Jeff Tho, National Senior Coach at Badminton Australia is someone who is used to dealing with adversity, challenge and change. Jeff has represented Australia at Commonwealth Games 2010 & 2014, as well as coaching at the most recent World Championships in 2019. Jeff found himself in a unique situation where he was able to coach during Melbourne’s multiple lockdowns, however it wasn’t as easy as rocking up to the courts and training.

“The tricky part of training during the lockdowns was the fact that planning wasn’t really a realistic option. What I mean is that we could plan but the chance that things would change between Monday and Wednesday was very high and so I found it fairly frustrating when we had to change things last minute”. Jeff went on “It wasn’t only frustrating for me but also for the players because they had to deal with these last minute cancellations or limitations on numbers of players allowed to attend. Ultimately it showed us how lucky we have been in being able to train the way we had before, and, that overall we were lucky to train full stop because there were plenty of athletes that were unable to train at all”

Another challenge that arose during 2020 was the lack of tournaments and opportunities to compete outside of the training group. Not a problem unique to badminton at all but a problem not ever experienced by many, “I tried to keep focused on what we were working on so that it didn’t get too repetitive for the players. We mixed up the sessions so that there was a bit more variety when it came to training, but as a whole it did begin to feel a bit repetitive after a while. Rather than just let that simmer we went to the players directly for their thoughts and how they thought we could improve their training. They came back with some great solutions that helped us get through a tough period and helped motive them more, but now we’re on the other side and things are looking up”

After going through that period Jeff was pretty clear on key learnings that he took away after some reflection, and these ideas can be applied to any coach at any level. “For me three tips for developing and improving after looking back at 2020 are to trust your instincts when it comes to what’s important for the athletes. Even though 2020 was different, the goals don’t change, so you just need to adapt. Being open to feedback and grabbing ideas from other coaches as well as asking your athletes is key to progressing your skills as a coach. We’re not all born with coaching knowledge, the great coaches are great learners who are constantly filling up their toolkits, and to always be learning is to always be improving. Finally, asking for help when you need it, the sign of a great coach is someone who knows when they’re out of their depth and need some help, so never be afraid to ask”.

Jeff is looking forward continuing to work with many of the high performance athletes and all now have an eye to tournaments returning, both within Australia and internationally.

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Contact

Badminton Australia

admin@badminton.org.au

Level 2 Sports House

375 Albert Rd, Albert Park VIC 3206

As part of the new High Performance System for Australian Badminton, Badminton Australia are delighted to announce our first intake of athletes to be part of the National Senior Program and National Development Program and become Australia’s first ‘Australian Badminton Falcons’ and ‘Australian Badminton Junior Falcons’.

Please note that that Selection Committees determined to not fill all available positions. The selectors are very keen to reward athletes that produce strong results and the remaining places will be filled via a second intake during 2021 once more results are able to be considered.

Congratulations to the following players, their coaches and clubs being accepted into the first intake for 2021:

National Senior Program

 National Development Program

The Badminton community can support the Falcons by becoming a ‘Falcons Supporter’ all proceeds go to supporting the Falcons, Junior Falcons and Para Falcons – click here for more information – https://form.jotform.com/203453579034860

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Contact

Badminton Australia

admin@badminton.org.au

Level 2 Sports House

375 Albert Rd, Albert Park VIC 3206

After a year of no international competition our first Australian players ventured overseas to Thailand to take part in the first BWF tournaments, the YONEX Thailand Open and TOYOTA Thailand Open.

Gronya Somerville and Setyana Mapasa were required to isolate themselves for the duration of the tournament with limited outside time.

You can follow the full results at tournament software or watch the event replays on BWF TV.

You can check out how both of them spent their spare time on their social media pages, @gronyasommerville and @setyanam.

Photo Credit: BadmintonPhoto

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Contact

Badminton Australia

admin@badminton.org.au

Level 2 Sports House

375 Albert Rd, Albert Park VIC 3206

As part of the implementation of the new High Performance System for Australia please note the following Selection Committee appointments. You can find out more about the new High Performance System for Australia by clicking here and the Badminton Australia Selection Policy can be found by clicking here.

Senior Program and Senior Teams Selection Committee

Ashley Naumann (Chair)

Andrew Surman (3 year appointment)

Renuga Veeran (2 year appointment)

Ken Hoppen (1 year appointment)

Stuart Brehaut (National Head coach)

Development Program and Junior Teams Selection Committee

Ashley Naumann (Chair)

Mathew Chau (3 year appointment)

Renuga Veeran (2 year appointment)

Brandon Olver (1 year appointment)

The Committees shall select players into the national programs and for national teams. These are important roles for the success of Badminton into the future and we would like to thank everyone who put their names forward to be considered for the Committees.

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Contact

Badminton Australia

admin@badminton.org.au

Level 2 Sports House

375 Albert Rd, Albert Park VIC 3206

To watch click here – https://youtu.be/UiTb-2NRoZk

The 15th of December 2020 marks a significant day for Badminton in Australia with the launch of a new brand for Badminton Australia and the state & territory associations, a new tagline for badminton in Australia, an official team for Australian Badminton teams, a new mascot and a new website focused at three segments of badminton.

Attending the event were key badminton community members, stakeholders, partners, administrators and supporters of badminton. In a unique twist the launch was performed on Zoom, in line with the tone of 2020, and was a smooth and successful launch.

Badminton Australia’s new logo, Falcons mascot and Australian Badminton Falcons logo

At 2pm on the 15th of December, 2020 ABC News Breakfast host Georgie Tunny MC’d the launch of the new brand walking the audience through the swathe of new additions to badminton.  Minister for Sport, and longtime badminton fan, the Honorable Richard Colbeck was excited to be part of the launch. He cut the proverbial tape making the brand official for Badminton Australia and the state and territory associations.

Gronya Somerville and Julian Lee represented the players and launched The Australian Badminton Falcons along with the new mascot to the community. Gronya said of the new Badminton Falcons brand that “It’s going to bring the badminton community together” and that it “will be a great change going forward, putting badminton up with the other larger sports”. Julian was asked by Georgie about his goals and what it means to represent Australia with a new brand. He said “I’m excited and will be extremely proud to represent my country internationally” before revealing the new Falcons mascot.

Logos of State’s & Territories along with the new tagline, Let’s Play

Badminton Australia President Andrew Greenway presented the new tagline for badminton, “Let’s Play”. He reflected on the journey badminton had undertaken over the last decade and was positive that big things were to come for badminton. The new brand and the tagline “Let’s Play” was designed to reflect the contemporary and progressive approach for Badminton Australia going forward.

Rounding out the presentation was CEO Jamie Parsons who spoke of how bringing together the country under the new branding, tagline and website was an extremely positive step forward for badminton. Jamie said “Along with the new brand, Badminton Australia will be releasing a new strategic plan to take us through to 2032” and that “the release of the new brand, the new pathway and new era for badminton will inspire the 12 years olds of today who will be competing at a potential home games in 2032”.

You can watch the full launch here – https://youtu.be/UiTb-2NRoZk

Australia’s aspiring Olympian, Louisa Ma, spent the latter half of 2019 travelling around the world, collecting qualification points for the Road to Tokyo 2020; breaking into the world’s top 100 for the first time in November 2019.

However, the 25-year-old spent more than half of 2020 in one of Australia’s worst hit hotspots – Melbourne.

“I haven’t stepped foot in a gym for about six months. Thankfully, there have been a couple of times that I was granted permission to attended a badminton session”, says Louisa.Little did Louisa know that in the month’s following her silver podium finish at the VICTOR Oceania Championships 2020, she would have very limited access to badminton courts due to a global health pandemic.

Tired after spending the previous year scrambling around the world, lockdown had a silver lining – an opportunity to rest and recover. However, the isolation and time away from friends came with a price.

“It was a good chance to recover from some small issues I’ve been having. However, there are a lot of things I’ve missed during lockdown, like more court time, seeing friends and just getting out and about.

“But humans are resilient and it’s amazing to see how so many people have moved to adapt to our current conditions”

“There has been a big emphasis on maintaining the human connection and being stuck at home has allowed for people to ‘slow down’, spend more time with family, call and check in with friends and a focus on maintaining mental health”

As experienced by several other athletes across the world, the forever changing status of COVID-19 made it hard to stick to a routine. While players like Oliver Leydon-Davis (New Zealand) turned to books and methods of positive self-talk, Louisa trialed various routines to find the perfect balance between work, home-based trainings and video calling friends to keep morale high.

“The restrictions changed frequently, which was frustrating. However, living in Melbourne, I’ve had the opportunity to try out many different routines by now, so I know how to conduct my week and figure out what sorts of things work well for me”, says Louisa

Para badminton player, Celine Vinot, also live in Melbourne and shared similar frustrations to Louisa. After making fast progressions in Oceania’s Para badminton space, Vinot struggled to capitalise on her momentum – but a sponsorship deal managed to keep her motivated

Last week, Victoria celebrated a significant drop in COVID-19 cases resulting in relaxing laws and border controls. Both players are ‘looking forward to’ and feeling optimistic about a prompt return to the court.