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CAN/US Open

Okay, sorry... but i'm gonna keep this short and quick!

Canada Open was a great success! The Richmond Oval was absolutely stunning to play in. Although people did complain it was hard to see, there was a draft, courts were hard... I thought it was a great arena to play in, who cares about the draft, and it's no different than clearone!! So overall, pretty good! I lost first round doubles to the 6th seeds from Austria, Jurgen Koch and Peter Zauner 23-21, 21-17. I played quite well but found a lot of places in which to improve on. Mixed, I made it past my first round but ended up head to head with Korea's Shin Baek Choel and Yoo Hyun Young. First game I got raped 21-11. This was my first mixed match playing at this level and I honestly played my mixed like I do doubles and hell, it DUSNT work!! So I changed it up, stopped competing my drives with Shin Baek Choel and man, did it make a difference! I still lost my 2nd game.. but it was much closer.. 22-20. My partner Xuelian(lydia) had a super clutch ace serve to tie it up at 19-20!!

Ooh yes.. I also strung 54 rackets for players that tournament!! Holy crap!! Chayut Triyachart broke 17 strings in total that tournament!!! Thank goodness there were others to help string!!

US Open was the week after. Took me over 13 hours from arriving at the airport in Vancouver to arriving at my hotel in LA. Yikes!! But still, a good $92 spent!

I got through the first rounds of mixed and doubles pretty easily. But now I had to play Ellis/Langridge from England in doubles and Schoettler/Marinello of Germany in Mixed. Mixed was played first.. I was pretty nervous cuz Marinello was in the Women's doubles final in Canada Open and I've seen Schoettler play doubles..

Anywhooo... i lost my first game against Schoettler and Marinello 21-14. Determined and taking my new found experience from the week before at Canada Open, I brought the match to 3 winning 21-15! The third game started with Lydia and I with a pretty big lead. I believe we were winning 17-13 yet I remember myself being pretty nervous!! I kept thinking "Shit!!! I have to get 4 more points cuz they can still catch up!!!!!" Well, lucky for me, they only got 1 more.. I won 14-21, 21-15, 21-14!! Yay!! Quarter Finals at a Grand Prix GOLD!!

Next was my doubles and my god i dun even want to talk about it... I played like crap. Maybe cuz I played a few hours later.. I was was pretty hungry... I dont know. No excuses.. I played like crap and didnt even get a chance to get into the game. If i played well and lost, then sure, I'd feel a bit better.. but I played like shit and got owned... FML... i lost 21-12, 21-16.. Uuuuughhh!!!

Quarter Finals... Mixed Doubles.. Lydia and I now played Hong Kong Open/Indo SS champions, Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Zieba from Poland, the 1st seeds... also the #3 rank mixed pair in the world... Well, first game we were neck and neck.. We were biting their tail the whole match yet lost 21-17... I really thought we could have taken the first... 2nd game, they strategized a lot better. They kept Lydia at the back and our rotation was messed or even so, non-existent.. Lost 21-13 :(... At least now I know what we need to work on!!! Next time, I will do much better!

Mona-Vie Active

Well a good friend of mine gave me a bottle of this Mona-Vie Active to try! It's main ingredient is the new super fruit, the Acai Berry. I'm gonna give it a try and see how it goes! This juice, taken regularly, 60ml twice a day, is suppose to help increase vitality, better health, an overall sense of well being, and an improvement in joint health. Let's hope it works! I will update with results!

PS. Has anybody heard of Mona-Vie or this Acai Berry before?

Avocado Slush!

Did you know an avocado has more than twice the potassium than a banana??

If you ever wonder what else you can do with an avocado instead of putting it in a salad or making it into quacomole, then here's something new you can try!

Ingredients:

-1 avocado

-2 tblspns of sugar

-1/2 cup of milk

-5-6 cubes of ice

What to do:

1) Get a blender (I used my magic bullet) and crush up some ice.

2) Cut, pit, and peel the avocado and just break it apart into small chunks.

3) Add the chunks of avocado, milk, and sugar into the blender with the crush ice still inside and blend!

Now you can enjoy your avocado slush dessert!

A Successful Weekend for ClearOne at BC Closed

The past weekend Hollyburn Country Club hosted the 2010 BC Closed/Provincial Championships. Although the draw was small, there were still many tough and exciting games!

Friday: First tight match was between the first seed Richard Liang and Benny Lin. Richard won the first game 21-16 but Benny fought back with an amazing 21-11 win bringing it to 3 games! I couldn't watch the 3rd game because I had to play my match. Richard pulled through just enough to defeat Benny 26-24!

On the bottom half, second seed Tim Ma was to play club mate Kaz Tamasauskas. That match ended with Tim passing through to the semi-finals, 14-21, 21-19, 21-13.

Women's singles only had a draw of 7 contestants! Sarah Kong and Phyllis Chan played off against one another in the semi-finals. The first game was neck to neck until the end but Phyllis ended the game 21-19 with a net roll! Phyllis continued the next game with an easy 21-8 victory.

Being played on the other side of the gym was future superstar Christin Tsai against current superstar Anna Rice! Christin came out aggressive in the first game and was just enough to take it away from Anna, 23-21. Fortunately for Anna, experience and fitness came to play and Christin could not keep up with Grand Master Rice. Although almost every rally was intense, it was Anna who was winning each one. Anna defeated Christin 21-23, 21-13, 21-9. Good effort from Christin who never gave up and was even diving at the last rally!

Last on was men's semi-finals. I played Richard Liang and won in two sets, 21-16, 21-14. Having a pretty injured shoulder I knew I could not attack as much as I would want to but being confident with my own fitness, I was able to compensate with my speed and power of my footwork. I focused on keeping the bird in and over while pushing the speed of the game faster by just getting to each bird earlier.

On the bottom, Tim Ma played Jacky Tsao. I did not watch the first 2 games but did manage to watch the 3rd. Tim was up late in the 3rd but lost focus as Jacky came full force attacking every shot. As tired as Jacky was from playing Tim the runner, he didn't stop hitting those full smashes and rushing into the net. Too bad Tim was able to defend enough that Jacky started making too many unforced error due to his exhaustion. Tim ran his opponent down, 21-16, 18-21, 21-18.

Saturday: Men's doubles started off the day. Nothing really exciting.. sorry! Adrian and I played Nathan Choi and Kyle Holoboff in the semis. We pummelled the first game 21-8, but they came back fighting making it closer getting 10 more points than their first set. It was pretty tight throughout the whole 2nd set but Adrian and I were able to keep our mistakes low at the end claiming our spot in the finals.

Women's doubles.... ummm... hehehe.. I didnt watch women's doubles... Sorry!!

Mixed!! Kevin So and Rosalynn Chong pulled a huge upset defeating the 3/4 seed Jacky Tsao and Melody Liang. Kevin was hitting huge and moving well while Rosalynn was defending well and hitting some great set up shots! Jacky did not seem to know what he was doing and Melody was showing lots of frustration towards her partner! Good job So/Chong!

The other 3/4 seed, Tim Ma and Christin Tsai were eliminated in the next round by club mates Nathan Choi and Anna Rice. It was a quick win for Choi/Rice. 21-18, 21-14.

Kevin So and Rosalynn Chong does it again! Almost taking the match in 2 but did it in 3, defeating Kyle Holoboff and Alice Man, 21-18, 20-22, 21-12!! Now they were to play Phyllis and I!

Unfortunately Kevin and Ros could not keep their streak to continue. Phyllis and I claimed a smooth victory, 21-11, 21-12.

Last match of the day was Alvin Lau/Steph Ko against Nathan Choi/Anna Rice. With Choi/Rice unorthodox, almost women's doubles style of play, with all that clearing and dropping, Lau/Ko won in 3 sets, 21-16, 13-21, 21-12.

Sunday, the Finals!

First match: Mixed doubles, Alvin Lau/Steph Ko vs Myself/Phyllis Chan. Alvin and Steph started out playing well pushing themselves ahead by 11. Refocusing and changing my game plan, I knew that I either had to push a bit harder and to keep poking the bird down. I also had to be more aware of Steph's lefty forehand cut off which cost me a few points. Phyllis and I were able to come back narrowly capturing the first set, 24-22. Now with a plan that worked, I focused again on keeping my legs/feet moving pushing the pace a bit faster yet still keeping my game plan in tact! Phyllis and I won the Mixed Doubles Finals, 24-22, 21-14.

Second match: Women's Singles, Anna Rice vs Phyllis Chan. This was quite an exciting match to watch. Phyllis had quite a few around the hit cross court shot winners! I can definitely see she got that from her coach, Sandiarto! Yet Anna, the machine, was able to keep playing the game she's plays capturing the BC Closed Women's Singles title, 21-16, 21-18!

Third match: Men's Singles, Me again vs Tim Ma. Okay, this is the first time I have been in a Provincial Singles Final! Playing Tim multiple of times, we both knew what each other were capable of. I started off the game with a huge head start with a 7-1 lead, then got to interval winning 11-3. I won the first game 21-11. Second set I knew Tim would come back fighting harder. Staying focused I was able to keep doing what I was doing right in the first and took the Men's Singles title, 21-11, 21-16.

Fourth Match: Women's Doubles, Phyllis Chan/Steph Ko vs Melody Liang/Lydia Jiang. Phyllis and Steph won the first match 21-18! Melody was making most of the mistakes but woke up in the 2nd. Mel/Lydia started the 2nd game with a commanding lead!Phyllis/Steph tried to catch back up but was unable to do so. Mel/Lydia took the 2nd and 3rd game 21-16, 21-10.

Last Match: Men's Doubles, Me/Adrian Liu vs Tim Ma/Richard Liang. Adrian and I, 2 doubles players who train full times doubles against 2 singles players. There were some decent rallies but Adrian and I had a better attack, rotation, defense, drives and speed. We won 21-16, 21-10.

This is my first Open event in which I tripled crowned! So in the end, ClearOne had 4/5 1st place finishes (men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, mixed doubles)!!

Overall: BC Closed ran very smoothly. The tournament was not behind at all, rather it was ahead of schedule by at least 15 minutes. Consolations were played accordingly and did not interfere with the main matches which kept all players happy! One thing I liked about this tournament was the fact we had unlimited birds. Of course having unlimited birds, something from the budget would be sacrificed which would be the tournament t-shirt! I felt that having unlimited birds was much better than having another badminton tshirt in which I may never wear! It was also nice knowing you could go to a tournament without having to pull out your wallet again just to get another bird to play with! Hollyburn Country Club was a nice venue to play in. They recently redid their badminton courts and WOW, they are absolutely incredible. It is still a wood floor but the court seems to be of another material. You have to see it and play on it to know exactly what it's like! Other than that, the only thing that didn't work out too well was the amount of spectators watching the finals. I do believe there's really nothing that could have been done about that having the tournament at Hollyburn. I guess it was a little bit too far and the finals started a bit too early for people to come watch. I would also like to thank Arak Bhokanandh for putting his time and effort into organizing the tournament. Also thanks to the volunteers/ref/umpires! And I almost forgot... the BEST thing about this tournament... Cash Prize!!!

New job and means of transportation!

So I got interviewed yesterday to work at Posh Broadway! Got a call that same night and now I am gonna start training as a host on Monday night! Gonna work my ass off and climb the ladder to become a server or more! I'm excited to start working at my favourite restaurant to eat at!

I also started biking my way to ClearOne for training. It's quite the ride.. around 9km one way!! It takes me around 25 minutes biking there because it's all downhill on cambie street but it takes me an extra 10 minutes back cuz it's ALL UPHILL! So I biked there and back twice today cuz I like to come home to make a hot lunch and nap. It's great exercise! I can really feel my legs burn when I ride up for 10 minutes on Cambie St. It really sucked riding to ClearOne in the afternoon because it was pouring rain! My shorts was drenched completely through! Luckily I was smart and brought a change of clothes! Let's see how much money I can save a month by biking!

Black Knight's Badminton Knight Trainer Review

Here's my review on BK's Badminton Knight Trainer. For those who do not know what this is, it is a machine that shoots out birds. You can find videos on Youtube.com and also check out www.knighttrainer.com.

This review is from my point of view as an elite athlete.

Practicality Factor: This is by far the most unpractical machine ever. It takes too long to set up to get the exact shot you want. By the time you make the rows and place them in the tube, find a chair to climb up on to place the tube on the machine (if the machine is up high to simulate a drop/smash/clear), find an extension cord, find an outlet, find the right speed to shoot the bird, find the right delay/timing, find the right spot on the court, adjust the height so the bird flies exactly where it needs to go.... it's been 10 minutes!!

Price Factor: This machine KILLS feather birds! It destroys them. If you were to fill the tube up with new feather birds... be prepared to empty your wallets. It destroys the cork and chews up feathers. Also this machine costs $5,900 CAD! RIDICULOUS!

Fun Factor: The only thing fun about this machine is when you place the machine at the net, and have it shooting at max speed at the fastest timing and you try and defend every shot. Is this a good drill to do..? ummm.. no, not really... wall hitting beats this drill ANYDAY. Wall hitting would also only require 1 bird, not 50-60. Also picking up 1 bird and then hitting it back at the wall is a lot faster than picking up the birds u hit all over the place on the other side, picking up the birds u missed which are behind you, picking up all the birds that the machine shot into the net, making rows, taking the empty tube off, putting the birds into the machine, putting the tube back into the machine, and starting all over again.

Accuracy Factor: This machine is a piece of crap. It's not accurate like they say. It shoots high, it shoots low, it also flutters the bird making u lunge forward getting the bird, and by that time you hit the bird, it shoots the next one at your face. Very frustrating so I guess minus points on Fun Factor.

Another thing, the selling point of this machine is that you can practice by yourself. Why is that so many of the videos on youtube, there's people standing around watching or coaching? A lot of people do not realize the importance of FEEDING. Feeding is not only extremely beneficial to the feeder, but the worker gets to see the bird being hit by a racket each time. We absorb so much information with our eyes, why waste all that time watching a bird being shot out from a machine?

Also, it's really not that hard to find somebody to practice with. Having 1 person feed and 1 person work is much more fun. You get to interact with another human being and you can also get proper feedback. Having 2 people pick up birds and making rows is also much faster. You also go green by not wasting as many birds and electricity.

So out of 5 stars, I give this Black Knight Trainer 0.25/5.. Yes, you get a QUARTER of a star out of 5!! Why? Because Black Knight actually made something that can shoot a bird. Other than that, sorry.. it's garbage.

Rating: 0.25/5

Feathers under the machine

Check out the feathers. These birds were new. Used for 3 months with the machine but only used the machine 2-3 times a week.

I've seen new birds being fed everyday last at least 2 to 3 times longer and still have it's integrity.

My favourite 5 minute sandwich!

Okay, another easy thing to make which is healthy and delicious!

Ingredients:

-cheddar cheese

-2 slice of bread

-lettuce

-alfalfa

-tomatoes

-roast beef

-dijon mustard

-light mayo

-freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. use toaster oven and toast the bread. 1 slice with cheese, the other with roast beef.

2. meanwhile, wash a leaf of lettuce and slice up tomato

3. once done, take toast with roast beef on top out

4. season with crushed pepper, add mayo, and mustard

5. add lettuce, then tomatoes, and lastly alfalfa

6. top with other slice of toast with melted cheese

Stuffed Bake Tomatoes

Okay, as an athlete, you don't always have the time to make some food to eat. Here's a quick recipe that I made which is super simple and delicious!

Ingredients:
2 Tomatoes

1/2 cup of cooked rice (more flavourful rice the better. eg. jasmine)

-(another note, I have some containers of rice that is already cooked. I put what I need in a bowl, add a tiny bit of water, and microwave for around 1 minute and voila! soft, cooked, ready to eat rice)
1 tbsp dried basil

1 can of light tuna

1 tbsp EVOO

mozzarella cheese

salt & pepper

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 400F

2) Coat a baking pan with EVOO

3) In a bowl, flake tuna and mix in rice, basil, salt and pepper.

4) Slice tomatoes around 5/8" of an inch.

5) Spoon tuna/rice mix on top of each sliced tomato.

6) Add mozzarella cheese on top.

7) Bake for 15 minutes.

8) Place cooked tomatoes onto plate and drizzle the left over EVOO which was used to coat the pan onto the tomatoes.

9) Salt and pepper to taste.

Prep work took me 5-6 minutes. This recipe probably has around 20g of fat! It also has your servings of vegetables, protein, dairy, and carbs! Enjoy!

Job Hunting

Well, I've sent my resume to RONA.. when I did, man... they have this form you have to fill out, and in the back.. holy, they make you do a gosh dayum math test! Was not expecting that!! Well, tomorrow I'm applying to Boston Pizza. Hoping to get whatever I can get! But in the mean time, if you want to learn how to drive manual, I'm also teaching!

Other than that, first day back to training and crap I am so sore... sigh.. back to training in another 8 hours.. better sleep. good night folks.

What to do...

Well, Employment Insurance (EI) has cut me off from receiving money. I would need more working hours in order to get EI again and since I'm going back to school between August and October, I will not be receiving EI during that time as well. So I'm pretty much F#cked. Yes.. with a capitol "F"...

Although it's sunny here in Vancouver, it's gonna be rainy days for me for quite a long time.. how long? Well, pretty much until after my Olympic run. How am I going to do it? Well one thing for sure is that I'm just gonna go into dept. Yes, more dept... Olympics + Canadian = Dept! Well, I'm hoping to get a job at the electrical department soon at RONA. Hopefully they will give me a job with the hours I want... but if not, I'm really not sure what I can do..

Suggestions?....

Atwater International and the 2010 JR. Nationals

Well, the past 2 weeks has been pretty nuts.. First off was the Atwater International which was held in Montreal. The tournament started off pretty shakey because the draws didn't come out the night before qualifications. Also, there were only 2 courts available for the whole tournament which made keeping the schedule on time rather difficult. Having 2 courts to share for practice wasn't much fun either.

Well, I'm gonna keep things short. I'm bored and can't seem to sit still, hehehe... I lost to Netherlands in the semi-finals in men's doubles. Yeah they were good, but I felt that Adrian and I didn't play anywhere near our potential. I wish we could have gave the Dutch a harder game. For my mixed, I played with a new parther, Xuelian Jiang (Lydia). We made it to the final pretty easily but lost to Toby and Grace 26-24 in the 3rd game. Uggh.. twice in a row losing to them in the finals, 3rd game.. in deuce!! Crap!! But I give them props, they played much better than they did in Peru.

Well, after my finals, I trained over to Toronto to compete in my Nationals. The tournament overlapped so it was pretty hectic trying to settle in and get ready to play. I honestly did not feel like playing Nationals. I did not feel like playing badminton at all. I think it was a mix of being burnt out from training, traveling, competing, and just ending my almost 3 year relationship as I arrived into Toronto.. Yeah, that's just another story to tell.. Anywho, let's keep this blog about badminton..

This Nationals was huuge. I think 400+ kids, making this the biggest tournament in Canada. It was held at Humber College and as I walked into this tuna fish jammed can, I felt like I was waay too old to play cuz all I saw were kids running around.. The first 2 days, I was impressed with the organization and how smoothly the tournament was going. It was not until the semi-finals I started to get a little ticked.. They scheduled my doubles match and my mixed doubles match back to back. I only had a 15 minute break if even.. They did that so they wouldn't have to have women's doubles last. What a joke. I lost my semi's to Alex and Michelle. Afterward was the banquet. Now I was looking forward to this banquet because there was gonna be "fun" activities, prizes to give away and good food being catered by Mandarin. Well, since they did not have any god damn shuttles, I had to wait for a ride from one of the parents to drive me to the hotel so I could shower. By the time I got back to the hotel, showered, and back to Humber for the banquet, I was already an hour late. But it was okay.. why? Because I walked in, yeah, there was still food.. but I wasnt really missing much. The banquet consisted of tables in the middle of the hallway with food, and just people sitting on the floors eating. Wow.. What a joke. So I went and grabbed some food. I don't know if this is what Toronto people are use to but this chinese food was crap. It was just all fried westernized chinese food. And @#$%!! Still pissed there were no tables or even chairs to sit on. What are we? Animals??! The night ended with a stupid "heads or tails" game for a prize.. FML! Worst banquet I have been to. Sorry, but that is the truth. Finals the next day for doubles. I was scheduled for 945AM. I got there, only 3 courts, and I was 15th court available with matches starting at 9am. How the hell are they going to have 15 games on and finished in 45 minutes. I swear they scheduled it that way so all players would be there early so games would run smoothly. Well you know what? That is trickery and VERY unprofessional. I will email Kyle Hunter about that.. I did not play until 1240 which is almost 3 hours later.. 4 hours if you consider me getting there an hour before my match.. The courts were also crap. They had these cheap RSL mats made out of powder or sumthing.. I dont know.. everybody was slipping and people were getting sore and injured. I ended up losing in the finals but shit, this tournament means shit to me.

Final words on Nationals.. To the organizer.. There has been research done that even if the first 95% is pain free, but the last 5% is hella painful, the person would consider the whole experience as painful as the last 5%. So yeah, the tournament ran nicely and was all nice and good in the beginning, but hell, did the last 2 days of the tournament leave a very bitter taste in my mouth. So if I were to rate this nationals out of 10, I would rate this tournament a 6/10.

Well, since I'm burnt like toast, I will be taking the next week off entirely to relax and recoup myself. My mental feels pretty drained and I'm just gonna take it easy. You readers should too. Take it easy and thanks for reading.

Btw, Happy early Mother's Day!

First International Title in Peru!

Hey everybody! Firstly, I want to apologize for not updating my blog in a very long time. It is a lot of work and I am quite occupied with training, coaching, and just resting hehe. Well anyways, here's just a quick summary of my trip/tournament of the XV PERU INTERNATIONAL 2010!

the draws: link

Monday, April 5, I left Vancouver on an early 7am flight. I was feeling like crap and by the time I reached the gate, I had a sore throat, a head-ache and a slight fever. Mentally, I was pretty pissed to be going to my first International tournament feeling sick. I just had to do well! I kept hydrated on the flights drinking cup after cup of water. A few tylenols and advils helped too! We got in past midnight and got a shuttle to the hotel. I passed out after that.

Tuesday, April 6. I was woken up by a phone call from the Peruvian Tournament Organizer. She told me that the accreditations are coming to the hotel at 1pm. Now, you would think that by now we could go to the Venue (Club Regatas Lima) to go hit and practice. WRONG! Everybody was told that there will be no courts to practice on until the tournament starts! Great!! And also, the draws were STILL not up!! So I waited past 1pm for the accreditation and nobody came. I emailed the organizer and was told that they were going to come the next day at 1pm. Greeeaaaattt..... So with nothing to do, I went to the mall which was only a few minutes away. Feeling sick still, I just had a soup and salad at the Chili's Restaurant. After I went back to the hotel to sleep some more. Later that evening, I walked over the local grocery store, Vivanda. Now one thing to know about Peru is that the food is CHEAP! I bought a whole roasted chicken, a box of fries, and a 1.5L of Inca Kola (like a peruvian cream soda) for around S./24.00! That's like 8 bucks Canadian and was enough food to have left overs for another meal! Their chicken was also super juicy and tasted great! Lastly, the draws finally were done and was posted on tournamentsoftware!

Wednesday, April 7. Every single Canadian playing that trip had arrived the night before. We didnt get our accreditation at 1pm but a shuttle came at 245 to drive us all to the Regatas. We all got inside the venue and had a pretty decent practice. My fever and head-ache was pretty much all gone and I was feeling ready to play!

Thursday, April 8. I had 1 round of mixed against a Peruvian team. They were quite young and my partner Phyllis and I didn't have much trouble getting through 21-12, 21-17. We won but looked on as we would face the 4th seed from USA, Nicholas Jinadasa and Rulan Yeh.

Friday, April 9. 4 games to be played today!

My first round of doubles with Adrian was against a Mexican team. They were also a junior team. One had a ridiculous fast drive serve. Was rather annoying to play with but we ended up defeating them 21-10, 21-19. Annoyed with giving them 19 in the 2nd set, I told myself that I would put all my focus and play 100% every game no matter how easy the opponent was.

Next game I played was my mixed against the USA 4th seeds. We played quite well and claimed a quick victory 21-11, 21-16! All that training and practice poking the bird down early paid off! My mixed game has gone up to another level!

2nd round doubles, Adrian and I played mexico again. Focused and ready to kick ass we defeated our opponents 21-8, 21-9. Defending felt great. Nothing could get by us and when attacking, nobody could stop us.

Last game of the day for me was mixed. We played Arthuso and Cury of Brasil. They were a heavier hitting team but couldn't play against my tight shots dinking the girl around at the net. I do not know how many times the line judge had to get up to wipe off sweat off their side of the court because I made them dive so many times. They must have dove at least 8-9 times! We won 21-14, 21-17. I was now in the semi-finals for Mixed and Doubles. I was to play the 1st seeds in doubles, the team that defeated the Canadians to get into the Thomas Cup, Antonio De Vinatea and Martin Del Valle of Peru. For mixed I played fellow COBA athletes and partner, Adrian Liu and Joyce Ko.

Saturday, April 10. SEMI-FINALS! This is the furthest I have ever gone in any International tournament! Okay, so when I woke up this morning, I was feeling like SH!T! I had a huuge migraine. I went down to try and eat some breakfast but couldn't eat a bite. I drank 2 cups of tea went upstairs, and threw up.. I didn't let my partner or my opponents know, but I felt like hell. I took more tylenol and advil! I was feeling a bit better before the match. I had to just sit down, close my eyes, and just focus on my migraine going away. I went on court 100% focused on winning. No thought was on my migraine. Phyllis and I defeated Liu/Ko 21-12, 21-8. Phyllis and I played great and the feel esctasy had depleted my migraine! I was now in the finals.... to play my brother Toby Ng and his partner Grace Gao... the 1st seeds.

Next was my doubles. I knew this was the team who defeated Maxime and Francois just a few months ago. Did that scare me? No.. I was determined. I was playing great, and I was feeling confident. Adrian and I pummelled the first seeders 21-9, 21-8 in front of the home crowd. It felt great. I was now in 2 finals!

Sunday, April 11. I could barely sleep. All I was thinking was strategy and how I was going to play. The first match of the day was my mixed doubles against Toby and Grace. Phyllis and I took the first set easy winning 21-11. They didn't seem ready but I knew that there was no way in hell the 2nd match would go as smoothly as the first. I was right, the 2nd match Toby and Grace was leading us by the first 11. Phyllis and I caught up but continued to trail but then got the lead 18-17. We had a huge rally and Grace pulled a tremendous cross court block that rolled over. Phyllis and I then pulled ahead to match point but could not gain one more ralley as Grace and Toby won 4 points in a row defeating us 22-20.

Doubles against the Japanese, Komiyama Hajime and ! Adrian and I were down 2-0 but got the serve back and won a quick 4-5 points just off service. They could not return my serve for some reason. We won the first 21-18 but got killed the 2nd game 21-10. We were a bit unfocused and was driving way too much. They were quick and got the lift too many times. 3rd game, again they got a quick point or two but when I got the serve back, they couldn't return my serves! We were up to 11 first but they were not too far behind on the scoreboard. At around 16 or 17, Komiyama Hajime pulled an amazing fake which got both Adrian and I. I literally did not see the bird until it landed on the floor! But soon to our demise, the Japanese were up 20-19, 3rd game. Staying clutch, Adrian and I tied it to 20-20 deuce. It was my serve and I had no intention on screwing up and serving into the net. I served, it was perfect. Saeki hit a soft push towards me, and I pushed back down the middle. Komiyama drove a high one to our forehand side and BOOOM!!! Adrian crushed a winner cross court right through Saeki's defense! 21-20, match point, for the win.... my serve.... Can't screw it up now.. I serve, cross-body to Komiyama's left hand, and... he hits the bird into the net!!! Adrian and I had just won our first International Title in Peru on our first tournament back playing together! Adrian went nuts, I went nuts, the crowd went nuts!! Adrian had his shirt covering his head as I cheered to the crowd! Ecstasy could not describe whatever it was pumping through my veins. I had won. The end!

So I've been training everyday still and I seem to be getting a little wear and tear on my right hand. I had a pretty thick callus on my hand which had a blister underneath which eventually popped and was hurting like a b-tch for awhile... and then 2 mornings ago doing a smashing drill, half the callus came loose and you could literally see the red meat of my hand.. pretty gross eh?? So I took the next day off from playing with my racquet and just did leg weights and dead lifts.

Today we had a guest player come in from Guatemala, Pedro Yang. He's a part of the IOC and was in Vancouver because he was a torch runner for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. So guess what he brought to ClearOne???? The Olympics Torch! It was pretty cool and I got a couple pictures of myself holding it! Unfortunately those couple pictures are not on my camera and I will post it when it gets emailed to me..

Now tonight I had a family dinner. I had to drive my grandma and it was just her and I in the car. My GM is notorious for talking, talking, talking, talking, and preaching everything that's in her mind. Now at the dinner was my dad's cousin from HK. He's a real big shot. Very successful and charming. He use to race cars professionally and now he sells luxury yachts. If you ever need a nice yacht to keep in HK ---and around $20,000,000 CAD---for the nicest one ;) --- I know who you can call! But yes, anyways... My GM... on the way back from dinner she was telling me a little more about my dad's cousin. She was telling me how he was always outgoing, daring, and just loved to play. He raced cars and did a lot of things and that I should never attempt to do stuff like that. She said racing is too dangerous and I should always focus on being safe. She started saying stuff that all led to the fact that you should never take a risk in life and it's always better to live safely. Sorry, but that's not me at all... I believe there that life won't be exciting if you aren't willing to take a risk. Okay, Im done ranting. The mentalist is on! Goodbye for now!

A winner never whines. -Paul Brown

Here's a something to think about from a book I borrowed from the library ("Get Motivated!")

"What's important is not being like some other athlete, but being the best athlete I can be."

Back to life

I have been back in Vancouver for a few days now. I started training again the next day cuz I didn't feel like I deserved a break from training. It's Thursday now and I'm at the centre stringing up my racquets and I thought "Holy crap, I havent updated my blog in awhile!"

So here I am, 30 minutes before afternoon training quickly trying to put some words down..

Let's start with the national finals. Mixed doubles, Jon Vandervet and Milaine Cloutier claimed victory over Alvin Lau and Fiona Mckee in 3 games. I won the 3/4 playoff and came out with a bronze medal and a pair of red Vancouver 2010 mitts.

My first prediction was correct!

Second prediction... I was half right.. Anna Rice won in 2 games over Michelle Li. Watched only the end because I was ordering/waiting for my victory poutine! Oh yes do I love poutine!

Third prediction... 3 for 3 now on the winners. Alex Pang defeated Martin Giuffre in 2. Martin put up a good fight but was not enough over Pang's speed and skills.

Fourth.. Womens doubles... Melody Liang and Lydia Jiao.. Need I say more?!!! Praise to Lydia, she is a machine!

Last and most exciting match, mens doubles.. Jon Vandervet and Alvini Lau fought back after losing the first to win in a out of your seat match against Toby Ng and Adrian Liu. Ng and Liu were up 20-18 in the 3rd but lost 22-20. Alvin Lau tied the match point with his flick serve! What did I say before??? Watch out for his flick!!

So that was the 2010 Canadian Nationals. I found this year was rather.. anti-climatic?? I dont know... I just know I can do better.. and I will do better...

So there has been some talk about going back to work after Nationals. I called my Union Hall to see if I would be sent back to work but it seems with the Olympics, I would not be working for a very long time. I have decided that I will continue training full-time and will start travelling in a few months. Olympics is creeping up and will be here before we know it. So I need to start preparing now. This is it... Derrick Ng and Badminton begins now!

2nd Day of Nationals

Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals were played yesterday... I can't describe how disappointed I feel from losing my doubles in the quarters, and then losing my mixed in the semis... But with this disappointment comes inspiration and motivation.. I swear, next year's results will change dramatically. I'm sick of losing and I'm craving to win.

Besides my games, the other matches were great to watch. Martin Guiffre upsetted Joseph Rogers in the quarter-finals. Martin came onto the court 2 minutes before he was defaulted... luckily I found him in the Junior boy's locker room!

Michelle Li had a late arrival only to step into the club when her match was called. It was like she has slept in or something... Her badminton was definitely affected and was down 3rd set 17-13. She ended pulling through with many clutch, down the line smashes winning 21-19.

Another huge upset in the quarter-finals was Francois Bourret and Florence Lavoie defeating #1 seed Toby Ng and Grace Gao. I did not see this match because I was playing my quarter-final at the same time.

Semi-Final commenced and I became the first upset of the semis... I lost 3 games to Jon Vandervet and Milaine Cloutier, 22-20, 18-21, 21-17. I played like crap. PERIOD. I was not moving like how I normally move and just couldnt find the timing to hit the bird.

Alex Pang vs David Snider. This match was absolutely amazing. Super fast pace and intense rallies throughout the game. Alex Pang upsetted the #1 seed David Snider 21-19, 21-17! Alex was moving much quicker than David, and with the bigger range of shot variety, Alex was sure to succeed. Congratulations Alex!

Martin Guiffre vs Stephan Wojcikiewicz. With a steady play like Martin, he came back twice to win 2 games against the second seed Wojcikiewics. Well done by the first year U23 player.

After that, all other seeds advanced.

Finals:

Jon Vandervet/Milaine Cloutier vs Alvin Lau/Fiona McKee

My prediction: Jon/Milaine in 3

Alex Pang vs Martin Guiffre

My prediction: Pang in 2. Martin's attack is no match for Pang's defense and Pang's attack is too much for Martin's defense.

Anna Rice vs Michelle Li

My prediction: Anna Rice in 3. Michelle seems to be having a bad tournament. She isn't playing that well this week.

Women's Doubles: Lydia Jiao/Melody Liang vs Alex Bruce/Michelle Li

My prediction: Lydia Jiao/Melody in 2. Have you seen Lydia play?? Holy crap.. DOMINATION

Men's Doubles: Adrian Liu/Toby Ng vs Jon Vandervet/Alvin Lau

My prediction: Adrian Liu/Toby Ng in 2. If they play as well as they did yesterday.. no competition. Alvin and Jon are too unstable when put into a stressful situation.

Good luck to all competing.

First day of 2010 Nationals

I started nice and early playing my first round singles against Hugo Le Dorze (MB). Being the first match of the tournament and of the day, I felt rather sluggish and slow to succumb to the slippery floors. Having to train on a matted court all the time, it's quite a challenge when I suddenly start playing on a wood court with a nice layer of dust. But the end result of my first round was in my favor, 21-12, 21-11. My next round was against another Manitoban! I defeated Andrew Harrison 21-12, 21-15, advancing myself to the round of 16s. Here I stood up against Philipe Gaumond (QC)! He has always been a good singles player and has had a pretty decent track record. Playing 3 events this tournament in a span of 3 days, I did not feel motivated enough to fight hard and win. But who am I kidding... Being a doubles player with okay fitness, even if I won... it's just going to hinder my performance the next day.. especially if I had to play David Snider (MB), #1 seed, the next day. So in the end, I lost 12-21, 21-16, 9-21. I'm happy I played and I'm happy I'm not dead from playing singles.

3 singles matches already, 1 being 3 sets.. so that would equal 7 sets of badminton. But wait, it's only 2pm.. and IM NOT DONE YET! I still have 2 more doubles and a mixed left to go. This is going to be by far the longest tournament day of my life..

First round doubles was against Hugo Le Dorze (again) and Dominic Guzman (MB). I believe they are both U16. It was definitely a good match to have being my partner has been lounging around the venue and hasn't touched the bird yet. Final score: 21-5, 21-8.

Second round doubles... It's definitely me vs Manitoba this tournament.... I played Thoby Cameron and Nich Rush. The first game went by relatively well but the end of the 2nd game, they were really picking up the pace and really caught both Kyle and I off guard. It end pretty tight in the 2nd game. 21-11, 21-17.

5 games down, 1 more to go! Mixed doubles.. Before I start with my game, let me clear up some changes that occurred in the draw right above me. At first I was suppose to play Sam Parrish and Kristin Szuminsky at 630pm. Now apparently Badminton Canada has forgotten to add another mixed pair, Ardy Wiranata and Christina Guiffre (AB), into the draw and Badminton Canada just so happened to put them in last minute above me to play Sam and Kristin (MB) and then Melody and I will play the winner. SO.. Sam Parrish, unfortunately his ankle was hurting.. he was last second substituted by Nich Rush, so Nich Rush and Kristin played Ardy and Christina. They played their match at 630pm and I was pushed back to the last match of the day to play at 730pm... GREEAAATTTT...........

Ardy Wiranata, for those who do not know him... he is former #1 world singles champion and even former world jr champ for mixed doubles! He's indonesian and is super tricky. He beat me last year, first round doubles with Darren Hong (AB) at the 2009 National Champs. I already beat Darren after at the U23 Nationals but I still havent gotten my revenge on Ardy!! This time, I'm ready!!

We started our match and Melody and I came out playing strong. Christina was the weakest on the court so most of the shuttles did zoom by her way. First game Melody and I played a lot to Christina and won hands down. Second game, I played a bit more to Ardy and eventually came through winning the match in 2 games! I admire Ardy's efforts in diving for the bird multiple times and bouncing back up with a smile! The day has ended, 21-11, 21-11.

Now for the tournament. Steve Smith (AB), the fan favourite, pulled out some serious singles defeating Tommy McKee 16-21, 21-10, 21-18! He then impressed us all some more by taking down Richard Liang 23-21, 22-20. Unfortunately his reign of terror was stopped cold by up and coming Martin Guiffre, 21-8, 21-14.

Tim Ma (BC) was taken down by Mark Docksteader (AB), 18-21, 22-20, 21-12 but Mark didn't seem to have enough gas after losing to Joseph Rogers (ON), the 3/4 seed.

Tommy McKee and Kevin Lee (ON), the 3/4 seed, was upsetted first round by Phillipe Charron and Pieric Langlais Gagne (QC). Final score was 26-24, 21-14.

For the mixed doubles, competition was very fierce today! Martin Guiffre and Kathleen Lougheed of Alberta lost to Francois Bourret and Florence Lavoie (QC) in three, 21-13, 20-22, 21-13.

Alvin Lau and Fiona McKee (BC/AB), the 3/4 seed, had an exciting game against Nyl Yakura and Christin Tsai (ON/BC). Alvin and Fiona were down late in the 2nd game but ended up victorious. Watch out for Alvin's flick serve!! Final score, 21-7, 21-18.

On the court next to theirs was Adrian Liu and Michelle Li (BC/ON) against Darren Hong and Stephanie Ko (AB/BC). Adrian and Michelle were the pair favored to win but came out short 21-18, 21-19! It was a true nail biter! Darren had an amazing lucky shot from the back which hit the tape and bounced over to put them at match point, 20-18!

Good quarter-final games to watch tomorrow:

Men's Singles - Martin Guiffre (AB) vs Joseph Rogers (ON)

Women's Singles - Christin Tsai (BC) vs Joycelyn Ko (ON)

Men's Doubles - Alvin Lau (BC)/Jon Vandervet (AB) vs Darren Hong (AB)/ Richard Liang (BC) ---THIS WILL BE THE GRUDGE MATCH!! ALVIN VS RICHARD!!!

Men's Doubles - Kyle Holoboff (BC)/Derrick Ng (BC.. me..) vs Maxime Belanger/Francois Bourret (QC)(The Canadian Thomas Cup doubles pair)

Mixed Doubles - Alvin Lau (BC)/Fiona McKee (AB) vs Darren Hong (AB)/ Steph Ko (BC)

Mixed Doubles - Tim Ma/Lydia Jiang (BC) vs Derrick Ng/Melody Liang (BC)

Well it's time for me to sleep and rest up! Thanks for reading and good luck to those who survived today's competition!

There's a new President in the house!

Badminton Canada Player's AGM was today. Like I said before, the main importance of this meeting is to elect a new President and Vice President to represent the player's association.

So here it is:

President: Derrick Ng (ME! MUHAHAHAHAHA... ok just kidding on the evil laugh..)

VP: Fiona McKee

Committee Members: Stephan W., Alvin L, Pieric L-G, Phillipe C.

Okay, so I'll be leaving for Winnipeg tonight to compete in the National Championships!

For those going, here's the weather conditions for the next few days and the walking directions since some of you may be walking from the tournament hotel to the winter club.

Click to enlarge.

You can simply print this image if you need to.

I also believe the WWC is not all white! They do have a cafeteria for food and drinks so you wont have to worry about walking around in the cold!

Team Canada: There is a press conference being held at the Winnipeg Winter Club from 12:00pm-1:30pm, Wednesday, Jan 27. I'm sure most of you has gotten the email from Kyle Hunter. For those wondering what you will be doing if attending, it will mostly be some quick interviews, pictures, etc. from the local media.

All Players: Very important, the 2010 Players AGM will be held at 4:00pm at the Winnipeg Winter Club. Please meet in the WWC lobby at 3:55pm. The agenda for this event will be:

• Roll call at 4 pm (5 min)
• Presidents Message (10 min)
• Review of HPC activities for 2009 and agenda for 2010 (20 min)
• Review of 2009 AAP criteria and National Team Criteria (20 min)
• Elections/confirmations of BCPA Council positions (10 min)
• Open Discussion (25 min)
• AGM adjourned at 530pm
• A short meeting of BCPA Council will follow, or as time permits during Nationals

Most important for this year's meeting is the election. There are more than 1 position available. If interested, please contact William Milroy before the meeting.

I think that's about it. For all the competitors going, have a safe arrival and good luck!

Draws are out!

Men's Singles: Here

Women's Singles: Here

Men's Doubles: Here

Women's Doubles: Here

Mixed Doubles: Here

2010 Yonex Canadian Badminton National Championships

Nationals are just around the corner. Starting next week Thursday, Jan 28-30! Time seem to have flown by. Feeling more and more ready each day! I will be playing all 3 events, doubles with Kyle and mixed with Melody. There are a number of good teams this year and am feeling a bit nervous.. Well, a bit nervous is always good I guess. Nothing really to do about it but to go out and give it my best!

This year the tournament is held in Winnipeg, MB, at the WWC. Draws are still not out yet which is rather disappointing...

I've been training like a dog the past week... 6 hard days of intense speed work and drills! Let's hope the pain was worth it!

Badminton Canada's Greatest Mystery: The Pink Panther

He is known as the pink panther. He mysteriously shows up to various badminton tournaments and training sessions across Canada... He has even appeared overseas watching International Tournaments!! He's been in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal, and more!

He is a self-proclaim #1 in badminton with his dragon arm and his fast footwork!

Who is this Pink Panther? Is his name really John? Did he really inherit a fortune and just travels around to tournament to tournament, city to city?

Please, leave me your story of the pink panther! Maybe together we can figure out who he really is!

For now, here is a video of the one and only teaching us all some dance moves!! This was filmed tonight!

Burgoo

Fitness test today... I felt pretty mediocre doing it. I definitely dont think I did as well as I did before during the summer. Videos and test results will be posted as soon as they get emailed to me from CSC Pacific.

In the meantime, I went to Burgoo tonight with my girlfriend. For those who have not heard of this restaurant, it is a small, cozy restaurant with a warm, casual atmosphere. They do not take reservations so I did have to wait around 15-20 minutes before I got a table.

Here's what we ordered:

Winter Feature: Smoked Cheddar with Spinach Fondue ($13). This came with some sliced apples, grapes, and grape tomatoes. The cheese fondue was tasty but was more creamy than cheesy.

Main: Ratatouille Provençale ($13): The tomatoes, which was the main ingredient, was a bit too sour for me. Maybe they didnt >add enough sugar but when eaten with the sprinkle of goat cheese they added, it was delicious. I wish they had more cheese!

Main: Chicken Caesar Clubhouse w/soup ($14): This sandwich was quite big once stacked together! It also came with some bacon which was fantastic. Who doesn't like bacon?!!

Soup: Sunset Corn and Chicken: The soup was by far the best tasting part of the meal. It was very hearty and Burgoo did not cheap out on the chicken. Lime + Cream + Cilantro can usually never go wrong. Adding some cumin spice was the extra kick that made the soup all that much better! Very tasty, but the soup does get a bit salty and spicy in your mouth fast. Water was helpful!

Service: Service was found when needed. Food came fast. Unfortunate that they do not reserve tables cuz sometimes I hate waiting for good food. Really sucks when you're hungry, standing, and watching people eat this food which smells so delicious.

Burgoo

4434 W. 10th Ave

Vancouver

Derrick's rank: 4/5

Team Canada fitness test tomorrow. Beep test, agility test, sprint test, vertical jump test, etc... FML

Back to training

After 2 days of being sick, it was time to go back to training. I started yesterday (sunday the 10th) and was surprised with a gift of being able to train on the new "VIP" court at ClearOne Browngate (ClearTwo). This VIP court is the only court at ClearOne Browngate (C1B) with a wood floor underneath so it was quite comfortable on the knees! We did some mixed doubles drills, some doubles defense, 2vs1 box game, 3vs2 doubles.. and before i knew it, 3 hours was up and training was over.. I cant remember a session of training going by so fast! Feeling for some more, I ended my day with some squats on the bosu ball (half yoga ball). If you havent tried it, it's quite difficult at first, but gets a LOT easier as your muscles adapt.

Here's my bosu squat routine if you want to compare with me!
3 sets of 8 reps w/ olympic bar (45lbs) plus 25lbs on each side. bosu ball is UPSIDE DOWN meaning the curve part is on the ground and the flat part is facing up. Do as fast as you can with the most control. You DO NOT want to be doing this sloppily because it IS hard on the joints!

This morning, Monday, Jan 11, morning training with the ClearOne Badminton Academy (COBA) continues. I worked a lot on my mid court backhand. I have a bad habit of bringing my racket back and was taking too big of a swing so I had to really focus on reaching out early and taking a quick/shorter stroke. In the end =\ it still needs work...

After we played 2vs1 singles up to 11 points. RULES: If the 1 beats the 2, the 2 bends down at the net and the 1 gets 6 birds to WAIL at their asses!! I played first against Terrence and Steve. I won and got to peg Terrence pretty hard! hahaha!! Since I won, I played the 2 again but this time they had 2 point handicap to 11... I won.. AGAIN... WAILING TIME! Too bad this time i was pretty tired... missed most of my 6 shots.... ARG! Played one more time.. but now they had 4 points handicap!! I tried.. but loss.. and it was time to go. Till the next training session.. which so happens to be in 4 hours..

LUNCH: Okay for those who do not know, I LOVE FOOD! I love eating and I love cooking! But with being an athlete, I have to be preettttyyy careful about the foods I eat. I cant go and eat my favourite food everyday, the poutine... cuz I'd die of a heart-attack at age 25. SO, I've gotten to make myself like healthy foods! One of the easiest dish to make is, of course, the salad. You CANT mess up a salad (unless you're whitespot)!! But here's a quick recipe I put together!

Derrick's lunch salad

- 6 full leaves Romaine Lettuce

- 1 whole tomato chopped

- 1/4 english cucumber sliced

- 1 good derrick size handful of red kidney beans

- 2 hard boiled eggs

- 1 piece skinless, boneless chicken breast

- 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar or marble cheese

- honey mustard

1- Start boiling the eggs first cuz for perfect hard-boil eggs, it takes 17 minutes exact according to Julia Child!

2- During this time, I defrost my frozen chicken boob in the microwave. takes around 6 minutes..

3- Now while those 2 things are doing their thing, start washing your vegetables!

4- Hand rip the Lettuce to a bite size of your liking

5- Chop tomatoes, Slice Cucumbers

6- Add lettuce onto a big plate, followed by cucumbers and tomatoes and the hand full of beans!

7- Start a hot pan going with some sort of vegetable oil. While that is heating up, I cut up the chicken into smaller pieces. I then toss the chicken into the pan and I add a bit of water. As the chicken starts to cook, I throw around a teaspoon of soy sauce and around a tablespoon of sesame seeds. Do not cover! Let water evaporate!

8- While the chicken is being cooked, I cut up 1/2 cup of cheese and grate it over the salad.

9- Eggs should be ready now! Get em out of the boiling water and into some cold water! (nobody likes a salad with hot eggs)

10- Crack and put into a bowl of cold water

11- Finish cooking the chicken.. usually when there's no more water in the pan. Place the chicken on top of the salad and squirt on some honey mustard!

Here's wut my salad looked like:

Well, this picture from my phone doesnt do it much justice but hell, this salad was bloody delicious!!

Well after chowing down on that and an orange.. it was time to go back to training. Played some box game against Nathan. Each box set was for 5 birds of wailing to the ass! Hell, you DONT want to lose if that's the punishment!! Lucky Nathan is skinny... hard to hit! lol!! After a little fun, Nathan and I did 20 sets, 12 birds, mid to back court attack. He would go, then I would go, non stop... it was pretty hard being you had to go BALLS out everytime it was your turn. After played some horrible doubles cuz i was pretty done. Thank god for my protein shake because we had to do weights afterwards. I did more of my bosu ball squats and some bench.

I quickly strung up my heavy training racket afterwards and headed out to Vancouver Racquets Club (VRC) so I could hit with Kyle and Duncan.. Played 2 fullcourt vs1 halfcourt box again. I played 2vs1 but I had full court.. If i won, i'd get to hit 12 birds with them bent over against the wall! I won 25-23! Started whipping some birds and I broke a string!! UGGH!! Oh well.. Did some more fullcourt 1vs1 to 7points box to end my day..

4 sessions today.. Feeling preeetttyyy dead... and YES.. it's DINNER TIME!

Sick Day :(

What unfortunate timing.. I woke up this morning with a pretty bad sore throat. I could barely talk and was coughing/sneezing up phlegm. Just the thought of trying to train was unbearable so I quickly texted my coaches and was told not to return till I'm 100%.

More to come later. Breakfast time!

Okay, back from breakfast! Since I'm not feeling the greatest, I had a clear vegetable soup, an orange and a grapefruit with plain yogurt with sunflower seeds on top. I also took 4 chinese herbal pills, 'Natural XiaoYanLing', which claim it can "clear away heat and toxic material". Let's see if it helps!

But back to a little badminton history about myself. For those who know me, I am definitely not the fittest player out there. From what I can gather, I am described as a talented player who can bring variety and speed to the game. I have only started training the amount of hours posted below for a couple of weeks so of course my fitness still lacks quite a bit. When I was 18 (the year I won my first nationals) I was only training on average twice a week, 3 hours each session. And yes, I have been pretty much doing those twice a week training for the past 3-4 years.

Now you may ask, why only twice a week? How does one improve by only training 6 hours in one week?!!?
WHY: After graduating high school, I was enrolled to attend Langara College in September. My dad told me he wanted me to take this entrance exam to get into the Electrical Apprenticeship Program just to see how I would do. My exam was near the end of July. I passed with a 92% and was called in to get an interview. Apparently, since I've never used a tool in my life before, I was given a "NO" and was not allowed to go into their Pre-Apprenticeship course. Having my father working at Western Pacific Enterprises (one of the biggest electrical contractors in BC) for around 25-26 years, the company hired me and put me to work as green and newb as one can be. I had no idea what kind of work I was going to do but thank you sweet Jesus I was a quick learner and was good with working with my hands. Ever since the beginning of August 2005, I have been working full-time, 40 hours a week as much as I could till now. This is the first time I have been actually laid off.
So, why did I only train twice a week?? As an apprentice electrician, I work on construction sites. I've worked on, to name a few, Surrey City Central, ICORD, Canada Line, Skytrain, and BC Place. Contruction hours start from 7:00am-3:20pm with some job sites starting at 6:30am-2:50pm. A lot of physical labour is involved and I have to say, even training those 2 sessions a week.. it was very difficult to find that drive to just go out and give whatever left I had to train.

HOW: Training 6 hours a week, how did I get better? I'm not 100% sure but I'll tell you what I did do. I truely believe the mental part of badminton is extremely important. Your mind controls what your body does so it is very important to train mentally as well as training physically. When I was not playing badminton, I often imagine myself playing. But not playing as myself. I would imagine if I was Tony Gunawan. But why stop there? I imagined I was playing as Kim Dong Moon, Chandra Wijaya, and so on and so on.. I imagined myself doing what I liked about them. That I was playing the front court as well as Tony, playing the control/technical game like Kim, and forcefully charging in with a super hard drive like Chandra. If you can understand that these people are just human.. that they were not born with supernatural badminton powers... and that if you visualize yourself doing these things and to push yourself to their level, you will be amazed how fast your game will improve.
Just ask yourself next time, if I swing exactly as Koo Kien Keat does to do a cross court drive, and I time it exactly as he does, shouldnt I be able to do a cross court drive? Maybe I'm not as strong as he is right now, but power can be achieved easier and faster than skill IMO.
So go on youtube and watch local tournaments! Start visualizing your potential!

The First Post!

Hey everybody! My name is Derrick and I am a Canadian Badminton Player. I am currently on the National Team and am training for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. The purpose of this blog is to raise awareness of the day to day life of a Canadian Badminton Player struggling to reach his dream. This blog will contain a lot of my training activities, my nutritional plan, random thoughts and even how my body is feeling with the amount and quality of training.

So...... Here's a brief summary about myself. I'm 22 years young and have been playing badminton since I was a child. I never really got any good until I was 18. Ever since, I have been one of the top doubles/mixed players in Canada for my age. I have won 4 Jr. National titles in the past 2 years and am still hunting that Open Nationals title. As of right now I am training at least a minimum of 28 hours a week and could even be training a solid 40+ hours depending on extra training with my national's doubles partner, Kyle, and extra weight sessions.

Well, since I'm a little bored of typing, here's a bunch of quick facts:

• Name: Derrick Ng
• Hometown: Vancouver, BC
• Occupation: Apprentice Electrician
• How could he be training that much plus be an apprentice electrician??: I got laid off because I wanted to start training more and had to take too much time off to travel.
• Relationship Status: Taken by Sena
• Sibling(s): Older brother, Toby. He plays badminton as well
• Weight/Height: 160lbs
• Training Facilities: ClearOne Badminton Centre, Gold's Gym @ Riverport
• Coaches: Darryl Yung, Bobby Milroy, Ronne Runtalalo, Sandiarto
• Sponsor: Yonex Canada
• Academy: COBA (ClearOne Olympic Badminton Academy)
• Racquet: Yonex ArcSaber10
• Strings: Training (Yonex BG65) Competition (Yonex BG80)
• String Tension: Main: 28lbs, Cross: 30lbs
• Event: Men's Doubles, Mixed Doubles

Hours of Training:
This is how many hours I am training each day as of right now. Of course, when I get back to work, my training hours will change.
Each day has at least 2 sessions and these hours do not include my extra training with Kyle and does not include my weight lifting sessions:

• Sunday: 2 hours + 3 hours
• Monday: 2 hours + 2 hours
• Tuesday: 2 hours + 3 hours
• Wednesday: 2 hours + 2 hours + 2 hours
• Thurday: 2 hours + 2 hours
• Friday: 2 hours + 2 hours
• Saturday: Day of rest! Hallelujah!!

Well, I guess this is enough for now. I will fill you guys in as I blog along so things will make more sense.. hopefully. Good night and thanks for reading!