes RNA, which makes Protein, so it's quite useful stuff. Something which may be more interesting is that the breakdown of the bases (purines) leads to uric acid and elevated levels of uric acid in the blood can lead to gout! Basically, uric acid crystals form in the extremities and cause the surrounding area to be inflamed. So, a treatment that they use in medicine is a chemical called allopurinol which is supposed to be very similar in structure to hypoxanthine, a structure leading to the formation of uric acid. Allopurinol works to compete with hypoxanthine and ends up inhibiting the enzyme xanthine oxidase, which leads to uric acid. By inhibiting the enzyme, less uric acid is made. See, now THAT is cool. Allopurinol is also a treatment for Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome (Juvenile gout) in which there is an HGPRT deficiency due to a genetic condition. And lastly, as a disclaimer, this is biochemistry and NOT medical advice... anywhere on my blog.

(Source: columbia.edu)

Neuroanatomy (UBC KIN 473) was straight forward this week, but that's because we are doing a midterm next Tuesday. I'm not quite ready yet, but I hope to be ready by the end of this weekend (even with a loss of an hour from Daylight Savings "Spring Forward"), and review on Monday. We did a lot more stuff on motor pathways and upper/lower motor neuron lesions in the first midterm, so this time we will be covering more on the ascending sensory pathways and other structures, like the Basal Ganglia. We also covered Parkinson's Disease (PD) for the majority of the previous class which was pretty cool, as we saw a lot of videos on symptoms, treatments, and the Hoehn and Yahr scale which is used to assess the severity of PD symptoms. So, the 4 hallmark symptoms of PD are bradykinesia (slow & small movements), resting tremor (involuntary shaking at rest), rigidity (stiffness caused by increase in muscle tone), and postural instability. Treatment is usually done by trying to replace dopamine levels, as PD is caused by a degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the Substantia Nigra, a region in the mid-brain. Unfortunately, the brain has this thing called the blood-brain barrier which is very selective on what can go through, so a precursor to dopamine, L-DOPA, is taken instead. L-DOPA looks a lot like the amino acid Tyrosine, which is a non-essential amino acid in the body, only if you are supplementing with Phenylalanine, which would be an essential one. And for those with a genetic defect in converting phenylalanine to tyrosine, you would get someone with Phenylketonuria (PKU). Pretty cool how things tie together, but to finish off with the PD, treatments are very dosage sensitive and there are on-off swings, where 'off' gives severe PD symptoms, and 'on with dyskinesia' leads to some weird abnormal movements. By far the coolest thing I saw about PD, is that a lot of people suffer from 'freezing', where they cannot start a movement. But if there is some type of visual cue, such as a line on the floor to step over, they can actual step over it with their gait looking a lot like normal! See the video:

This week I'm back on my Power Training program and it's been going pretty well, especially with a new TRX-like suspension trainer to work with. I went to Fitness Depot and bought some bumper plates, a 20kg kettlebell, and a suspension trainer, so I hope to get in a bunch of new exercise to rehab my injuries and to strengthen myself with a lot of body weight exercises. The exercises are quite challenging, but I'm able to do a few of them, so in addition to my Power Cleans and Jump Shrugs, I can do rows and push-ups, hamstring curls, and other exercises I wasn't really able to do with the equipment available at ClearOne. I'm only hoping to supplement my badminton as I'm not doing crazy workouts, so I'm just hoping to add a bit extra before my training sessions. Typically, I use two programs and alternate between programs whenever I decide to have a weight training session. My core lifts are Power Cleans and Jump Shrugs, and I throw in about 4-5 suspension trainer exercises, with at least one per session working on my shoulders and back to compensate for the badminton, as I'm constantly throwing my shoulder forward and not so much the other way, which can lead to a major imbalance, which then may lead to injury. I also make sure I take at least a day off between workouts (i.e. 48 hours, not 24 hours), as rest is important (in addition to nutrition) to help the muscles recuperate and get stronger. Anyway, here's a video of some TRX/suspension trainer exercises. I like the first two exercises. The third one seems a bit too tough at the moment :P

I've been doing a lot more footwork for my badminton training, hoping to do at least 15-20 mins before every practice. It seems to be helping tremendously in my movement and I've tried a slight adaptation from what I have observed in the movements of some higher level players. In conjunction with a concept I learned in my Neuromuscular Integration class last year, I'm hoping to develop a more explosive, yet stable footwork base for my badminton. It's not anything new, but I hope to make it look and be as effective as some of the Asian players who move in a similar fashion. The connection with my sport science class is that fact that in gait (walking), the point of greatest instability is not when one foot is in mid-air. It is right when the foot comes down and both feet are in contact with the ground in that instant. I think the reason why is because both feet are on the floor at the same time, there is no saving mechanism because the feet are in an unmovable position until the weight transfer is complete. Given that concept, I am trying not to have both feet on the ground at the same time and instead, slow down the speed of my final steps to the center and use it to push off to the next shot instead. A good example of this is watching Alex Pang in the 2013 Canadian Nationals.

Got the new Yonex Arc Saber 11! I strung it up and it's quite similar to the Arc Saber 10 when I hit overhead shots, but it feels a bit light when I do my pushes and drives. It's not as good as the Arc 10 for me so far, but I need to do a bit more testing. I've played with it twice, with the second time being much better than the first try. Maybe I'll finalize the review next week, after I try it again on Sunday! Overall, it's a pretty good racquet, but I'm not used to the lightness of the head (compared with the 10). Kind of reminds me a bit of the Arc Saber Z-Slash, but not as much of a difference. I definitely like the look of the racquet though :)

Yonex Arc Saber 11 (Source: Me)

The 2013 All England Super Series Premier is this week. Some people asked me why I didn't go, but it's because I had exams the previous week (hence, I missed Germany as well). I saw that Michelle Li had a really good run at Eriko Hirose (JPN) so it's nice to see that she's getting closer and closer to challenging the top players! In other tournament news, I will be attending the 2013 Peru International in April, and the next one after that will likely be the 2013 Sudirman Cup! I think this would actually be my first Sudirman Cup, so that will be really cool, as a figure of speech, because Malaysia is going to be very hot! I like Malaysia, but I end up getting sick there... oh well, I'll be more careful this time. The selection criteria has been posted on Badminton Canada so expect the majority of the teams that performed well at the 2013 Canadian Nationals to be there.

(Source: BWF)

At UBC Bookstore, they had a 'Student Appreciation Day' and offered some good discounts on a lot of their merchandise, including clothing, stationary, and general books (non-course related). I stumbled upon Ben Goldacre's 'Bad Science'. He's a UK physician turned epidemiologist and has a column in The Guardian newspaper that tries to debunk bad science. Here's what it's about, as I haven't read the whole book yet:

"We are obsessed with our health. And yet — from the media's "world-expert microbiologist" with a mail-order Ph.D. in his garden shed laboratory, and via multiple health scares and miracle cures — we are constantly bombarded with inaccurate, contradictory, and sometimes even misleading information. Until now. Ben Goldacre masterfully dismantles the questionable science behind some of the great drug trials, court cases, and missed opportunities of our time, but he also goes further: out of the bullshit, he shows us the fascinating story of how we know what we know, and gives us the tools to uncover bad science for ourselves." - from Amazon.ca

It seems like a good read, as it's quite entertaining. I'm hoping to get a copy of "Bad Pharma" when it comes out, which is about the problems of publication bias and more. If you aren't sure about the book, please check out Ben Goldacre on TED. He has two different talks and they are both pretty interesting and he is a pretty good speaker.

(Source: Me)

Well, for some, the sciences aren't quite as interesting, and it was a pleasant surprise when my girlfriend, Carmen, bought me the second Cyanide and Happiness book! Although terribly crude (to most people), I find it ironic that I am quoting the rapper Eminem, when he said in his song, "Say What You Say",

"I joke when I say I'm the best, in the booth, / But a lot of truth is said in jest"

As he is also terribly crude to some as well, these comics are not for everyone. I will attach a comic which is generally tolerable to most, but they can get quite obscene (you have been warned!). However, if that's what you are looking for, you hit the jackpot for some good laughs ;)

(Source: interestbuzz.com / Explosm.net)

(Source: Me)

McDonald's has coupons! I know, I'm an athlete and I shouldn't be endorsing McDonalds, but I really wonder how bad it could be? When you go eat at McDonalds, you go once in a while (i.e. once a week) and you just have a typical meal, which will cost maybe 1000 calories for a Big Mac meal for $5.50 or so, depending on where you live. Isn't it worse to go to a Cactus Club or a T.G.I.Fridays and have a meal there? Aren't the calories much more in excess of that one McDonald's meal? Would you be having drinks too? So I find it hard to fault McDonald's all the time, I mean they make efforts to follow trends. They got rid of that 'pink slime', they tried to stop using 'trans-fats', and they have excellent coffee! And since it's Roll Up The Rim to Win at Tim Horton's this month, it's interesting to see where people go. As far as I'm concerned, McDonald's has a 100% chance of winning a free coffee if you buy 6 :P And if McDonald's ever wants to sponsor an athlete, I will gladly wear the Golden Arches on my shirt hahaha. Here's an interesting discussion on the '12 Year Old Hamburger' myth. Yeah, I said myth. Click here for the article!

(Source: BestofMotherEarth.com)

So... I think I'll leave it with that. Interesting enough? See you next week!
- Toby

Analysis of Austria International 2013

2013-03-03T14:30:00.003-08:00

Okay, I mentioned that I should do an analysis on my match and how I look at things, so here you go. It actually took about 90 mins to do just the first set, but hopefully this will be useful for some. At the same time, you can learn how to beat me :) As much as I wanted to be objective, bear in mind that with any analysis, there will always be some bias. If you don't agree with something, that's fine. It's just the way I saw it. Any feedback is welcomed!

2013 Austria International - XD QF - Game 1 ONLY

0-0: Shuttle hits net cord at 00:51

1-0: Good finishing shot by Grace as she took it early enough to get angle. Doesn't have to be a hard shot; taking it earlier/faster is more effective usually

1-1: I hit the shot a little bit inside, allowing the opponent to hit cross court. If I hit a bit faster and more into the alley, they probably would have to hit straight instead.

2-1: Low percentage cross court net attempt by THA

2-2: This one is interesting. @01:49, you can see that I could have probably hit a hard BH drive, but Grace reached back and could only play soft. Furthermore, it put her out of position and I had to get the cross court net return. You can see that the distance is pretty much the same between Grace and I at 01:50. My lift was a little too low and it would have helped if it went a little bit more wide, but I think the smash was defendable. Grace's swing was too big (you can see a huge backswing at 01:52).

3-2: The lift at 02:07 should have been my shot as I would have been in position. It would be more favourable for me to hit as it would be an easy FH shot for me instead of an 'around the head' by Grace. The second lift DEFINITELY should have been mine and if you pause at 02:09, we are very close together in the back. Grace's recovery after the second shot was also slow and she could have challenged at the net (at 2:10, you can see that the opponent (girl) is not even at the service line yet). The final shot by Grace should have been taken a little bit earlier as she was a bit too far back, which is probably why it went into the net.

4-2: Good guess by Grace. It paid off well.

3-4: Serve return pushed out the back by THA

4-4: I hit a pretty bad shot. It was a bit of a guess, because if I hit a straight shot too loose, usually it's a good FH drive chance by the opponent. Unfortunately, the opponent is left handed, and he picked a very good spot to get the point. If I want to hit that crosscourt shot, I need to hit it significantly earlier than I did, or hit a straight drive/lift, or maybe just a quick crosscourt net shot.

5-4: Deceiving flick by THA; notice Grace generally uses a LF serve return.

6-4: Bad lift. It may have been deep enough, but it was not in the corner enough. However Grace hit a really good return, but she could not capitalize on the next shot. If you watch her return, it's very flat; so much that the opponent could only hit something flat back. That is a good opportunity to try to move forward a bit and get angle, or redirect. However, it could be possible that she didn't really see the shuttle as the big yellow sign in the background posed difficulties every now and then.

7-4: Better lift this time, but that prompted the guy to smash at me. My return was a little loose, but it was salvageable. Notice that Grace flips her racquet right before her defense at 03:37. Weird.

8-4: My serve return was a little loose, but I evened it out with the next shot. After Grace's backcourt shot, her recovery was a little slow and she then went to lift at 03:58. If you pause the video and look at the positioning, you can see that it would be really easy for her to block and follow it in. As she is on the same side as the opponent's guy, it would be quite awkward for him to challenge her at the net. If she had blocked, we would have gotten a lift or maybe a rising midcourt shot. Because of the lift, they smashed and I had to cover a very large percentage of the court (I hit the shot at 4:00). The defensive shot wasn't great, but there was a bit of confusion with THA so Grace should really have tried to get herself to the front. Again, you can see that because she isn't moving forward, I have to move in to the middle and she is stuck at the back. If I stay near the back, they would easily see room for a cross court block and neither of us would probably be able to get it. In the end, we lucked out and Grace did a good job of changing her spots on her smashes.

5-8: Although the opponent pushed it at me, as long as I hit it back early enough, I'm pretty safe (instead of like, trying to hit a hard drive). At 04:30, Grace's net kill was much too soft, prompting a cross court return by Issara. Grace really could have used an Imogen Bankier flying crosscourt net, or a similar shot that the Thailand girl hit on me at 1-1. Anyway, I hit a pretty good cross court return to keep the rally even and followed up with a smash chance which I was generally ready for. However the smash was a bit too flat (not enough angle) but Issara made an unforced error. The smash wasn't fast enough and it was in a good position for THA to counter, so it was more or less a lucky point for us.

6-8: Fault on Grace's serve. Service judge said double motion.

9-6: At 05:16, I've set myself up for a FH attack drive change, but because Grace made an attempt at it, I was too late and had to play a neutral straight shot. At 05:20, I had another chance at my attack drive and this time it worked out and I followed up my shot for the finish.

7-9: Nice try by Grace but too much backswing (which may have caused the error).

10-7: Unforced error.

8-10: This is a good exampe of how hard it can be to challenge the girl at the front (as the guy). He has to keep track of both Grace and I and it's not easy to do so. But in order to cause this problem, I have to be moving around too and making sure I cover any loose shots. It's much easier for the opponent if I'm just standing around in the back.

9-10: Unforced serve error.

Interval: If I had to give any coaching advice, I wouldn't have too much to say. Some basic things aren't happening that should be happening anyway and it doesn't seem like coaching really to 'follow your shots', 'be ready for a second shot', and 'challenge at the front'. The reason is that if we have to reiterate this point, what were we even doing in the first place?

11-9: 07:20 Grace's shot would have probably cost us the rally if our opponent was right handed. She should not reach back like that. Perhaps a block or a crosscourt net would be useful, but somehow we lucked out as Issara just blocked it back. My crosscourt BH was a bit risky, but it was fast enough and far enough to get the point. Any less of either could have cost us the rally.

10-11: The rally starts off with my crosscourt lift to push the girl back and try a smash. It is weird, because to me, it seems like it's a really good way to take advantage of the rally with some mixed teams. Even though you shouldn't lift so that the straight smash is on your partner, I think it's different if you can do two things: 1) the girl is the one smashing (not the guy), 2) the girl has to do a smash while traveling backwards. This gives a flat smash advantage and if I were Grace, I would try to take the smash much closer and try to convert right away. The only time this might not work so well is if the opponent's guy is a front court MD player and is comfortable to let the girl smash in the back. Considering that I was the one returning it and I'm CLOSER than Grace if you compare our positioning at 07:35, a simple block shot was enough to set up the rest of the rally. Because Grace was moving in to the front, the guy lost track of what I was doing and I could capitalize on a midcourt winner.

11-11: Good flick, weak return, but we didn't capitalize. Not a good lift again, but lucked out on the unforced error (as you can see from my expression at 07:59).

12-11: Probably should have been finished at 08:11 by Grace, but I don't know why she jumped like that. Even just pressuring with a fast drive again is better. With a slow block, the opponent can easily lift it to the back and we have to restart the entire rally again. I also should have attacked the final shot as well. The difference is that I took my shot too early, while Grace too hers too late.

12-12: Good flat rally. I hit the net cord on the serve return, but Issara hit a very good counter cross court net. Still not sure why Grace was so far back, as it is NOT a favourable position for us with her in the back. However, she did a good job to hit a net shot instead of lifting it. Some mediocre flat play but I suppose it was quick enough that nobody was able to capitalize on, though Grace needs to have her racquet up and just pick one side if she wants to be involved. The racquet fake out at 08:42 makes it hard for me as I end up hitting pure reaction shots. At 08:45, we would have lost the rally if Issara played a cross court net shot back to our BH corner. The proper way to set up here is for Grace to take the net and force him to lift the shuttle over her to the midcourt. That is where I can get a FH attack drive chance and Grace can finish up anything at the front. For Grace to move back instead and hit at 08:46 is really more of a doubles thing. The final shot at the end should probably have been Grace's shot, but I don't want to take any chances. It's always harder for the opponent if the front person (in this case me) hits it because there is less time to react. It's a lot easier to react to the same person attacking, but imagine someone jumps right in and hits it sooner than you expect.

13-12: Perfect example of two things I've said earlier: 1) It's hard for the back person when there is a lot of racquet waving without hitting, and 2) If you want to cut off a shot at the front, you need to prepare beforehand. Grace reacts to the flat shot and it throws off my timing, and it's usually not favorable. Because the racquet is not 'up', she can't hit 'down'.

13-13: Good shot by Issara. This one is up to interpretation. The serve return should either be harder down the center, softer at the girl, or more toward the sides. It's a huge angle to cover. I think there was also mis-judgement on my part because I let it drop.

14-13: This is an example of a bad return. It may have clipped the net cord, but it's also a combination of the things I said in the previous point (13-13). If I was Grace, I probably would have ducked at the front. Apology at 09:45.

15-13: Unforced error.

16-13: @10:10 Grace is moving back again. Cross body smash. I think I got lucky there.

14-16: Another kind of flat rally. I still think Grace is too far back because it's awkward for me to come in and keep things flat and still have to prepare the backcourt. I can't really block either because she's too far back and the opponent can simply re-net. From there, I either commit to the net and have her in the back (not recommended), or continue to play flat until something happens (best case scenario).

17-14: If Grace was closer at 10:42, I would probably be able to attack. @10:48 this is what I mean to follow up your shot on defense if you hit a good shot and your opponent is late (actually, might have been able to win the point on a cross drive here). Again, Grace is way too far back and there's nobody at the net. I obviously can't move in, though I would if it was Men's Doubles. Good set up for the FH attack, but the drive was too loose. As Grace's racquet came up only as the opponent hit, there was no saving of that rally.

18-14: Could have been a better lift.

19-14: Good defense by Grace. I suppose a combination of pushing it to the corner on my side and Issara's crosscourt smash made it easy enough for Grace to counter and move in. If Grace did that more often in this match, it would have been a whole different game.

15-19: Unforced error.

16-19: Because Grace didn't reach, I could come in and just drive it down. Didn't have to be a winner or anything, just to keep it down. Grace's block was a little off, as I was out to drive it again, but Issara didn't push it far enough to the corner so I was able to cut if off and get good angle. Would have been much different if he got it to the corner.

17-19: Good flick and more aggressive play by Grace.

18-19: Probably should have hit straight, but good shot into the corner by Issara.

20-18: Unforced error.

Simply at Peace

2013-02-27T05:49:00.001-08:00

My grandmother passed away a little while ago. Unfortunately, I had to play a tournament in Europe, but I'm thankful that my family waited for me to return for the funeral; it was just a couple of days ago on Monday. It was a simple Catholic service, and though I had written something, I did not get a chance to share it. Perhaps it's for the best because I cannot do a Chinese version of it, but I have decided to share it with everyone. I know I haven't updated my blog in a while and this is not the best thing to come back with, but athletes are people too, and this is something we all have to deal with in our lives:

My grandmother was a simple person. She lived by herself for some time after my grandfather passed away, but she eventually let us live with her. I don't even remember how long we've lived with her. I would say a good 12 years or so. She was a simple person, being preoccupied with a daily routine. She would do her own things and could take care of herself, even helping us by making dinner for a pretty long period of time. This continued on for a while and she was always quite lively. She would sing at when she was in a good mood, she would tell you about the things she heard on the radio or saw on TV. Though not always the wisest, as she could not grasp the possibility of things being inaccurate by the media, she was well intentioned, with all that she had experienced. Things got redundant pretty soon, but I realized that she had limited interactions, so I always did my best to lend her an ear. It probably helped that my Cantonese was terrible, it still is, but the point is that I couldn't really talk. I could only listen.

With time, things changed. Everything took a turn for the worst after one event. She was up early outside, it was icy. She slipped and fell and hurt her back and wrist. Things weren't so simple anymore but she was still a simple person. My stepmother did her best to take care of her, but pain really took a toll on my dear grandmother. Pain itself is physiologically pretty simple, ascending up those unmyelinated Type IV sensory fibers, but psychologically it wasn't. Simple tasks became difficult, there was no more singing. She got better but the pain manifested itself through frustration and all it took was one argument to tear my family apart. Then things became simple again, simple but different.

It was interesting though, because there were times when my grandmother simply forgot about her pain. If you ask her how she felt, she would shake her head and tell you that she was in pain, but there were times she would forget about her walker and proceed to walk unassisted to the living room to watch her TV show. It really seemed like a case of mind over matter and she forgot about her pain. Unfortunately that one argument was never forgotten; it became habitual. It became a more or less a permanent rift between two sides. I was merely an observer and I saw both sides of the story. Neither side was really able to talk about it, despite my encouragement for communication. One side was afraid, the other side was stuck in traditional thought. My grandmother was simple and she told me that she could say things that she didn't mean. I voiced her implied apology, but it made no difference. It got too complicated.

Complications elsewhere became evident, with the first deep vein thrombosis (DVT). More unbearable pain came for my grandmother and more complications began. After trying blood thinners and such, the clots came back anyway. That warranted another hospital visit and increase in medication. Then the breathing problems came...

It got complicated. I just took a respiratory physiology course, but it was about exercise, not so much pathophysiology. I did a paper on Cystic Fibrosis, a recessive genetic disorder, so that definitely wasn't useful. Breathing is important, for we need oxygen. I believe that "chi" has been mistranslated in Western alternative medicine; I believe it is a "life force". Oxygen is a life force, we need to breathe. But things kept getting complicated. She didn't go to the hospital for a few days after the breathing difficulties. Why? Because things were too complicated?

And that was the last time I talked to her, seeing her struggle to get into the car to go to the hospital. All I could tell her was "Take it easy" and "You'll be fine". A suggestion was all I could offer in a hope that she could forget her pain again, but she really was struggling; the pain was too great. You could hear the shallow breathing, meaning she wasn't getting the oxygen she needed. Her heart rate would increase to handle the extra load of breathing and simple things like walking would be complicated. Everything would get more complicated until it would be simple again: when she would stop breathing.

That came pretty shortly, with more blood clots and emergency surgeries. She couldn’t take the pain anymore and things kept getting complicated. My grandmother was a simple person, and in the end, even though her condition was so complicated that doctors had never seen anything like it before, the end result was simple. She passed away peacefully, after she was put into a sedative coma. Everything became simple again and she was now simply at peace.

As a grandson who spent quite a bit of time around the house, I will miss that simplicity. She would always ask me if I have eaten, and she would sometimes offer to cook. Depending on the day, sometimes I would let her cook something for me because she genuinely wanted to do something, and to deny her would probably be the wrong thing to do. Despite her dislike of the Japanese and what they did to the Chinese back in her days, she seemed to appreciate the sushi I gave her when I would make the odd order. She would wonder why I wouldn’t sing when I played the piano, but it’s okay. She lived a simple life and she was happy, and I would have to be the one to work around it when things got complicated. I understood that well, and I would say we had a pretty good relationship for the rest of the time we shared together. I hope I have made you proud as an Olympian, though a part of me regrets that I couldn’t have become a doctor. Perhaps it wouldn’t have made a difference anyway, because she would simply have been proud of whatever I became. At the very least, I’m proud that she read about me receiving a Diamond Jubilee Medal in her Chinese newspaper, as she saved the page and told me to keep it to remember. The house is quiet again, and there will be no more Chinese TV blasting in the background, no more singing, and no more traditional Chinese advice.

I know my grandmother has interacted with different people in different ways, but this lesson is what I will always remember her by:

You can live a simple life and do complicated things, but do not let life get too complicated because you can’t get over something simple.

Thank you, Grandmother, for all the time we have shared and may you rest in peace.

Until next time. Thanks again for visiting.

Do You 'C' What I See?

2012-11-21T13:53:00.000-08:00

I know I wanted to take some time off of social media, but I feel this post is important:

"Do You 'C' What I See?"

In terms of the title, the 'C' is in reference to a letter grade (between A and F, with F being the fail, obviously). The topic I would like to discuss is geared toward teaching and coaching, and reciprocally, how to learn and why some things don't make sense to us. Let's look at a simple problem: "Why can't I learn what someone is teaching me?" Well, for one thing, you might not have practiced it enough. Another problem, which I find one of the most severe, is that you might ask yourself, "I know you want to teach me this, but is there a reason why? Is there a better way?" It starts to get quite vague after as it now gets clouded with individual thought. Maybe you don't want to learn it because you don't see the value in it, maybe you don't know why you're learning it, or maybe you do and it's a success. There are so many variables and in a way there is a lot of trust you must place in your teacher or coach. Perhaps you have limited resources and this is the best you can get without having to fly halfway across the world, or drive across the city and take twice the time traveling than actually learning. There are many reasons why you may or may not like working with your coach/teacher/tutor/etc, so we'll leave it at that as I have no need to guess your reasons why.

Let's work with an example, so we don't get too theoretical. For the sake of this being a badminton blog, let's say you play a game of badminton, you lose (or win, doesn't matter), and your coach was coaching you for the duration of the match. We won't get into the stuff that happens during the game, but let's look at the coaching afterwards. As a player, you should probably have your own thoughts about the game, especially your mental game. Sometimes it can show in an athlete, but to the observer, it is only an observation. You only see the end result of emotion, but you don't understand why or how it came to be. For example, it's probably a lot more correct to say that someone "looks nervous" than to say that someone "IS nervous". Maybe the player is sick, stressed out, worried about something else, but regardless, if you act on your own assumption and say, "Don't be nervous", you are using your own interpretation of a situation you can't possibly be very sure of. Statistically, you may be correct, but I just used this expression as an example, because how much do you possibly know about statistics and how much would it be to be statistically significant, and based on what sample size did you make the assumption on, etc, etc, etc... and you can see how much of a personal bias that gets filtered into a bit of judgement.

Anyway, sorry for switching perspectives (you did notice that you went from a player perspective to an observer perspective, right?) and imagine yourself as a player again. You lose your match and your coach tells you what you should have done. Great (sarcasm intended), number one thing there is hindsight bias. Coaches that aren't as good will generally rely on this type of feedback, whereas good coaches will tell you things to look for before they happen. That's my perspective at least. Feedback isn't a bad thing, but I'm sure there are times you hit a bad shot and you ask yourself, "Why did I do that?". Funny, I find it very rare in my sport when people hit bad shots that they never ask you why you hit that shot? Why? How come? Or if you don't want to be that offensive, "What is the reasoning behind that shot, what is the purpose?" The good players probably constantly ask themselves these questions, but they only get their own feedback based on their own 'filters' (i.e. perspectives). It is always nice to get more feedback in terms of why it might have been the wrong shot, or even if it was the right idea, but just improper execution. However, having the discussion itself is the most important thing for the player/coach relationship as it helps the coach understand the player more, and the player to understand him/herself more. It's much easier to be like, "Hit *that shot* instead next time" but it's the same as being given the answer to a calculus problem. If you get asked the same question, you know what the answer is, but if there are any changes to the scenario, it just won't hold up consistently enough.

Again, I'm making the reference to post-match analysis, because when there are time constraints, things change. I am referencing from a developmental standpoint, as there is probably little development possible during a match and strict feedback is probably the best strategy. The next major thing to address is perspectives and filters. So to quickly define these terms, 'perspective' is basically what a person sees, while the 'filter' is what changes that person's perspective to suit his/her own personal preferences. Basically, we can all have the same perspective on something if we threw away our filters. That in itself is impossible, but when we take away our own filters, we may have a chance to see something from someone else's perspective, though it will never be perfectly the same. It's really like the expression that refers to only understanding someone when you "walk a mile in their shoes". If you take the concept of badminton and coaching, I find we usually get the concept really mixed up, especially if the coach was a former player. To clarify, I find that coaching in badminton is like teaching by making the player "walk (or do footwork) a mile in the coach's shoes" and then work with that. There are often times when this approach can actually be a very good strategy, but there are times when the context is not all that correct. With more information and feedback by both sides, perhaps the best approach to a certain technique or tactic can be found that suits the ability of the player and to the satisfaction of the coach. Let's take a look at 2 different sides of the same coin, with the coin being success and one side being from the coach's standpoint and the other being the player's standpoint:

Coach's Standpoint: Let's get this clear, I'm not doing a post on coach bashing, I'm only trying to enlighten everyone about a simple thing and making it more complicated. If you think that's a bad thing, then that's a part of your personal filter and I recommend you stop reading... 4 paragraphs ago. If you think it's a good thing, then I won't waste any more of your time. Listening to the coach is important because younger players may not see the reason why things are done, based on an obvious lack of experience. There is much value to listen to what the coach says because having the fundamental skills and tactics down is necessary. It becomes hard to explain the fundamentals other than the fact that it's... fundamental! There's a difference between "Why should I learn addition and subtraction?" vs. "Why do I need to learn algebra?". It could be analogous to "Why do I need footwork?" vs. "Why do I need to make my shots more deceptive?". Often times, the coach will be correct, especially in the developing years. I suppose that the problem I proposed is more for higher level stuff, when you start working on the little things that will hopefully make a big difference if they are addressed. Let's say the coach is 75% correct overall, so each of these little things will be 1-2% differences, but after say, making 5 changes, you can be 5-10% better, which is statistically significant (based on my memory of statistics... stupid p values, I'll get back to you next term).

Player's Standpoint: As a player myself, I happen to be a very skeptical person. I don't know, that's just me. Sometimes I have a game plan and it's a matter of sticking to it until your opponent breaks, or adapting it because it doesn't work. The coach can always give feedback, but I'm a curious person and I'd like to know why the coach feels that way. If there is a good explanation, then that's a pretty convincing argument to me. If there is no explanation, then where does this feedback truly come from? Experience? The problem is exacerbated when you and your coach have conflicting strategies. They tell you to do a certain thing because they feel you it is your weakness, but maybe you don't think it's a bad idea because you don't feel that it is a weakness, or if it's actually a part of your strategy. For example, one strategy I tried once a long time ago was hitting almost everything that went to the back, despite that some were out. The reason I did that was that near the end of the game, when things got a little tight, everything went out the back after because I conditioned the opponent to thinking that some of his shots were okay. They might have been, but they were quite close. It has also happened against me, where my opponents hit everything to the back and it went out in the beginning, but near the middle/end of the match, everything was in fact 'in' and I let a lot of stuff drop within the backcourt. The main idea is this: I have my filter on as a particular strategy, while the coach has his/her own idea. They can both be right, they can both be wrong, so what happens when you come to this dilemma?

Success: Well, like any relationship, you learn to compromise. Sometimes you will be right, sometimes you will be wrong, but trying is usually the least you can do. As a coach, it is ultimately your player's game, so I would suggest providing the options and letting your player choose. That way it gives the player the autonomy that they need sometimes and it becomes a good learning experience. Should the player want more feedback, you can give it and advise accordingly. Good players know the importance to this feedback, so don't feel that you are unimportant as a coach because you're not making a firm stance on what the player should do. If the player doesn't know, then I'm sure they will ask your opinion. It's sport, there are rarely facts until the game is over... just a lot of opinions. As for the players, you need to give the coach as much information as possible. Whether your arm hurts, or you're getting tired, or if you're stressed out, etc. The coach doesn't have all the information unless you give it to him/her, and then they can act accordingly. There's no point for the coach to tell you to attack more if your shoulder is in some kind of pain, or running your opponent around if you have a leg cramp. It may be the best strategy IF you were in a different condition, but to find the best strategy adapted to the situation at hand, it will definitely change.

I believe that the player/coach combination that is the most adaptable is often the most successful. Though I don't get to see as many cases of it as I would like to, I hope I have addressed a valid point for players and coaches. This is probably transferable to other discussions as well, from teaching, tutoring, etc. When both coach and player work together, I think it's the best scenario because it's Win/Win. At the very least, this is what I hope to do as both a player and a coach, because a significant problem I see in badminton is when coaches push their players to train when they are injured, or will make the group do exercises that may be beneficial to the group, but may be harmful to a specific player. For example, if anyone has a shoulder injury, I would not recommend continuous smashing or clearing. If someone has a knee or foot injury, I would not do exercises that involve a lot of movement. What does it take to adapt training for individual players? I know there is that "everyone is doing it, so why can't you?" but again, to lead us back to my original point: "Does everyone have the same perspective?" For the coach, can't you make an adaptation for the sake of your player? For the player, can't you make a request for an adaption or even offer a suggestion to modify your training? There is a reason why we don't all play the same, so if we don't all exactly train the same way, is that really a big problem? Maybe the environment is the same for everyone, but today, I learned there can be up to a 20% genetic variability. Significant, no?

Thanks for visiting, and please feel free to leave any questions or comments!

2012 Pan Am Championships

2012-10-27T15:28:00.004-07:00

The 2012 Pan Am Championships took place in Lima, Peru at the Coliseo Manuel Bonilla in Miraflores. We typically have used the Club Regatas in the past, but this time we were playing here instead. The weather was pretty much early spring weather, so it was quite cold especially at the venue and it rained here and there. Nonetheless, despite some transportation issues, it was a pretty smooth tournament without any major hiccups.

The team event started on the 8th, so I flew down with Christin Tsai from Vancouver on October 6th, bright and early 7am flight to Houston. We met up with our National Team coach, Jeff White, and left for Lima later in the day and arrived at about 10pm in Lima. We flew down with United Airlines, which is a partner of Star Alliance (same with Air Canada). I would have much preferred to have flown Air Canada, but they didn't have the dates that I wanted. The benefit of flying with Air Canada is that there may be a possibility to be upgraded to Business Class if you have enough eUpgrade credits, and also that you get a personal TV. We only have a big shared TV screen on United. However, Air Canada only flies from Toronto, while United seems to have a few more options. The last bonus of Air Canada though, is that you don't have to clear US Customs. Sometimes it can be a pain with transferring bags and whatnot, but I will save that for a later posting.

Lounging in the hotel lobby, watching Modern Family

We met up with the rest of the team that night, which included: Adrian Liu (BC), Derrick Ng (BC), Nyl Yakura (ON), myself, Alex Bruce (ON), Joycelyn Ko (ON/BC), Phyllis Chan (BC), and Christin Tsai (BC). Missing from the roster were Michelle Li (ON) and Grace Gao (AB/ON) as they were unable to received medical clearance to participate in the event. Fortunately, they were replaced in time by Christin and Phyllis. Overall, the team event went smoothly. We had a rough start with Brazil in the pool play as we squeezed by and won 3-2 after losing both our Singles, but things picked up and we did better against Peru. We came out and faced Mexico in the semifinals and won 4-1, and we defeated the USA in the finals, also 4-1, to take our 4th consecutive team event title! Footage of the Canadian matches in the Team Semis and Finals are posted on my YouTube channel, with specific matches posted below:

Photo credit: Christin Tsai

Full Results: [tournamentsoftware.com]

Team SF: CANADA vs. MEXICO
(WS): Tsai [CAN] vs. Solis [MEX]
(MS): Yakura [CAN] vs. Munoz [MEX]
(MD): Liu/D.Ng [CAN] vs. Castillo/Ocegueda [MEX]
(WD): Ko/Tsai [CAN] vs. Gonzalez/Gonzalez [MEX]

Team F: CANADA vs. USA
(XD): T.Ng/Bruce [CAN] vs. Chew/Subandhi [USA]
(MS): Yakura [CAN] vs. Pongnairat [USA]
(WS): Tsai [CAN] vs. Subandhi [USA]
(MD): Liu/D.Ng [CAN] vs. Chew/Pongnairat [USA]

For the individual events, we were joined by Philippe Charron (QC) and Sergiy Shatenko (ON). In the MS, we were represented by Nyl, Sergiy, and myself. I was only able to play MS as Grace did not withdraw early enough for me to find another partner and MD had the maximum amount of teams already as well. Unfortunately, we all ended up losing to the top 4 seeds from Guatemala and USA, with Kevin Cordon [GUA] eventually reclaiming his title against Osleni Guerrero [CUB], a rematch of the 2011 Pan Am Games final.

MS Final: Cordon [GUA] vs. Guerrero [CUB]

In Women's Singles, none of the Pan American medalists were in the tournament this year. However, rising Canadian star Christin Tsai rose to the occasion and took the title, defeating Jamie Subandhi of the USA. Christin, who is representing Canada at the World Juniors in Japan this year, was ranked as high as 6th in the World in the junior rankings for Women's Singles. She's definitely one to keep an eye out for!

WS Semi: Tsai [CAN] vs Velez [USA]

WS Final: Tsai [CAN] vs Subandhi [USA]

In the Men's Doubles, Adrian Liu and Derrick Ng were finally able to break their Pan Am semifinal curse, as they have lost in the semifinals 3 times previously. However, not this time, as they practically steamrolled their way and remained undefeated for the entire tournament!

MD Final: Liu/Ng [CAN] vs Paiola/Tjong [BRA]

In the Women's Doubles, we had 2 brand new Canadian pairings duking it out for the 2012 Pan Am title. After mixing and matching between 3 teams, we now have Alex Bruce/Phyllis Chan, Joycelyn Ko/Christin Tsai, and probably Michelle Li/Grace Gao who will be competing in the circuit as soon as they recover from their injuries. It was an interesting match in the final, as both sides seemed to have moments of dominance, but in the end, Alex and Phyllis were the ones on top, defeating Joycelyn and Christin in a 3 set match. I anticipate some very interesting WDs match ups in Canada and it will be interesting to see which team will come out on top, especially at the 2013 Canadian National Championships next February!

WD Final: Bruce/Chan [CAN] vs Ko/Tsai [CAN] - G1&2 // G3

Last but not least, we have the Mixed Doubles, with Derrick and Alex taking over as the top seeds. They had a struggle against the American team of Phillip Chew/Jamie Subandhi, but they made up for it by destroying the other Canadian team in the XD final! They definitely wanted the win, which is probably a first international mixed title for both Derrick and Alex, and with that, they were both able to triple crown at the event! Although I couldn't compete for a 4th consecutive Pan Am mixed title, at least it stays in the family :P

XD Semi: Ng/Bruce [CAN] vs Chew/Subandhi [USA]

XD Final: Ng/Bruce [CAN] vs Charron/Chan [CAN]

That's pretty much it! Until next time then, thanks for visiting!

2012 Pan Am Singles Champions!

Team Canada medalists

September

2012-09-17T11:21:00.002-07:00

Do you remember... the 21st night of September...

"September" by Earth, Wind, and Fire (I wonder what happened to 'water'?). Great song, though really nothing to do with my post except for the month in question. So far so good after the first 2 weeks of school at UBC and I also played my first provincial tournament in probably 3 years or so since I went to Alberta, though I will be detailing that a little more later.

Things have been quite hectic and keeping up with training is a lot tougher when I have to juggle everything around. Fortunately, I've been consistent enough with the fixed training groups, as I pretty much have them as mandatory items in my schedule, though for optional practices, it has been a little difficult to include. Perhaps if I create a weight training program, that might be enough to supplement me well enough for this year, as my focus has been on training, rehabilitation, and even a bit of a mental reflection by looking back at the problems of the past years. I also have a lab in one of my classes that includes some physical activity, so that's a nice blend of both school and sport.

UBC has been nice, though taking a bus to an 8am class everything weekday morning can be very exhaustive, at least the weather has been nice (for now!). Biochemistry has been quite engaging, although we have to learn and memorize the structures of the common 20 amino acids! Arrghhh! Now how can I relate something like this to my badminton, one might wonder? Well, L-arginine, a common "ingredient" in those muscle building protein formulas is actually an amino acid, basically a 'building-block' of proteins (ie. amino acids + amino acids + more amino acids = protein). Anyway, the cool thing we learn is that the 'L' in L-arginine refers to which way the amino acid is oriented. Basically, without going into a detailed explanation, the orientations of biological molecules CAN have either an 'L' orientation, or an 'D' orientation. Emphasis on "CAN" because we learned that pretty much all amino acids have the 'L' configuration. Technically, you don't even need to have the 'L' in front of arginine, because if your body somehow gets 'D-arginine', your body wouldn't be able to use it. So, why waste all that time naming it 'L-arginine'? Doesn't it sound much more complex and science-y? Will that single abundance in amino acid make an incredible difference in the long run? I don't know, but maybe I will find out more in my class when I start looking at more reactions and structures.

(Note: I originally wrote L & R. Oops. A combination of getting mixed up with R/S configurations and D/L Optical Activity. Guess I need more practice in Chemistry :P)

Genetics has been interesting, though getting more and more complicated. Visualizing things is quite difficult, but perhaps I just need more practice. My Kinesiology classes have been engaging as well, especially because we had a chance to learn Functional Movement Screens. Basically, they function as a screen to see if one is able to engage in exercise. If problems are detected, then other things should be considered before being thrown into an exercise program. They are quite forceful on their beliefs and I think there is a lot of benefit in their program, but because they are so rigid in their beliefs to try to standardize something for the entire population, there are always exceptions. Maybe not many exceptions exist, but there are, so that creates a large grey area to me. They may show that it's scientifically beneficial for these screens, but beneficial certainly does not mean 'essential'. Also, I didn't feel like paying $300 to get certified, even with a $200 discount (from $500).

Back to Badminton, I played a tournament over the weekend with Phyllis Chan, a fellow Canadian National Team member at ACE Badminton Center in Richmond, BC. The draw was quite small and after getting some kinks out of our game, we managed to come out and win the Mixed. If felt a little awkward to play, with all that expectation given that I should be able to win the tournament. Fortunately, it worked out, even though we were playing some imported player from China. Wow, she was pretty fast. Regardless things worked out alright this time and I should be on track to be ready for the Pan Am Champs in October.

Anyway, that's pretty much it for now. Just studying, training, and not very much in between. I'd like to coach, but I guess it really depends on my schedule. I will be attending the AthletesCan Forum at the end of the month as the Badminton Canada Players Association representative, so that will be a weekend gone before the week of my first midterm. Such is life...

... isn't it great? :)

A New Start?

2012-09-02T12:57:00.002-07:00

Is it a new start, or just a long continuation of the life I left behind to train for the Olympics? It could be a bit of both, though it just depends how you look at things. I don't want to lump myself into a certain label of being a 'starter' or a 'finisher', as there are many things I have started and also many things I've finished. It's hard to consider that I'm very good at both things either, as I have failed in both tasks many times. However, one idea I learned from my NLP seminar was that it just depends how you look at things. For example, if you think you're good at starting, imagine yourself 'beginning to start you finish', or in the other perspective, 'finish the intro/beginning of your task'. If a psychological trick can help you out, by all means, go for it.

Looking at this upcoming year, I have apparently swamped myself with many things again. School, badminton, coaching, and anything else I have said 'yes' to. However, I am aware of this 'yes' trend which was not an issue when I had time, so things will have to change very soon. Unfortunately, outside my strict personal obligations, I will have to start declining many things, as I have to maximize the time I have to do what I need to do. I will be on an extremely tight schedule, with full time classes and badminton. Traveling to tournaments will be at a minimum, but coaching hours will probably feel about the same way, as I do need to make some kind of income. I don't really know what the fate of my blog will be, but I may tend to write on a more broad range of topics which I have been doing in the past little while. I hope to keep them interesting and at least semi-entertaining, but I guess only time will tell :P

I really hope to finish my degree this year and I probably will have to redo my MCAT at some point. I didn't feel very comfortable at the exam and it is one of my goals to 'defeat' it. With a biochemistry and genetics course this term, it should keep me suitably prepared, though I need to find some way of learning optics and maybe some harmonics. Physics is definitely not my forte.

For those of you purely interested in Badminton, I will most likely be competing at the 2012 Pan American Championships in Peru in October. Hope to take my 5th Pan American title, as well as help Canada win the team event. I took some time off training to rest and recover, though more as a mental break, but clearly, my mind is never resting and always spewing out thoughts. I will resume my training regimen tonight and hope to maintain my abilities while minimizing my injuries until October.

Thanks for visiting!

A Hard Lesson in Life

2012-08-20T18:16:00.000-07:00

I've been studying constantly for the MCAT (Medical College Acceptance Test in North America) since I've returned early from the Olympics. It's been quite stressful as I've been out of school for so long. The time is running out and my exam date is coming soon. I'm not too worried though, as I will be able to take it again should I not be satisfied with my mark. However, that will take more studying and of course, more money.

Perhaps I'm stressed out and burnt out from studying a good 5 hours a day for the past 2 weeks, but I've come to a simple realization in how this entire process relates to life, at least my life anyway. I've seen many people so ambitious with their lives, and that is great usually, but I also see that it's that desire to go 'against all odds' and trying to do things their own way; trying to do it all themselves. I see this with many people in badminton especially, doing things on their own and trying to attain their own goals, whatever they may be. Reflecting on that, it seems like I have made the same error, as I have decided to self study for the MCAT. I know I probably wouldn't have been able to attend the classes regularly anyway, but I didn't feel like throwing away $1700.00 for a course. I can practically take the MCAT five times and have another $500 for prep materials. However, that would be the quickest fix in the shortest amount of time. Being personally instructed and guided would have saved time for sure. With the MCAT, I still have a year to pull off a satisfying mark, but there will be a lot more trial and error, most certainly of the latter if I continue to keep doing things myself. As independent as I may seem to be, I believe I have lived most of my life trying to follow people and learn from them as much as I can instead of figuring things out for myself. That way I can do more in life, instead of learning things the hard way. I would much rather spend the time in researching how things are done by finding the right resources or asking the right people, instead of getting that feeling of accomplishment one gets from solving something on their own. I know some people thrive on that feeling but it's definitely not for me.

With that said, I will do what I can this Thursday when I write my MCAT, though I do have low expectations. I don't know how much more I can cram into my head these next few days, but with my car breaking down again, the added stress is getting unbearable. It would be nice to get a few days off, after the exam before school starts... so I guess I'm looking forward to that. However, the things I've neglected to do because of studying for the MCAT will probably pile up. Oh well, such is life...

So the lesson of this blog is to consider learning from the mistakes of others, as it will save you a lot of time to do it exactly the same way and fail yourself. You can convince yourself that you may be different that the others, and if that is the case, I will tell you that every testimonial you hear from other people regarding anything should then be ignored, because it will be different for you. And if you do listen to me, it doesn't hurt to try things out once in a while, because you have to know where you stand.

Good luck.

True Humility

2012-08-11T10:08:00.000-07:00

I think I wrote this in June 2012, while I was training in Korea before the Olympics. Context is actually quite significant with regards to content... for example, if you had a depressed phase and everything you write is a little ominous, it doesn't mean you feel the same way ALL THE TIME. What is written here doesn't apply all the time, but rather in a state of frustration. The words are meant to get you out of a darker place. It's tough if you only look at the absolutes, because people start at different scales, but if you track relative changes, then there is always hope...

There is no correct way, just ways that are more effective than others. Maybe your way can be very effective, maybe it can even be the most effective at the moment, but nothing is ever set for eternity and a new technique may emerge, thus rendering your methods still effective, but not the most effective anymore.

Now what happens when you see others struggling with their own methods? Maybe they don't know any better; maybe they are stubborn; maybe they just don't understand it the way you do? Teaching others is always a gamble, because you need to invest your time and resources. Before helping others, you must personally decide if it is worth your time and effort to help them. Why teach if your advice will fall on deaf ears? If they don't want your help, then there isn't much you can do. Even if they NEED your help, it will not be effective if they don't want to make the change. People can change, but a major condition is that they have to WANT to make the change. If they do not want to change, then they will remain the same.

Perhaps you have something you are particularly good at. You have a very good sense of it and you can find success more often that others. Maybe others try to pursue your talent as well, but they are fumbling, having much more difficulty than you do. You may try to guide them along and help them get to at least where you are at, but it seemingly is more of a stressor, as there are others who may not wish to learn. Isn't this a form of disrespect? Sure they may have high standards, but who are they to disregard your point of view in a subject that you are knowledgeable about? It's different if you didn't have such an ability in your particular talent, but because you do, it feels awkward. You can see their errors and you can understand why things may go wrong for them because you understand the game much better. Though it may only be your perspective, it should still be a valid one.

If this continues, it's really easy to disregard others, especially those who are obviously inferior. You put your selflessness on the line by trying to help them out, but they shut you down, blinded by their own quest for glory... they truly want that autonomy to do it themselves. Over time, contempt grows, where you become agitated when they can't succeed at the small things; they never do as well as they want to and you know exactly why. But since they don't want to listen, they must think they're better than you. Otherwise, they are simply faking it. They claim they want to be good at it, but their actions speak differently. They're distracted and they have no passion for the process. They only value the odd experiences and getting the label. In other words, they only value getting named to the team, getting those benefits, but there is little pursuit in the ultimate mastery of your craft.

There is so much frustration in the end. It keeps being bottle up and harnessed, with the odd fits of rage now and then to release some of that pent up anger. To make things worse, people you rant to tell you to have patience. Have patience for others who aren't as good as you. Respect other people for trying, respect those who are less fortunate. But... but but but but but, there are so many 'but's that it is driving you crazy. 'But they don't respect me', 'but they don't listen to me', 'but they don't even care, they just enjoy whatever limelight they get'... and the truth is, it's very true. Some people have a lower level of contentment; they just enjoy the moment and live day to day. Some even live for a big moment and live their life around that one moment. And there are some, maybe similar to you, that strive for achievement. Not so much for money or fame, but a personal level of success. Personal achievement, let's say. It's a hunger that needs to be fed and it is very irritable when you have to deal with other people who don't understand, or don't want to understand. However, maybe that's just the way it is...

And that is the way it is, because it is more or less an ultimate form of humility. Being thankful for your God-given abilities that you may have personally worked so hard for, but at least you did the right things most of the time. You have had your ups and downs as well, so that respect for the inferior people or people who don't care, is more or less humility. To be truly humble for your abilities is tough, but it can be done... only if you want to. In the long run, progress is hindered if people aren't working to their full efficiency. To treat people the way they deserved to be treated usually doesn't end well because a lot of people deserve nothing at all. I'm not saying that you need to be a doormat, not even close, but to understand that you always have the control over the situation. Maybe the outcome might not be the way you envisioned it, but if you can make the best out of that one particular moment, your odds are definitely highest if you are willing to work it out. You need to make the change, be a leader in a way, of your own emotions and decisions. Take the high road all the time that leads to the greatest route for success. Even though it may feel good to destroy someone, it will not be good if it hinders progress. However, if they are directly your competition, there is no need to hold back, but don't go overboard as well. There is no need to demoralize your opponents, because the best way is to show them your undying confidence that you are the better one in that situation. With persistence, they will break before you and they already know it.

Some last words to finish up... be yourself and focus on the best course of action to progress to your desired outcome. Though you may not win all the time, you will still come out on top of your demons. Be humble, because you can't know for sure if your methods are the most effective at that given time. Adapt to your situation and succeed... because that's what the true masters of your particular talents do.

2012 Summer

2012-08-07T06:52:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a while, as things were piling up significantly ever since I left to train in Korea in May/June. I kept getting swamped about doing media things, studying, and miscellaneous stuff aside from my training, so I apologize for not writing blog updates as much as I used to. I don't really believe in the brief Facebook status on my Facebook Page, so that's probably why I still haven't signed up for Twitter. I'm all for one-liners, but usually they start trying to be too witty and then the humour isn't understood by everyone, or some people take offense to it... clearly, I've thought this through a few times :)

Well, let's highlight things from June, in point form. If you really want, you can pretend each point is a Twit :) (Edit: upon reading each supposed 'Twit', they start looking more like paragraphs... whoops)

- Trained for 3 weeks in June at the Won Kwang University, in Iksan, South Korea, under the guidance of both Kim Dong Moon, and head coach Choi Jung. I had the chance to train with the University Team there and I am very much grateful for all their help and assistance with their sparring, considering that it's just a men's team. Imagine having to play Doubles against a Mixed Team for 3 weeks. So... yeah, thank you everyone!

- Came back for a short week and then went to Los Angeles for the 2012 US Open Grand Prix Gold at the Orange County Badminton Club. Great tournament, not so great shopping this year (because I still have stuff I bought and haven't worn from the same tournament 6 years ago haha), but a good result overall, missing out on the finals by losing 21-19 in the third! However, to be honest, I'm just happy we made it out against Chinese Taipei in the Quarterfinal, coming back from a 16-20 deficit in the 3rd as well o__O All footage can be found on my YouTube Channel, featuring my matches and some other Canadian players, including Adrian Liu, Nyl Yakura, Christin Tsai, and Phyllis Chan.

- Canada Open was the week after, at the Richmond Oval. Thank you for all those who came out to support, and it was great having everyone cheering for us for once instead of it being the other way around usually :P Especially since I almost lost first round against the same Chinese Taipei team again, but miraculously, we came back and won in the 3rd set, from 16-20 again. However, it was a lot more close this time, but maybe because CBC - The National was filming. Maybe all our Olympic luck was wasted on these two matches against Chinese Taipei :P Pai Hsiao Ma did say to me, "20-16 I hate you!" but we got a photo together at the end, so we're cool now :P

Picture by Buzz Booth!

- After the Canada Open, we flew as a group to London for a pre-Olympic camp organized by Badminton Canada and some of Badminton England, working with Andy Wood (Nathan Robertson's coach) and other players in Derbyshire, including Donna Kellogg, Robin Middleton, and Heather Olver. It was kind of cool at first and everything, as we were to do an exhibition against Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms (2004 Olympic Silver Medalists in Mixed Doubles), but stuff started happening, people got sick, and my memory magically starts fading... now. But hold that thought, I would like to thank all the players, coaches, and support staff that took the time to help us out and making a nice trip to Derby, as it is a lovely town and really had nothing to do with that... sickness, which I now remember that I'm supposed to forget about...

- Finally, the last stretch, we made it into Wembley. We stayed there for the duration of the trip and didn't get a chance to live at the village for those who left early, me included. The village was very cool, so much stuff I really didn't get to see, but I had at least a chance to see a bit of it during Opening Ceremonies and on my last day in London in which I skipped out on an epic Men's Singles final. I was quite disappointed, because I thought they would play the match last, instead of the Men's Doubles last, but I was also hoping for a Korea vs. China Men's Doubles final, which I probably would have made it back to watch... maybe :P All in all, I got a chance to explore a little and took the Underground from Wembley Park to Statford, where the Olympic Park was. I don't really have too much else to say about my Olympic experience aside from everything already on my Facebook Page, but I would really like to thank all those who supported my journey and took the time to meet me or even post on my Facebook Page. I try to respond to everyone I can, because I don't feel like anyone special as I don't like to think of it that way. I'm just a guy motivated to do his own thing and I really do appreciate those who support me and I would like to thank you all for doing that :) The Olympics was exceptional and I'm proud to compete for Canada and I'm so grateful for getting to live in such a wonderful country. Final words for my Olympic experience... 'BRUUUUUUUUCE LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII' hahaha

So... What's next?
Well, at least for the summer, I am or I hope to be studying full-time for the MCAT (Medical College Acceptance Test) as my test date is on August 23rd, leaving not too much time left (16 days). Although I have covered most of the material, though I do need review in... most parts, it does feel pretty good as I don't know how many exams I've written and I've already covered all the material already hahahaha... well, guess it's a new chapter in life and I need to get back into school mode. Nothing beats getting into school mode that signing up for the MCAT. Don't try this at home.

As for Badminton, I'm not terribly sure, but I hope to play until August 2014. Two more years of this brilliant and stressful sport. I think I will stick to Mixed Doubles, as neither my reflexes or stamina will last me for Men's Doubles or especially Men's Singles, but be sure to see me in the odd tournament, attempting to play all 3, maybe matching up with my brother again. I'm not too sure what he's doing but all he wants me to do right now is yell out 'BONNY' and 'SKINETEX'... whatever that badminton equipment or sports tape you happen to come buy... err, I mean come by. I will definitely be doing some coaching again and you will soon be able to take lessons with me if you're in the Vancouver/Richmond area, most likely at ClearOne Badminton. However, don't fret just yet, I hope to work with Badminton BC and other Provincial Organizations when events come up, as I would definitely like to give back to all of Canada. Maybe even Pan America, hahahaha who knows where things will go? All I really know is I have 2 years left to play, so I'm really eyeing a 2014 Commonwealth Games medal, and who knows how far I will get in my final World Championships ;)

Thanks for visiting! Until next time :)

Art Of Learning

2012-06-16T22:48:00.000-07:00

‎"In my experience, successful people shoot for the stars, put their hearts on the line in every battle, and ultimately discover that the lessons learned from the pursuit of excellence mean much more than the immediate trophies and glory. In the long run, painful losses may prove much more valuable than wins - those who are armed with a healthy attitude and are able to draw wisdom from every experience, "good" or "bad," are the ones who make it down the road." - Josh Waitzkin - 'The Art of Learning' (2008)

Unfortunately, that's only in the first part of the book. I have yet to finish the book, but hopefully it will stay interesting until the end. Though it seems like a semi-autobiography of a successful person, there is much information to be taken, and in reference to Picasso, much to be 'stolen' ('Good artists borrow; great artists steal' - Picasso). The concept of the whole book being the 'Art of Learning' is quite intriguing, as the author is world class chess player and also a world class athlete in Tai Chi Chuan. One can argue that chess and tai chi are very different things, but the author mentioned how both activities gave inspiration to the other at certain times. With that said, I always look for inspiration from different topics to bring into my own life. It is my own belief that more information can be retained if things can be simplified and generalized, and though maybe chess and badminton are very different, it doesn't matter when you aren't looking for differences, because you are looking for the similarities.

Waitzkin mentions about chess openings, mid games, and end games. With this, I thought about 2 potential relationships to badminton. Starting with the opening, being the serve, serve return, and third shot; the mid game with anything that goes on after the opening; and the end game, where the rally may be developed and set up for the finish. The other relationship with chess could simply be the actual duration of the match, involving the opening (beginning of the set), mid game (interval), and end game (end of set). Waitzkin, as a child chess prodigy, credits his ability and love for the crazy mid games and the end games, while most of his young opponents favor memorizing a strong opening game. A general strategy which may have been inferred was that as long as he could last through the opening, even with a slight deficit, he could take the game to his comfort level, where his opponents weren't, and take them down from there. Knowing that this was his strength, he did not have to worry about the openings so much and simply bided his time until he could strike. In badminton, this is a common strategy for certain teams. Unfortunately, though I may be able to use this at a lower level, I have to recognize the type of player I am. I am not like Josh Waitzkin, but in fact, I'm like the others...

Interesting twist of fate, but when you look into the minds of great people, you have to understand where you are at. If you take someone like the brilliant fictional Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, we all want to be the hero, but many of us, are in fact closer to the sidekick, in this case, Dr. Watson. I hope I don't discourage anyone though, because I still haven't finished my point. All I'm saying for now is to know where you are, because how do you know where to go if you don't know where you start from? In terms of the chess games and badminton, I feel that Canadian players definitely put more strength to their openings. However, once the going gets tough, it is hard for us to survive the onslaughts from higher level opponents. We can prepare all we want for the opening games, but it really depends. If we cannot execute our opening properly, or our opponents have a better opening, then we have pretty much lost our entire game plan. I know this makes a lot more sense in Doubles than Singles, but there is still some relation. If we don't set up our rallies in Singles, then we are just blindly attacking in the mid game. By the time we hit the end game, we become fatigued and unfocused.

Using the points I've uncovered, perhaps some changes can be made to training and preparation. Like the way Waitzkin was able to survive the opening onslaughts from his chess opponents, if we had an adequate defense, we can survive the tough openings and bring the rallies to a more neutral mid game environment. If we practice keeping our composures and training in the end game (i.e. play 3-4 point games where you start at 17-all or 18-all), you then know the extent of what people are willing to try when the scores are close, and what they won't. The game will always be different depending on your opponent, but the experience will help in times of pressure and nervousness. You can then learn to make it so that the end game can be anyone's game, but experience and focus may help you make it more favourable to yourself, in the end (pun intended). How often is it that we let our nerves get the best of us in tight situations. Waitzkin knew that about this against his childhood opponents, that they could crack under pressure of the end game. So, that is where he took them when it came down to it.

By all means, if your openings are strong, there is no need to go to the end game. The idea only serves as an option, and perhaps just an observation from so many of my own losses in the end game. Just one rally may have made the difference from tying or losing the game. Check and mate. I am curious sometimes about what goes on through the minds of our top players. Are we so caught up in the moment of the game, or are we in states of panic, trying to hope that our opponents are as nervous as we are? If we want to be better, then we need to learn from our mistakes and do things we haven't done before. If we are still doing the things we always do, then how do we expect to get better? Physical training is undeniably necessary, but what does it take to strengthen our minds. As our bodies are very different and individual, so are our minds. Has badminton been more a test of strength and speed, or is it merely a test of wits?

Another point I have taken from my brief read of the book so far is the concepts of 'entity' and 'learning' theorists (taken from the book, who took it from a Dr. Carol Dweck). The overall gist of things meant that people who are entity theorists are very much in the present, while learning theorists take things more incrementally. A simple example would be an entity theorist thinking 'I am smart' where the learning theorists would be something like 'I can be smart if I work hard'. It seems that the entity theorists can be so stuck on that notion that they believe it to be true and anything that may take them away from that belief will scare them away. The easiest way is to think of a time where you excel in something. For myself, if I play Mixed Doubles in Pan America, I have a certain level of confidence in my abilities. However, when you take things to the next level, and put me into a Super Series, how does the confidence wane? If I get nervous and play only a fraction of how I normally play when I am at home, then it could be reasoned that I am an entity theorist. However, truth is, I don't get nervous when I play the higher level tournaments. In fact, I really do embrace it and just try my best. I'm the underdog and I know it. That would be an example of a learning theorist. They really do get a kick out of applying their skills to a new situation and are just enjoying the process of it. Are you an entity or learning theorist?

The difference is really just a simple shift in perspective, but I think it is really important in personal development. I can easily compare competitions in Badminton Alberta and Badminton BC to this concept. It seems to me that people in Badminton Alberta will come out and play, regardless of the people who enter the tournaments. In fact, Grace and I have often played a very young junior team in preliminary rounds, but they play it anyway. In BC, however, it feels like people are a little too much entity based, because they won't play tournaments they can't win. Maybe this is a little bit of an extreme assumption, but from the past years of low entry levels of tournaments, there appears to be a bit of fear. In that case, it hinders player development, just because someone doesn't want to lose. Maybe it's a stereotype, but it is true to say that 'You gotta pay for an education'. People train constantly, but if they aren't willing to compete, they won't know where they're at. Maybe their physical ability is good, their practice game is good, but without that tournament experience, it's probably the most terrible feeling to lose because you couldn't cope with the stress of the tournament environment.

I think people who are truly successful are those who can function in those terrible times of stress. When all the pressure is on, can you still perform to a high percentage of your actual ability? If you can't, don't fret, just be a learning theorist and embrace the challenges. Don't get me wrong, losing is a terrible feeling and I'm not telling you to lose, but to be able to cope with a loss and turn things around for the next time is a key to success. I don't think anybody wins all the time. Lastly, for those who may have parents who tell you that you're not smart, because you're like someone else in the family, or just telling you who/what you are, maybe there could be a grain of truth in who you are at that moment, but there is little truth in that statement telling you who/what you can become...

Hopefully we can all learn something today... I know I did :)

Josh Waitzkin Official Website

When Now Is The Time To Fly

2012-05-15T10:51:00.000-07:00

"Life isn't about the dollar bills, but how you make use of change."

That is my own line actually, which came to me in a thought while I was sitting in church, one early Sunday morning. Though I may not be as religious as other people, it's still means something to me, kind of like when you aren't sure whether you believe something you hear, but you go with it anyway because it makes sense to you... And what makes sense to you? You can probably do the simple math about dieting, where if your Calories in = Calories out, then you should stay the same weight. If you want to gain or lose weight, then a simple adjustment can be made and you are going in the direction that you want. When you take this concept and turn it into your finances, it becomes the same where you have a financial balance when your Money in = Money out.

If things were only that easy, where we could have people donating to Badminton Canada and getting a tax receipt for their donations, because we have all done our taxes recently and it is a nice feeling you get when you can tell the government that you don't have to pay as much taxes because you've given their tax money away to a charitable cause. It is a good feeling, because you know you have made a difference especially because you love and support badminton, as badminton might not get your hard earned money if you gave it directly to the government. Sport Canada only gives us a little bit of money, not even enough to support a full Olympic team. The Olympic year, in badminton, translates into 'quit school and your full-time job, and you'd be lucky to find any part-time work year' because you are traveling constantly, probably every 2 or 3 weeks to different countries all over the world. One of our Canadian teams traveled to about 30+ countries within a calendar year. Could you even imagine having to travel so much, living out of a suitcase, and living well out of your comfort zone to achieve your goal for qualifying for the Olympics? Imagine having to adjust to new competition environments where you can't see the shuttle as clearly; you hear the sounds of roaring crowds, often cheering for the home team which isn't you; the odd smells of different places where pollution and poverty may be rampant, the weird tasting local food, and the feeling that you get that you are all alone in this giant world, trying to fight back against it so you can get to where you want to go. You're on an emotional roller coaster, with some big wins, but mostly because you have to learn to pick yourself off the floor when you get knocked down, because you've traveled to so many places where you simply lose in the first round, just for a shot at trying to making it far enough to make a difference in your World Ranking... I don't even need photos because you can clearly imagine it with your own mind. The feeling of unease is a constant one, wondering if you really are doing what you love, because you really really hate losing. Whether it be badminton matches, proper nutrition, adequate sleep, financial independence, you are still losing... little by little because it just slowly eats at you.

Regardless of those feelings, you know you are better than that. You know it is only a temporary hurdle to jump over and you know what it won't get you down. So, what can you do when you can't reach the top? You can aim higher, shoot higher, like the stars in the sky. You point yourself into the right direction and blast off like a rocket and hear that explosion beneath your feet and feel yourself being propelled into the sky, out of reach from anyone. You can see the stars getting bigger, while letting everything beneath your feet slowly shrink and fade away. You shoot for the stars, and if you fall a little short, it doesn't matter because everything now is beneath you, because the Olympics is not just a dream anymore, it is a reality. And the stark reality is that there are times you know you aren't the best, you can even be at the bottom of the list, so that's why you don't aim for the top, but instead, you shoot for the stars...

... one last time.

"Can you pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars.
I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now."
('Airplanes' - B.O.B. feat. Hayley Williams)

You haven't just walked a mile in my shoes, but a light-year. Please continue to support Canadian Badminton. Thank you.

2012 Peru International

2012-04-30T17:51:00.000-07:00

After a month of training in Vancouver with the ClearOne Badminton Academy (COBA), we left Vancouver for Peru and flew through Houston, then Lima, spending pretty much the entire day traveling. We all flew United/Continental (Star Alliance partner), but unfortunately, it is very different than flying from Vancouver -> Toronto -> Lima, Peru via Air Canada. With Air Canada, the flight from Toronto to Lima is quite long, but you get your own personal entertainment system. We had minimal entertainment flying with United and the food was marginal at best. However, sometimes there is a significant price difference, as Air Canada probably charges an extra $100-200 more than United/Continental. However, if you want comfort or have the ability to upgrade to Executive First (Business Class) on Air Canada, it may be worth it.

We arrived in Lima and received transportation to our hotel in the Mira Flores area in Lima. The hotel was minimal, but we had air conditioning at the very least, which probably was a necessity with the hot weather in Lima. The next day was just a practice day, with Singles and Women's Doubles being played on Thursday. As the tournament had different levels of importance to different people, there were many mixed emotions at the tournament, as there were many upsets that occurred, which may have benefited some people, but also hampered the efforts of others. There were also a fair amount of athletes that didn't have any weight from the tournament for Olympic qualifications, including myself and Grace in the Mixed, but fortunately, we came out with a good result regardless. I will speak on some of my observations and my own experiences, but regarding some of the matches from this tournament, I will let you come to your own conclusions via Tournament Software.

Full Results: [2012 Peru International Challenge]

Mixed Doubles
The draw in the Mixed was quite small, with a couple of matches played on Thursday, while the Round of 16s and Quarterfinals were on Friday, Semifinals on Saturday, and Finals on Sunday morning. The seedings were quite spread out, with South Africa being seeded 2nd, and it extended quite low which can sometimes affect the draws in a tournament. Tony Gunawan/Eva Lee [USA] were an unseeded team which could have definitely taken out Grace and I or Derrick and Alex if we had to play in an earlier round. Fortunately, we were spread out a little better, so we could all at least wait until the Semifinals for one of the teams to meet. I think there is a ruling where countries with 2 seeds cannot be on the same side, so Derrick and I would probably never meet in the tournament if we were both seeded until the finals.

The rounds went fairly smoothly for most teams, although the South Africans lost to an American team, while Tony and Eva easily beat their 4th seeded opponents. The Semifinal match between us and Tony/Eva may have been our match of the year, although the Pan Am Games final would be a pretty close rival. It's quite intimidating to play Tony because he is a very experienced player. Generally, I don't mind playing the younger, more athletic players, but I have a lot of trouble playing against the smarter, experienced ones. I tend to second guess myself and get stuck in over-thinking things usually. This match really reminded me of the days in Calgary when we would sparr with Kim Dong Moon. He's another one of those smart, experienced players where I have to really pay attention to detail, remember any previous shot patterns I have used before, and be ready for shots to come back. Against Kim, it was a little easier at times because he was the one who taught me everything, but then again, when someone teaches you everything, you really have no trump cards. The difference with Tony though, is that he can sometimes come forward and pretty much hog the net, which he did at many times in our match. The match was very close especially at the end of the 3rd set, with it going into set points. The match could have definitely went either way, and much respect to our opponents for a thrilling match!

The finals was another match between Derrick and Alex, and by 'another', I mean this is the 4th final we've played each other this year! We played in the Guatemala International final, the Canadian International final, the Canadian National final, and now the Peru International final. The scores have been quite closer in our last 2 meetings, but we did a lot better this time by taking a quick first game. The second set was fairly close at the interval, but we were patient enough and it paid off in the end to take our 6th title Mixed title this season! What a great way to end our Olympic Qualification :)

XD QF: Toby NG/Grace GAO [CAN] vs. Willem VILJOEN/Annari VILJOEN [RSA]

Full Match

XD SF: Toby NG/Grace GAO [CAN] vs. Tony GUNAWAN/Eva LEE [USA]
Full Match

XD F: Toby NG/Grace GAO [CAN] vs. Derrick NG/Alex BRUCE [CAN]
Full Match

Womens Singles
The surprise in this tournament was seeing Ai Goto [JAP] in the draw. However, the top 4 seeds pulled through, with the top 2 seeds also making it through to the final, with the top 2 seeds being Ai Goto and Canada's very own, Michelle Li. It was a very long final and I saw most of the match, but it was quite a spectacular final. The first game was quite interesting, with Michelle taking a very significant lead at the first interval (11-3 maybe?). After getting a couple more points, Goto started making her dramatic comeback, slowly creeping back, point by point. In the end, she was able to catch up and ended up winning the first set in set points. However, Michelle didn't give up and came back fighting in the 2nd set. After long hard rallies, she was able to maintain her attack and breakdown Goto's defense to take the 2nd set. The final set was more or less the full clash of styles: Goto's slower rallying and defensive play because of her height and reach disadvantage, against Michelle's faster paced rallying and offensive abilities. It was actually quite even for most of the beginning of the match, but after the interval, Goto made some unforced errors which Michelle capitalized on. With the little bit of added pressure from trying to catch up, Michelle kept up her offensive play and made the last few points to take the win, giving her the Women's Singles title and her best result so far! The win, unfortunately, did not have any effect on her Olympic qualification process... because she pretty much qualified for it already! :P

WS F: Michelle LI [CAN] vs. Ai GOTO [JPN]
Full Match

Mens Singles
With only the sole major upset in the Women's Singles being that Michelle beat Ai Goto, I suppose the rest of the upsets were saved for Men's Singles. Upsets were everywhere, with many players desperate to make points to qualify for the Olympic Games. However, ironically, the top 4 players of this tournament either aren't trying for the Olympics, or can only obtain a reserve list/wild card spot, which means they are actually still out of the preliminary qualifying list. Sattawat Pongnairat [USA] made an incredible upset by defeating Kevin Cordon [GUA], the top Men's Singles player in Pan America, to secure a spot in the semifinal before getting ousted by Osleni Guerrero [CUB], the dark horse of probably every tournament he plays, including his unseeded Silver Medal performance at the 2011 Pan American Games. On the other side of the draw, Kaveh Mehrabi [IRI] takes down the 2nd seeded Michael Lahnsteiner [AUT] to secure his spot against a former sparring partner of Lee Chong Wei in the semifinals. Tan Seang Chun [MAS] became the eventual winner of the tournament, as he seemingly effortlessly defeated many of his opponents this tournament without even dropping a set.

MS F: TAN Chun Seang [MAS] vs. Osleni GUERRERO [CUB]
Full Match

Mens Doubles
The draw for this event was quite simple, with Tony Gunawan/Howard Bach [USA] being the top seeds and also last year's winners, against Adrian Liu/Derrick Ng [CAN], being the second seeds and also last year's finalists. The 3/4 seeds were signifantly lower, and unfortunately the draw felt a little skewed towards the top 2 seeds, meaning that the opponents the 3/4 seeds faced had much easier matches, especially the team that came out to play Gunawan/Bach in the semifinals. Regardless, the top 2 seeds had little difficulties in their matches and met again to play a rematch of last year's Peru International. However, this year, the crowd was in for a surprise, as Adrian and Derrick stormed through the first set to win it 21-13. They continued the trend and took a 11-6 lead at the interval, but Gunawan/Bach weren't giving up just quite yet. As I witnessed, without even saying a word to each other, they slowly but surely changed their strategy and started pressuring the Canadians much more. Instead of their defensive game they played in the 1st set, they started challenging the net more and kept a drive game going a little longer, enough to slowly give them the attack. They came back and took the 2nd set 21-13, only losing 2 more points after the interval. The final set proved difficult for the Canadians, as they were unable to adapt and maintain the playing style they were playing in the 1st set. Derrick, also being in his 2nd final seemed a little taxed in the final set. The experience of the American duo came through, with them defeating our top Canadian MD team in the final set. Unfortunately, the USA team is the main team standing in the Canadian team's way to qualify for the Olympic Games as they have taken the Pan American continental spot.

MD R16: Toby NG/Howard SHU [CAN/USA] vs. Nyl YAKURA/Andrew LAU [CAN]
Full Match

MD QF: Tony GUNAWAN/Howard BACH [USA] vs. Toby NG/Howard SHU [CAN/USA]
Full Match

MD SF: Adrian LIU/Derrick NG [CAN] vs. Dorian JAMES/Willem VILJOEN [RSA]
G1 Post-Interval & G2

MD F: Tony GUNAWAN/Howard BACH [USA] vs. Adrian LIU/Derrick NG [CAN]
Full Match

Womens Doubles
The Women's Doubles is quite interesting, as the qualification process for this event for the Pan American spot has been the most competitive. Both USA and Canada have 2 teams each, trying to qualify for the Olympic spot, in addition to an extra Canadian team of Joycelyn Ko/Grace Gao, who are a little too far from the other 4 teams to qualify, but have beaten each team at least once. Even though they cannot qualify, they can still defeat a team in the qualifying run to hinder their progress. Canada's Michelle Li and Alex Bruce are the frontrunners at the start of the tournament, but they needed a repeat result to keep them in the lead. With the draws being made with Bruce/Li on the top half with the Wang sisters [USA], they stood a really good chance to at least make a final, where they would either play Lee/Obanana [USA], Ried/Grether [CAN], or maybe even Ko/Gao [CAN], should they defeat either Lee/Obanana or Ried/Grether in the Semifinal.

Ultimately, Lee/Obanana, the team 2nd to Bruce/Li fell to Ried/Grether in 3 sets in the Quarterfinal, unable to increase their ranking points from this tournament. Ried/Grether continued to win, defeating Ko/Gao in straight sets to secure a spot in the final. On the top half, Bruce/Li managed to squeeze by the Wang sisters, continuing their undefeated streak against them, and won in the 3rd set, 21-19. The final proved to be quite interesting, with Bruce/Li being down quite significantly in the first. However, they managed to catch up and win 21-18. The second set, I really cannot comment on, because it took me 15 minutes to get a boxed salad from the nearby cafe. Also, that salad probably got me sick for the entire next week in Tahiti, regardless of all the probiotics I tried to taking. Regardless, Bruce/Li managed to secure their win and almost cement their spot to qualify for the 2012 Olympics. With this victory, they would only need to make a final at next week's Tahiti International to force the other teams to make a Quarterfinal at the India Super Series in order for a chance to surpass them.

WD SF: Alex BRUCE/Michelle LI [CAN] vs. Rena WANG/Iris WANG [USA]
Full Match

WD F: Alex BRUCE/Michelle LI [CAN] vs. Charmaine REID/Nicole GRETHER [CAN]
Full Match

The tournament was run quite efficiently by the head referee from Canada, Jeff Bell. The venue was, again, at the Club de Regatas in Lima, a beautiful club off the corner of a really high cliff which had it's own beach and many club amenities. We got to enjoy their pool at the end of tournament, along with their many choices of restaurants and cafes. For more higher quality photos, please check my Facebook Page!

Thank you for visiting!!

Deserving To Win

2012-04-11T17:05:00.001-07:00

I know I should post more regularly, but I've been very tied up with finishing up the Badminton Canada Players Association video. I probably volunteered a good 40-50 hours of my time to make it, so if you haven't seen it yet, please have a look-see! (Warning: Video is 41 minutes long!)

Nonetheless, I do feel that I need to clarify some points I made in the comments of my last blogging: Diets and Funding Explained. I would like to explain and clarify the personal bias that comes from the phrase, "Deserving to win". If you look at the phrase itself, it consists of 3 words. Let's start with the last word, 'win'. What does it take to win in Badminton? The answer is simple: Winning matches, of course, which we know is winning 2 out of 3 sets to 21 points (up to a maximum of 30 for those technical people). There is umpiring and line judging, but they only assist with the match itself, and it's not the same as in figure skating, where the judges decide the winner. Defining 'winning' is quite clear-cut... there are no ties or draw games, just winners and losers (sorry if I seem overly blunt). Anyway, let's move on and define 'to', which simply expresses motion from one thing to the other... in our case, 'Deserving' and 'Win'. Done.

Alright, here is the tricky one. Let us define 'Deserving'... or can we? To deserve something, at it's simplest form, is a judgement or a 'value'. Furthermore, 'value' is pretty much a 'belief' with an evaluation. There is a difference in 'believing' and 'knowing', because 'belief' at many times cannot be explained. It doesn't mean your belief can't be right, it's just that you 'believe' it, instead of 'knowing' it. For example, you may believe that you can't breathe underwater. You can even try it out for yourself (please don't), but unless you know the mechanisms of why your alveoli can't extract oxygen from water molecules, then it's simply a belief, albeit a strong, very valid belief. However, they are still affected by perceptual filters which would mean that there is some kind of interpretation that takes place when the sensory information is sent to your brain. Through either of the 5 senses (vision, hearing, touch, tasting, or smelling), information is either generalized, distored, or deleted for our brains to interpret. Reality is the same for everyone, but we live and feel differently based on our interpretations.

Now, a 'value' adds a personal evaluation on the belief. Beliefs should be emotionless, like believing that your internet is going to work, or believing that your car will stop if you step on the brake pedal. Adding that personal judgement often motivates us to live the way we do. Without these values, life would be boring and uninteresting because we would have no direction. However, if we all had the same 'values', wouldn't it mean we would all be going in the same direction? Well, no, because unless we interpret things the same as well, we probably will have different weights in similar values. For example, work vs. family. Both are very important, but some prefer to work and make a difference in the world, while some would rather spend their time with their families. There is an infinite continuum along the amount of value, so it really is different for everyone. Even simple things like, "Fast food is bad for me" is a value, as our contrasting values can cause heated debates which will never be won because both sides hold different values. An easy example from the argument from the last blog was the difference in value of fast food. For myself, I valued money over proper nutrition, while the other person valued proper nutrition over money.

So now to get to "Deserving to Win". 'Deserve' is a value, because the opposite is 'undeserve'. Let's analyize both interpretations of the phrase "Deserving to Win". The other person, who we'll call 'Skeptical', values proper nutrition over money. This has been inferred from his (I'm assuming a 'he') argument that my nutrional choices are poor, despite the fact that I argued about financial difficulties. Continuing, we can infer that he values proper nutrition because he 'believes' it correlates with 'athletic performance'. Since my values to nutrition did not match his own, he then went on to believe that I did not want to contribute to my 'athletic performance' and hence, 'do not deserve to win'. That is another example of a belief, and I also do believe that 'increasing athletic performance' plays a hand in 'deserving winning'.

However, my argument was based on his interpretation, as I formatted most of the arguments based on his perception of 'Deserving to win'. This can be seen in the comment where I expressed that 'I don't deserve to win' because of my many deficiencies such as limited sparring partners, financial difficulties, limited coaching, etc. Here, following the belief that 'increasing athletic performance' through the aid of sparring partners, money, or coaching, assists in the evaluation of 'deserving to win'. Through Skeptical's belief and value system, I argued that I did not meet the necessary standards to 'deserve to win', but on HIS interpretation of 'Deserving to win'.

If you have forgotten, I clearly stated that people can win, even though they don't deserve to. Though it was a very general statement, interpretations are far and different. I was not referring to myself, but it is more or less a true statement that someone in the world can, has, or will win something, regardless of if they deserve to or not. That is because I speak of reality, that is because I speak of the world itself, which functions regardless of our perceptual filters. "Deserving to win" is simply a value, and though I do have my own criteria established, it is different from someone else's value of the same phrase. Personally, I value 'technique', 'execution', and 'mental sharpness' over proper nutrition or even fitness in terms of improving athletic performance. These are my personal criteria, so whatever you may choose to believe, know that it's not right or wrong, but how you personally value your own things in life.

I hope this clears things up a bit.

Diet & Funding Explained

2012-03-15T12:19:00.000-07:00

Someone left me a comment on my 2012 All England blog and I felt that I should address it in a new blog instead of replying in that blog posting because it was quite unrelated to the tournament:

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SkepticalMar 15, 2012 01:43 AM

So I've been reading a few of your blog posts now, and I've noticed a particularly disturbing trend; your diet. Now, I realize you're not posting pictures on a meal to meal basis, but should aspiring Olympians really be consuming pizzas, bowl noodles, hot dogs and the regular junk food? I may be overly analytical, but this speaks volumes as to how little you are willing to sacrifice for success. Say what you will about training and career changing decisions: if you're not even willing to forego junk food, you don't deserve to be a winner.

Also, the notion that Canada should increase funding for athletes, even to a reasonable level, is ridiculous. It's simple supply and demand. Further taking into consideration how you (and other Canadian team members) spend their cash on food and flashy accessories, I would say Canada is right to deny funding. I'm all for encouraging and recognizing sporting activities, but is the national team anywhere close to achieving that?

I'm sorry if I offended anyone, but I really felt this needed to be said.

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Thank you for your comment and I appreciate your thoughts. However, I would like to clarify some things with everyone... mainly my diet and funding issues.

DIET:

The first question I want to ask everyone is... "What should an Olympian eat?" It seems really easy to point out things people shouldn't do, but with constructive criticism, then what SHOULD I be eating? I've seen nutritionists at the odd team training camps, I've gone through nutrition in school, I've read magazines and the unfortunately useless Yahoo! articles, but what should an Olympian eat? I wouldn't know. What I do know is that the things an individual chooses to do may or may not have the same effect on another individual (see Michael Phelps). As far as I know among the Canadian National Team members, I would say Michelle Li has the best diet, as she more or less only drinks water and is cutting out certain 'bad' things from her diet (e.g. fried food). My brother Derrick likes to try new things and totally changes his diet, but he also believes in his MonaVie stuff. Adrian Liu prefers to have rice as often as he can, while Alex Bruce loves sandwiches. A few of the players also do the protein shakes and some also take creatine. But what do I do?

Well, I prefer to get my protein from natural dairy sources, so I try to eat yogurt and cheese more often. I go with low fat cheese and unfortunately they don't have drinkable yogurt in Canada at an affordable price. Unfortunately, drinkable yogurt is quite limited in protein, so I go for fortified soy milk over regular milk because I have some minor lactose intolerance. The price point of fortified soy milk is slightly more than regular milk, but nonetheless lower than lactose-free milk or other fancy products. I don't eat organic food because it's more expensive. I eat fruit regularly, but only what is cheap. I tend not to buy fruit that is more than 99 cents/lbs so I really never shop at Safeway unless I need bananas. I also eat a lot of whole-wheat bread... but only if it's cheap. I try to eat at home as much as I can with my family to save money, but I do have sushi the odd time. I do eat a lot of white rice as my family traditionally cooks white rice. This is my regular diet at home... why? To SAVE money.

So what happens when we travel? Doesn't that simply mean eating out most of the time? It's quite hard to control your diet when you're on the go. Do you know what the first thing I look at in a menu when I travel? PRICE. It's that pathetic. Why do I choose to eat pizza? Because the salad costs more and I would probably need to eat two of them. Also, the salad has a low carbohydrate supply and if I was training/competing all the time, I would need fuel from my carbohydrate sources. Pizza on the other hand has carbs (along with fat and massive amounts of sodium), but I know what I'm eating. The only time I eat hot dogs are when they are FREE. I know they're unhealthy, but I would rather eat cheap/free food over spending money (I'll address funding below). I know eating steak would be a much better option most of the time because it has more value for your dollar and it could be one of the best menu options, but the burger seems more affordable. Fries or salad? Sometimes I have to think about what FILLS my stomach over what is healthier... because of the money. What are my options then? Pay a premium for better nutrition? If we could control all variables and ONLY changed nutrition, how much of a difference could it make in badminton? It's been a LONG time since I've lost a match and blamed it on my fitness... so how much do I think adjusting nutrition affects our badminton in Canada? Not very much. It's also comforting to see other International players eating where we eat, even at the odd McDonalds now and then. So what's my formula for my diet? Simple... (Calories INPUT) < / = (Calories OUTPUT).

FUNDING:

Let's clarify: our funding used to be 10 of these... 'cards' and we got stripped down to '5'. A reasonable level was '8'. So would it really be 'increasing' our funding? Yes and no... yes, because 8 is 3 more than 5, what we have now, but 8 is also less than 10, what we had before. So to a reasonable level, seems... reasonable based on what we had before. But perhaps you are right. Maybe it's not worth funding a player in each event, thus decreasing our carding quota even more, but Badminton Canada doesn't treat all events equally... so we continue to fund someone in Men's Singles even though it is poorly represented on the World stage. So the 'reasonable' level can be decreased to 7... and if someone is doubling up in two events (e.g. Michelle Li), that can decrease the number of cards to... 6. But too bad, we only have 5, so now everyone is out playing tournaments that can guarantee them funding, instead of trying to improve their level of badminton Internationally. Hey, I tried that once but I lost funding for that year... so I learned my lesson. Is this how an Olympian should train or orient his/her goals? Heck no. Even I know that's a terrible way to develop a player, but I guess we all follow the money. Nutrition, training programs, quality of life... follows the money.

However, I need clarification on "Flashy Accessories". I, for one, own a lower end phone, a Samsung Wave and do not have the fancier "Galaxy S II's" or "iPhone 4S's". I have a Kobo E-reader, $200 CAD compared to whatever the iPad 2 or the NEW iPad costs. I own a Sony mp3 player, which costed $99 CAD compared to whatever and iTouch/iPod costs. So what if I'm not an Apple fan? I have an HD camcorder which I've purchased a few years back to video tape matches, but it's not like I'm super tech-savvy. The most expensive thing I've purchased recently was a Samsung Ultrabook, but I've had to save up a long time for it. I've been using a netbook for almost 2 years now, which costed $400 but I need something that can actually play and render HD video, because my computers at home are actually close to 10 years old.

So what REALLY needs to be said is that I don't have to do any of this blogging, video taping, or anything else because a REAL aspiring Olympian would get sponsors or endorsements or have someone else doing this for them. They can spend their time and money towards something more EFFECTIVE because their sport is more highly recognized than mine. They can be media icons, spokespeople to kids in high schools in their communities about nutrition, goal setting, or whatever... but not for badminton. So I operate a very large volunteer operation here promoting my sport in Canada the best I can... why? For money? Do I even have a 'Donate' sign anywhere on my blog? Maybe I just want to show the World how tough it is for the struggling amateur athlete in Canada... there are still those who try because they love their sport.

Oh... and before I forget. People can win even if they don't deserve to.

2012 All Englands

2012-03-14T12:25:00.002-07:00

Adrian and I left Germany on Saturday morning for Birmingham because we decided to fly to Heathrow and take the train instead as it probably saved us a bit of money (since we will not be going to Swiss Open). We booked the train ticket early, so it costed about 15 GBP for a roundtrip train ride to Birmingham, and another 10 GBP to get to London Euston station from London Heathrow. However, it was a long 'journey' as the English would say, because we pretty much spent the whole day traveling. We flew at around 11:30am Germany time and arrived at about the same time in London, as England has a -1 hour time difference. We went through immigrations a little easier, as we flew from Germany so we arrived in Terminal 1. International flights from further places usually land in Terminal 3, where the immigration officers question you endlessly and the waiting times are enormous. When I had arrived prior to Germany, I was lucky to go into the express lane for immigrations, but ended up having to answer why I was going to Germany, which countries are good at Badminton, and I even had to NAME top players, which the immigration officer wouldn't know anyway. However, to give him some credit, it would be tough to make up a bunch of names on the spot. Since I wasn't lying though... whatta jerk :P

On the train... see the rainbow?

After picking up our luggage, we went down to the London Underground Station in Heathrow (Terminals 1, 2, & 3) and bought tickets to get to London Euston. we had to transfer once, but after about an hour and 15 minutes, we got to London Euston Train Station without too much difficulty. The toughest part though was having to carry our luggage up many flights of stairs, so a warning to those who want to travel this way in the future! Regardless, we made it to the train station with plenty of time to spare so we had lunch there and waited for our train. We were a little confused about how the trains worked, because the departure time on one of the screens only listed the final destination and Birmingham (New Street Station) was only one of the stops. However, we found a really big board, which listed the times of the departing trains and all of the stops in between, so we made sure we got on the right train. We took Virgin trains, a faster train to Birmingham (has less stops) so the ride was about 1.5 hours only. The train ride went quite smoothly and we arrived at Birmingham New Street shortly after. We took a taxi to our hotel which wasn't too far away and apparently, I fluked out and booked the hotel that was right across the street from the National Indoor Arena (NIA), the venue for the All Englands :)

Nothing like the Sunday Roast with a drink for 5 GBP!

We stayed at the City Nites Apartment Hotels (me, Derrick, and Adrian) which was pretty much like an apartment. We had two bedrooms with two King beds, a living room, kitchen, and even a patio. It was a really good find as the accomodations were really nice. Unfortunately, they do not clean your rooms, but you do have the materials to clean your own stuff. They even have a laundry machine, though oddly placed in the kitchen. The only problem was that there weren't very many grocery stores nearby, only some express grocery places (ie Tesco Express) which was fair, but didn't off a wide arrange of choices. However there were many pubs in the area which all offered some good cheap food as an alternative. Then again... there's always Subway :)

Hey look... Canadians! :P

The NIA also has practice courts in its lower levels so we spent quite a bit of time there practicing. When it came to a practice on the main courts though, we were only given 20 minutes of court time, though I would suppose that's what everyone else got as well. Basically they would give you half a court per person, so if you have 2 players, you would only get half court for 20 minutes, if you have 4 players, you would get a full court for 20 minutes. Regardless, it was better hitting for 20 minutes than nothing, and they also offered us a tube of tournament shuttles for Canada to practice, which was really nice considering getting nothing in Germany.

Play began on Tuesday, with Derrick and Alex in the Mixed Doubles against Korea. They gave a good shot but fell to the Koreans in 2 sets. Michelle and Alex also had to play later in the day, as they had a bye in the qualifications but lost to England's very own Jenny Wallwork and Gabrielle White. Nicole Grether and Charmaine Reid, also in the qualifications with a bye lost to a Malaysian team. On Day 2, in the Main Rounds, we were treated by a visit by Arak Bhokanandh, a good friend of ours who was working in Vancouver for a while, but he moved back to England for schooling. But it was nice of him to stop by and cheer for us and hang out as well :) Michelle started off the day for the Canadians against Liu Xin of China. Despite losing a very close first set, she came back and took the 2nd set. However, China really picked things up in the 3rd and closed the match. Good effort by Michelle though, as it's really great to see her challenging the better players. It's only a matter of time before she starts pulling off those huge "Double-u's" ("W"). Following her match was my mixed with Grace against Indonesia. We were up against Hendra Setiwan and Vita Marissa, a very new mixed doubles team but consisting of very experienced players. However, I knew that they weren't very interested in playing Mixed Doubles together so it was definitely a match we could win! We started off fairly well, staying close at the interval in the first set. Things soon started falling apart though as they took a bigger lead and ended up closing the first set. We started off well again in the second set, but this time we took a lead after the interval and took that set. Finally in the third, we trailed a bit before switching sides, then things started massively falling apart :( Despite the 3 gamer, we only spent about 35 minutes in the entire match, meaning about 10 minutes per set. That only means short scrappy rallies usually, as I think higher level doubles/mixed play will have about 20 minute sets... so still a ways to go to reach a higher level. Ironically, we get interviewed after the match, despite my protests of "But... we lost?". Special thanks goes to Jennifer Lee for coaching our Mixed match against Indonesia!

Coach Jennifer Lee with Alex and Derrick

Michelle with her coach Jennifer

Player's seating area on the left... pretty sad :(

Last up for the day for Canada was Adrian and Derrick against World #1 Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng of China, also top seeds for the tournament. Despite all their efforts, China had little difficulty defeating them, but Adrian and Derrick played well enough that they had to TRY to win. Even though it was a short match, there were a few good rallies to watch in the match. Click below to see Adrian and Derrick's interview on YouTube.com by the Badminton World Federation!

That was pretty much the end of our tournament, despite play ending at about 2am that night. We spent Thursday training and watching some matches and many of us left Friday to go home because we weren't playing the Swiss Open. Adrian and I took the train back, though the scheduling was a little tight, we made it with a bit of time to spare despite checking in a little later (arrived at the airport about 1.5 hours before departure time). However with our Elite statuses with Air Canada, check-in was quick and security wasn't too bad either. We were in the lounge in no time, but boarding was shortly after. I did manage to eat 3 hot dogs though. Fortunately, I was able to get upgraded to Executive First (business class) so the flight home went quite smoothly :) That's pretty much my 2012 All England experience, so now I'll be home for a while! It will be nice being home long enough to implement a more regular training program as my next planned tournaments will be Peru and Tahiti in April!

Full Results via TournamentSoftware: [2012 All England Super Series Premier]

Matches via YouTube.com/towbsss:
XD R128 (Qualifier): KIM Sa Rang/CHOI Hye In [KOR] vs. Derrick NG/Alex BRUCE [CAN]
Full Match

WD R64 (Qualifier): Jenny WALLWORK/Gabrielle WHITE [ENG] vs. Alex BRUCE/Michelle LI [CAN]
Full Match

WS R32: LIU Xin [CHN] vs. Michelle LI [CAN]
Full Match

XD R32: Hendra SETIAWAN/Vita MARISSA [INA] vs. Toby NG/Grace GAO [CAN]
Full Match

MD R32: CAI Yun/FU Haifeng [CHN] vs. Adrian LIU/Derrick NG [CAN]
Full Match

That's all for now! I'm planning to do something special for the Badminton Canada Players Association though! I hope to have it done before Peru and released at the beginning of April... so stay on the lookout for that! Meanwhile, I'll see if I can blog about other things... we'll see ;) Thanks for visiting!

2012 German Open

2012-03-13T11:38:00.002-07:00

The German Open was held in Mulheim, a city about a half hour drive from Dusseldorf (the airport we fly into). As far as I know, the tournament has been held there for a while at the RWE Sporthalle as this would be my third German Open since 2008. I flew into London Heathrow from Vancouver, and transferred from Heathrow to Geneva, Switzerland, then to Dusseldorf, Germany. I bumped into teammate Adrian Liu (Men's Doubles) in Geneva and we headed to Germany together. We were promptly picked up by organizers and driven to the hotel, but apparently the hotel was closed so we went to a different one for the night. We took a taxi and moved back to our original hotel the next morning before heading to the main hall for a practice.

The venue has always been pretty good, though it seems even nicer now as the have added special lights which darken the audience and light up the courts. I think they started doing it the previous year, as I did not go last year but they didn't do it in 2010, the last time I went. Unfortunately the only complaint I had was that the tournament did not offer any practice shuttles. Usually tournament give each player one or two of the official tournament shuttles so they can adjust to the speed of the shuttle for the tournament. It is quite an important thing, especially if the tournament shuttle is not Yonex. Imagine how it would feel to start playing your match, with no idea whether the shuttle would be fast or slow. In some venues, you also have to adjust to the drift/draft, so you don't want to waste precious points trying to figure it out at the beginning of the match.

As a typical higher level tournament, it started with qualifying on Tuesday. Derrick and Alex had to play a qualifying match against Germany in the morning, but unfortunately they were a little jet lagged and lost a close first set before losing to the Germans in the 2nd set in a two set match. Michelle Li started off for the Canadians on Wednesday by defeating Susan Eggelstaff of Scotland again in straight sets at a 9am match. However, that would be the only win for Canada for the tournament, as Derrick Ng/Adrian Liu were up against 2008 Olympic Champions Hendra Setiwan/Markis Kido of Indonesia. Though they put up a good fight, they lost in 2 sets. Alex and Michelle also lost to a Chinese Taipei team in the Women's Doubles, while Grace and I lost in straight sets to China, despite having a 19-13 lead in the second set (yes... we lost 8 points in a row... >___<). Charmaine Reid/Nicole Grether also lost to the top Indian Women's Doubles team in straight sets.

The next day, after having a light practice, we went over to watch Michelle play against the #1 seed in Women's Singles, Wang Xin of China. Despite her efforts, Wang Xin really proved that she is one of the best players in the World at her event and left Michelle a lot to think about after the match. Nonetheless, a valiant effort by Michelle to tackle on a player probably in the top 3 in the World.

6 Euro Pizza (~ 1.33 CAD = 1 EUR)

The rest of the tournament we spent time practicing, watching matches, and playing Monopoly Deal. That game is quite addictive and we spent hours upon hours playing against each other in this fun 2-5 player card game. It's not quite like Monopoly, but it takes a lot of the same themes including property names, money, houses, hotels, and other Monopoly trademarks. However, the game itself is quite different, where a player wins when they earn 3 different properties. I won't explain the rules here, but I will highly recommend the game as it is quite a thinking game as there are many options and playing styles you can implement in the game :)

Overall, Germany was pretty good. The badminton was up and down and everyone had their own experience, but I felt I played pretty well overall. The only problem with my match that Jennifer (from Lee's Badminton, Ontario, also Michelle Li's coach) pointed out was that I was too passive at the end of the 2nd set. I should have kept the pressure on and forced the Chinese team to make a mistake, instead of keeping things in play and hoping that they will make a mistake. Special thanks to Jennifer for coaching us at this tournament (and also at All Englands... see next blog) as it was really nice to have a coach and having another opinion on what to do on court. In terms of other things in Germany, we didn't experience too much. The food we had was priced averagely, so it was about roughly the same amount I would spend on food in Vancouver. We had a lot of pizza and pasta, but it was made very well and was delicious each time. Alcohol was quite cheap, and I happened to stumble upon some infamous Duff Beer (The Simpsons, anyone?). Haribo candy was also really good and well priced and I also don't know how many cold coffee drinks I had that week, as they were 49 cent Euro each. Much cheaper than spending 2-3 Euro on a hot coffee.

6 bottles of Duff Beer for 4.99 Euro

Full Results via TournamentSoftware.com: [2012 German Open Grand Prix Gold]

Matches via YouTube.com/towbsss:
XD R128 (Qualifier): Peter KAUSBAUER/Johanna GOLISZEWSKI [GER] vs. Derrick NG/Alex BRUCE [CAN]
Full Match

MD R32: Markis KIDO/Hendra SETIAWAN [INA] vs. Adrian LIU/Derrick NG [CAN]
Full Match

WD R32: HSEIH Pei Chan/WANG Pei Rong [TPE] vs. Alex BRUCE/Michelle LI [CAN]
Full Match

XD R32: HONG Wei/PAN Pan [CHN] vs. Toby NG/Grace GAO [CAN]
Full Match

BONUS: 3 vs. 3 MD (Korea Team Practice) - LEE Yong Dae/JUNG Jae Sung/YOO Yeon Seong vs. KO Sung Hyun/KIM Sa Rang/KIM Ki Jung
Game 1

I guess that's pretty much it! We left on Saturday for Birmingham, so I'll explain the journey in the next blog... the 2012 All England Super Series Premier!

2012 TUC Pan Am Prelims

2012-03-05T09:44:00.001-08:00

The 2012 Thomas/Uber Cup Pan American Preliminaries was held on February 17-19th at the Los Angeles Badminton Club in El Monte, California. This has probably been the first team event for Canada since the Sudirman Cup in May 2011, but this time we have both a men's and women's team, so we had much more players. Unfortunately the team came at different times in the week, so we probably only had one coordinated practice. Here is the team roster for the Canadian team, with their rankings:

Thomas Cup
- Joseph Rogers (MS = 293)
- Sergiy Shatenko (MS = 336)
- Nyl Yakura (MS = 443)
- Derrick Ng (MD = 29)
- Adrian Liu (MD = 29)
- Francois Bourret (MD = 96)
- Kevin Li (MD = 96)
- Toby Ng (MS = 287; MD = 205; XD = 29)

Coach: Jeff White

Uber Cup
- Michelle Li (WS = 24, WD = 28)
- Joycelyn Ko (WS = 79, WD = 39, XD = 39)
- Phyllis Chan (WS = 129, WD = 208)
- Christin Tsai (WS = 376, WD = 208, WS Jr. = 29)
- Grace Gao (WD = 39, XD = 29)
- Alex Bruce (WD = 28)

Coach: Ram Nayyar

(Rankings taken: February 16, 2012. Mixed Rankings available for players with higher rankings)

I've attached the rosters based on rank with the Singles players first, followed by the doubles players. Although both coaches helped out on both teams, if the Canadian teams were on at the same time, then they would split off accordingly.

Uber Cup meeting after practice

We began play on the Friday, playing in pools of 4 for the Thomas Cup and a single round-robin pool of 5 teams for the Uber Cup. As there were 8 countries for the Thomas Cup, so we were split into 2 pools. Brazil was the first seed, followed by the US, then 3/4 seeds went to Guatemala and Canada. Seedings were based by team world rankings, so because we didn't have any high ranked singles players, we were seeded pretty low. Fortunately, we had Brazil in our pool, along with Barbados and Suriname. The Uber Cup team simply had pool play with every team once, with a Canada vs. USA for Sunday. With pool play, we play all 5 matches (3 singles, 2 Doubles), whereas knockout play (Semis and Finals for Thomas Cup) would be first to 3 matches. We came out in our pool as the top team, as we beat Brazil 3-2 in pool play, while USA came out 2nd, as they lost to Guatemala, so we would have to play the USA in the Thomas Cup semifinals. The Uber Cup team was doing well and would play the also undefeated USA team for the Pan American Uber Cup Finals spot, to be held in Wuhan, China in May 2012.

Lunch at Ray Ray's, attached to the LABC

Joseph Rogers testing shuttles

The semifinals were played Sunday morning for the Thomas Cup Semifinals. The match up for the morning was:

1st MS: Sattawat Pongnairat [USA] vs. Joseph Rogers [CAN]
2nd MD: Howard Bach/Phillip Chew [USA] vs. Adrian Liu/Toby Ng [CAN]
2nd MS: Howard Shu [USA] vs. Sergiy Shatenko [CAN]
1st MD: Tony Gunawan/Sattawat Pongnairat [USA] vs. Kevin Li/Derrick Ng [CAN]
3rd MS: Nicholas Jinadasa [USA] vs. Nyl Yakura [CAN]

From the looks of the match ups, we were quite at a disadvantage because any combination we tried would be a lower overall ranking than our USA opponents. Regardless, that didn't stop us from trying, but we were at a disadvantage because we did not have any of our Canadian National Team Men's Singles players. We lost our first Men's Singles in straight sets and up next, oddly, was 2nd MD. From the match up listed above, it was rather odd that they did not use: MS 1,2,3, then any combination of the MD because Sattawat was the only one who played twice. So up next was Adrian and I, even though we were anticipating on playing last or second-last. It was a tough game, as it was pretty much a 'must win' game. The only way to win was probably to win 2 singles and 1 doubles, as it would be incredibly tough to beat Tony in Doubles. However, it didn't work out and we lost to Howard and Phillip in straight sets as well. Sergiy was playing last, but with a 2-0 deficit and a very "iffy" line call in the 2nd set of Sergiy's match, we lost to the USA in straight sets. On the other side of the semifinals, Guatemala played and also won in straight matches, as they played all 3 MS first. Why was their order different? I really don't know...

Unfortunately we had to play a 3/4 playoff against Brazil again, but we mixed our lineup and put Sergiy, Nyl, and Derrick in Singles (1, 2, 3 MS respectively), then Kevin/Frank and Adrian/I in 1st & 2nd MD. We played the same time as the Uber Cup Finals, so most of us just ended up cheering for our Uber Cup team instead. The Thomas Cup 3/4 playoff went really well for us, with us winning 3 straight, with Sergiy, Nyl, and Kevin/Frank taking their respective matches right away. The Thomas Cup finals was also interesting, as USA turned things around and took 3 straight matches (2nd MD, 2nd MS, and 3rd MS) after losing their 1st MS.

2012 Thomas Cup Canadian Team - Pan Am 3rd Place

The Uber Cup match up between Canada and USA was:

1st WS: Michelle Li [CAN] vs. Rena Wang [USA]
2nd WS: Joycelyn Ko [CAN] vs. Iris Wang [USA]
3rd WS: Christin Tsai [CAN] vs. Jamie Subandhi [USA]
1st WD: Michelle Li/Alex Bruce [CAN] vs. Eva Lee/Paula Obanana [USA]
2nd WD: Joycelyn Ko/Grace Gao [CAN] vs. Rena Wang/Jamie Subandhi [USA]

Our Uber Cup team was stronger than the USA team in probably all of the events, but not nearly as significantly as the USA Thomas Cup team to the Canadian one (i.e. difference of ranking of about 10-20 spots, vs. 100 spots). Rena and Iris Wang are actually the top USA team at the time of the tournament, but by splitting the team, they strategically put Eva Lee/Paula Obanana as the 1st WS. Rena/Iris have lost the past few encounters against Alex/Michelle, while Eva/Paula are a lot closer in their match ups. Michelle did well to give Canada a 1-0 lead by defeating Rena in a close 2 sets, but Iris came back to tie it at 1-1 with an upset against Joycelyn. Christin was up next, and though she lost the 1st set against Jamie, she fought back and took the 2nd and breezed through the 3rd set to bring Canada back to 2-1. The most intense match up of the Uber Cup would have to be the 1st WD, with Alex/Michelle losing a close 1st set, and coming back to take a closer 2nd set. The final set was the most intense, with it going into set points. It went back and forth a few times with the USA scooping up a fluke defensive shot which won them the match to tie it at 2-2. The final match to determine the Uber Cup Pan Am winners was quite one sided unfortunately, as Joycelyn very much struggled to recuperate from her WS loss earlier. Also, it seemed as though the playing style of the American team was well suited against our Canadian team, as they were a very defensive team. Canada lost the final match, with the Americans winning both Thomas and Uber Cup Pan American spots and will represent Pan America at the Thomas/Uber Cup finals in China.

Uber Cup Finals: USA (left) vs. CAN (right)

Thomas Cup Finals: GUA (left) vs. USA (right)

Canadians cheering on their fellow teammates!

UC Final: WS #1

Jeff White coaching Alex/Michelle (WD #1)

UC Final: WD #2

2012 Uber Cup Canadian Team: Pan Am 2nd Place

Despite some misfortune, both teams performed pretty well with most of the Olympic track players getting much needed points and the upcoming juniors getting some good experience. Though I feel some things should have been done a little differently, it would not be fair to criticize in hindsight. If things should have been done differently, we should have spoken up earlier to be fair. However, I hope we can learn from our mistakes from this tournament and hopefully send a stronger team to the next Thomas/Uber Cup in 2014, because honestly, I think it's quite disappointing that I could have played #1 MS as I actually held the highest World Ranking (see ranking list at top).

Full Results via Tournament Software: [2012 TUC Pan Am Preliminary]

Matches via YouTube: [Channel: towbsss]

(Thomas Cup - Pool) Canada vs. Brazil
1st MS: Joseph ROGERS [CAN] vs. Daniel Paiola [BRA]
Full Match

2nd MS: Sergiy SHATENKO [CAN] vs. Alex TJONG [BRA]
Game 1
Game 2 (Pt 1)
Game 2 (Pt 2)

3rd MS: Nyl YAKURA [CAN] vs. Luiz Dos SANTOS [BRA]
Game 1 (Pt 1)
Game 1 (Pt 2)
Game 2 (Pt 1)
Game 2 (Pt 2)

2nd MD: Francois BOURRET/Kevin LI [CAN] vs. Hugo ARTHUSO/Alex TJONG [BRA]
Game 1
Game 2
Game 3

1st MD: Adrian LIU/Derrick NG [CAN] vs. Daniel PAIOLA/Luiz Dos SANTOS [BRA]
Full Match

(Thomas Cup - Semi Finals) USA vs. Canada
1st MS: Sattawat PONGNAIRAT [USA] vs. Joseph ROGERS [CAN]
Full Match

2nd MD: Howard BACH/Phillip CHEW [USA] vs. Adrian LIU/Toby NG [CAN]
Full Match

2nd MS: Howard SHU [USA] vs. Sergiy SHATENKO [CAN]
Full Match

(Uber Cup - Finals) USA vs. Canada
1st WS: Rena WANG [USA] vs. Michelle LI [CAN]
Full Match

2nd WS: Iris WANG [USA] vs. Joycelyn KO [CAN]
Full Match

3rd WS: Jamie SUBANDHI [USA] vs. Christin TSAI [CAN]
Full Match

1st WD: Eva LEE/Paula OBANANA [USA] vs. Alex BRUCE/Michelle LI [CAN]
Full Match

2nd WD: Rena WANG/Jamie SUBANDHI [USA] vs. Joycelyn KO/Grace GAO [CAN]
Full Match

That's it for this tournament! Thanks for visiting :) Until next time then... German Open 2012!

2012 Canadian Nationals

2012-02-07T10:40:00.000-08:00

The 2012 Canadian Nationals was held at the Glencoe Club in Calgary, Alberta between February 1-4. 93 Canadians came to compete in Calgary for the largest prize purse ever seen in National Championships history! Thanks to various sponsors, including Manulife and Yonex, we were able to play for a $20 000 CAD prize purse!

Play started on Wednesday with Singles and Mixed Doubles. Later in the evening, we had a player social where they provided pizza at the club and the Badminton Canada Players Association's AGM (annual general meeting) was strategically held at the same time. Derrick Ng, the former president ran the meeting and we went through a few things, made a couple of votes, but at the end we did new elections for President and Vice President. Apparently, nobody ran against me for President, so they auto-defaulted the position to me; however, three people ran for Vice President, including Alex Bruce, Philippe Charron from Quebec, and Derrick himself. We did a ballot and I had to count the votes, but the winner, though quite close, was Alex Bruce! Congrats Alex! I'm sure we'll be a great team :)

Thursday was a few rounds of Doubles, followed by the Quarterfinals in the evening. Matches were quite straight forward, though we did have a few upsets in some of the rounds. They had 2 matted courts, so the layout was quite nice :) Friday morning and afternoon had consolation matches, while the Semifinals were played in the evening. Some close matches that night, some not so close, but overall it was quite eventful, especially Bobby Milroy coming out of retirement and upsetting the 1st Seed, and Alex Pang/Martin Guiffre challenging the top Canadian MD team, Adrian Liu/Derrick Ng in a really close 2 set match! After matches, I got a chance to meet with former Canadian player Tammy Sun! We played a U-23 Nationals together and also my first Pan Am Championshops together so it was cool to see her again. There were a lot of familiar faces who came down to the tournament so it was really nice to see them as they have all been influential in my badminton career :)

Finals was Saturday at noon, starting with the Mixed Doubles. The match went fairly straight forward and we took the first set as we pretty much led the whole way through. The second set was different, as we were playing catch up at many times and in the end, we were able to squeeze through and steal the set from Derrick and Alex. Womens Singles followed with another victory going to Michelle Li with a 2011 Pan Am Games rematch against Joycelyn Ko, while challenger Bobby Milroy, one of Canada's best former Canadian Men's Singles players, retired while he was up in a close 3rd set with a upper leg injury against Alex Pang. WD was quite a surprise, as Joycelyn and Grace came out full force to take the WD title in 2 sets! Finally the MD match to end the day was a very close 3 set match between challengers Jon Vandervet and I against the top MD team in Canada, Adrian Liu and Derrick Ng! It was a rematch from last year's National finals and also BC Elite Series, but this time it was much closer with a 21-18 finish :) All final matches have been posted on YouTube and I will link to them at the end of the blog. Special thanks to BadmintonLife.com for providing live streaming for the semifinals and finals on their live streaming channel!

XD Medalists

WS Medalists

MS Medalists

WD Medalists

MD Medalists

The banquet began at about 7:00pm at the Glencoe with a buffet dinner and some festivities :P It's been one of the better banquets I've had in a long time, as it was well organized and I'm sure we all had a great night. We had Steve Smith MCing so he recognized all our sponsors and played an interesting singing game, where a table could sing a verse or hook/chorus to a song for some drink tickets :P Fortunately, I was able to film some of these performances so I will be uploading the video later ;) Also, Bryan and Beth played a game where the winner got a Wii that was used in the players' lounge over the week! It was a simple heads or tails game, with the last person being very very lucky :) Afterwards, some awards were given, including Manulife's MVP award which went to Grace Gao for winning two National Titles! Sportsmanship awards were also given out to both Male and Female recipients including a $50 Future Shop gift card :) Finally, to end the night at the Glencoe, we had the dance floor open up, with Martin Guiffre mixing a playlist for us! At about 10pm, we got on 2 party buses organized by Steve and went to The Mansion night club for more drinks and dancing! It was just the people from the tournament at the start, but I'm sure other people managed to show up later, though I left early with Joycelyn because we were too tired. Before I left though, we started a little circle and did some dancing ;) Some good moves by everyone (except mine cuz they were super rusty) including Dave Snider, Nyl Yakura, and a few others :) A great night to top of a great tournament, what a start to hopefully a great year!

That's the 2012 Canadian Nationals! I'd like to thank a LOT of people as so many people contributed to making this such a wonderful event :) Big thanks to Steve Smith for getting the ball rolling, as he saw that a lot of the Olympic track Canadian athletes needed funding so he had the vision to try to put together a well-organized Nationals with a large prize purse to help the athletes! He started petitioning to have the Nationals in Calgary almost an entire year before the event and with his hard work and incredible charm, he and his dad helped toward bringing this year's Nationals to a $20 000 prize purse! Of course, we have to thank the sponsors, with Manulife being the Title Sponsor and Yonex for being a Gold Sponsor for the event! Thanks to all the smaller sponsors as well, because every little bit makes a difference. A photo is attached of all the sponsors below :) I'd also like to thank the volunteers, officials, and staff at the Glencoe for helping run things, driving people to the hotel, and setting up the courts. I'm also grateful for the Glencoe for allowing us to play with coloured clothing, as it has been historically an all-white clothing rule on the badminton courts. Thank you to the players and coaches as well, especially to my partners for playing with me and coaches Jeff White and Ronne Runtulalo for coaching me. Thanks to my teammates and friends for coming to watch and cheering me on and if I have missed anyone, thanks for not being angry ;) Again, I'd just like to acknowledge that many people played a role and if you feel you have played a part in this National Championships, then thank you :)

So that's that! Didn't take too many pictures unfortunately, but at least I have your videos. It's a little tough filming in the Glencoe due to the lack of space, but I tried my best :P Enjoy!

Full Results via Tournament Software: [2012 Manulife National Championships]

Matches via YouTube:
XD SF: Toby NG/Grace GAO [AB] vs. Francois BOURRET/Michelle LI [QB/ON]

MD SF: Jon VANDERVET/Toby NG [AB] vs. Alvin LAU/Logan CAMPBELL [BC/AB]

XD F: Toby NG/Grace GAO [AB] vs. Derrick NG/Alex BRUCE [BC/ON]

WS F: Michelle LI [ON] vs. Joycelyn KO [ON]

MS F: Alex PANG [AB] vs. Bobby MILROY [BC]

WD F: Joycelyn KO/Grace GAO [ON/AB] vs. Alex BRUCE/Michelle LI [ON]

MD F: Adrian LIU/Derrick NG [BC] vs. Jon VANDERVET/Toby NG [AB]

... and lastly, here's a link again to my 2012 National Championships Promotional Video one last time!

Thanks for visiting! Up next... Thomas/Uber Cup Preliminaries!

2012 Malaysia Super Series

2012-01-16T04:28:00.001-08:00

It's been a while since my last update, but it's because the power switch to my netbook broke and I was only traveling with my Kobo Vox e-reader in Malaysia, but now that I'm back in Korea, I can update about the last week :) Unfortunately, since I couldn't update, I didn't really take too many pictures and I only recorded the Canadian matches, so if you're looking for more this time, sorry :(

We had to wake up early to catch the bus to go to the airport in Incheon, Korea as we had an 8:45am flight. Being on the Korean Air Limousine bus, I scanned the duty free magazine they provide on their bus and stole the Kim Yuna ad out of the magazine. If anyone is looking to buy anything she is advertising from the duty free magazine I ripped the picture from, I apologize! For those of you who don't know her, she is the 2010 Winter Olympic Women's Figure Skating Gold Medalist for South Korea :) Well, that was pretty much my highlight of the morning :P We flew Asia Air X to Malaysia, which is a pretty interesting airline. They discount their tickets but make you pay for extras on everything, including luggage, food, and water on the plane. Overall, if you're not too picky, it's actually not too bad. It was a 6 hour flight so I did get hungry and I wanted some water for my cup noodle from Korea. Apparently they do not allow outside food or drink, but my convincing argument that I will purchase their cup noodle if they give me hot water for my noodle (i.e. MY noodle is better :P) and they kinda thought it was stupid, so they just gave me free water. With the money I didn't spend, I bought a drink :) I guess that's the start of practicing bargaining in Malaysia :)

Kim Yuna ad for J.Estina

We arrived and waited a while in immigration, as the lineup was terrible with Chinese people trying to cut in AGAIN (even the immigration officer was rolling her eyes) and had a long ride into the city. The tournament hotel was the Berjaya Times Square Hotel, basically attached to Berjaya Times Square, a giant 10-floor shopping mall but we couldn't get a room on the Monday so we stayed across the street at the Melia Kuala Lumpur Hotel, also a 4 star hotel for about the same price (minus breakfast). The accommodations in both hotels were quite nice, but I actually preferred the rooms in the Melia instead. Unfortunately, we arrived right during the manager's meeting, and apparently we had a practice time at the main hall for 6pm, with the bus leaving at 5pm. We had actually arrived at 4:30pm, with the manager's meeting starting at 4:00pm, so you can see how tight we were with the scheduling. We took our luggage with us and went to the hall and practiced for an hour and a half. The stadium was quite windy, with a diagonal draft, but it wasn't too bad for the tournament as we fortunately got to play on the same court, but I'll explain that later. After, we finally checked into the hotel, had some food, and then called it a day :) Much too much traveling in a single day, that's for sure o__O

2 giant cups of milk tea, cuz my Kobo Vox has a 7" screen

On the qualifications day, we couldn't get any practice courts as they were all booked up. It was a little frustrating, but ironically, we decided to head down to check out the internet in the mall as internet was a paid service in the hotel rooms. We bumped into Linda Zechiri of Bulgaria and asked if they were using their practice court. Apparently she didn't even know it was booked and said she would not be using it. We scrambled and found Michelle and Alex, fortunately via Facebook, as Alex just happened to buy a cheap sim card which gave her 3G data for the whole week! Anyway, we rushed to meet up, got our stuff and grabbed a taxi to the practice hall. To our dismay, it turns out that there were MANY practice courts available, even more than we could book. Unfortunately, the practice courts were quite hot and humid, so training was quite difficult with the humidity and loads of sweat :P We took the shuttle back fortunately, so we at least had a practice before we played. Later that night I ventured into the mall and found some Thai food! Food in Malaysia was incredibly cheap and I was able to pay less than $7 CAD for the entire meal. I will sure miss their food prices.

Pineapple Fried Rice + Tom Yum Soup

The next day started off with Michelle and Alex playing against the Wang sisters from the USA! This was an excellent draw for Michelle and Alex and they definitely took advantage of it and took the win in straight sets. Next up was Michelle in her singles against last week's WS champion, Wang Shixian of China. She didn't do too bad, but I think her knee started to really bother her a lot in the match. Last up for the day was Grace and I against another Chinese team. We had quite a bad start, being down I think 11-1 at the interval and we lost the first set maybe 21-8. We picked it up in the 2nd set, taking a good lead at the beginning before letting our opponents catch up and get to the interval first. From there, the game went kind of up and down, especially with a lot of net rolls going back and forth on each side. In the end, it came down to us being down 19-20, but we couldn't get that point back to lose 21-19. I wouldn't really say it was that close, as I felt it was a wild game. I felt I did some things well, but I also did other things poorly, as I was very bent on trying to do a select few things correctly. Also, Jan O Jorgensen from Denmark was having a really long match against China's Du Pengyou on the TV court, so that's why everyone was cheering and all. They definitely weren't watching my match :P

The next day we went to the stadium to watch Michelle and Alex play against the seeded Chinese Taipei team. They did fairly well this time, as I believe they played them previously in the 2011 Canada Open. My match video is in two parts because they told me I couldn't film at a higher level and I had to film from a lower level. As you can see, people at the tournament seem to have this incredible need to walk around and it's a little annoying to see so many people walk in front or through the camera. Especially in Michelle's WS match were I had to climb to the top and film, there were many people actually standing in my shot so that I had to actually put my tripod on a ledge to make it high enough, hence why it's shaking as I had to hold it down every now and then to keep from falling. Ugh, regardless, I got the footage :P After the match I was able to get a bit of bonus footage of Michelle and Alex getting interviewed by a reporter. I'm not too sure which network he is filming for, but I figure I would take a bit of video just in case we never see it again! Basically the reporter interview Alex and asks her a bunch of questions, then we have Michelle coming in and trying to answer those questions to see how well she knows her partner. Fortunately, Michelle did really awesome and probably answered all the questions correctly! Check out the video below :)

[VIDEO:]

The last couple of days were spent training, watching matches and a bit of shopping. I bumped into Jessy Sung, an old badminton friend from Vancouver who took up with the Badminton World Federation in Malaysia! It was nice to see her for a bit, even though we didn't really get to meet up, but it's nice to have friends everywhere you go, right? ;) We flew back to Korea on Saturday afternoon, set to arrive at 9:55pm. Apparently the last bus to Iksan, the city where we train with Kim Dong Moon, was at 10:30pm so we were a little nervous in wondering if we could make it or not. Fortunately, we arrived early at about 9:25pm, so that gave us more time than we did before! It took about 5-10 minutes to get to the terminal, 10 minutes to get off the plane, another 10 minutes or so to get to immigrations, another 10 minutes to clear immigration and a little longer to get our bags. We finally arrive and made it to the bus station with time to spare... BUT THE TICKETS WERE ALL SOLD OUT!... Definitely one of those FML moments. In the end, we decided to find a nearby hotel and found one online which included an airport shuttle. Fortunately, it was only 77 000 KRW (~$70 CAD) which was pretty awesome. We took a bus the next day to Iksan and will be there for the week to train with Kim. We're heading back to Canada on the 22nd, so just a week left before I make it home to a Chinese New Year's dinner!

Less than $4 CAD meal in Malaysia

~$8 Meal in Korea... Vegetable Bulgogi... VERY delicious :)

Full Results: [2012 Maybank Malaysia Super Series]

Matches via YouTube:
WD R32: Alex BRUCE/Michelle LI [CAN] vs. Rena WANG/Iris WANG [USA]
Full Match

WS R32: WANG Shixian [CHN] vs. Michelle LI [CAN]
Game 1
Game 2

XD R32: HE Hanbin/BAO Yixin [CHN] vs. Toby NG/Grace GAO [CAN]
Full Match

WD R16: CHENG Wen Hsing/CHIEN Yu Chin [TPE] vs. Alex BRUCE/Michelle LI [CAN]
Game 1 (Pt 1)
Game 1 (Pt 2) & Game 2

Thanks for visiting! Next tournament: 2012 Manulife Canadian National Championships, presented by Yonex (Feb 1-4, 2012). Click HERE for blog posting!