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!