Birds Were Flying at Humber College

One of my daily responsibilities at the Star is always checking in with the Sports Department, and especially when I am away from the office, just to keep the folks informed of what I am covering and things happening on the high school beat.

So, I called Associate Sports Editor Brian McAndrew the other day and told him I was taking a few hours - to watch people hit birds. Brian is a smart guy and didn't fall for my play on words. He knew right away that I was talking about the plastic birds (some people use the term "shuttlecock") in the sport of badminton - and the Toronto District School Board citywide championships being hosted by Humber College.

I didn't stay for all of the more than 10 hours of competition, but saw some very exciting games and great talent. Not to mention a headache from watching all those birds flew back and forth.

Bosco Lau, a Grade 9 student at Albert Campbell Collegiate, shrugged off an opening loss to win the boys' singles title. In the girls' singles, Northern's Christl Cheng rallied in a come-from-behind win over Jackson's Nikki Chen. The rest of the results are in the Star.

For the folks who shrug their shoulders and say anyone can play badminton, I would certainly like to see them go against some of these youngsters - many who have competed at the national level in various events. It was easy to see why Toronto badminton players have won medals at six of the past seven Ontario high school championships.

That's impressive, especially since more than two million Canadians play badminton for recreation and it is one of the few sports taught in every provincial school system in Canada. The history of the game dates back more than a 100 years in this country, and Canada was a founding member of the International Badminton Federation in 1934.

All in all, it was a pretty good day for 'bird' watching at Humber.

Oh yes, my headache is much better.

Comments

[Mr. H. Wong]

Badminton is a sport that gets ignored by the media. You are one of the few who would take time to give badminton some newspaper attention. On behalf of those who play, coach and watch the sport, I would like to thank you for what you do.

[D. Lui]

Give Bosco Lau more credit than just being a rookie. I guess he is because of being in grade 9 but he's a very good player and will be a school Ontario champs in the coming years.

[Christopher]

I really do believe that badminton is one of those high school sports that needs to go. Mr. Grossman, you raised that subject in a few previous blogs. Badminton is like flag football and frisbee and bunch of others. Play it at lunch maybe but it's a club or recreational sport. It's a waste of time in high schools and think of how much money is being spent by the public for teachers taking off from the classroom to stand around and supervise when the majority of them don't even know the rules or care.

[Brother Sandro]

Maybe if some readers of your newspaper got a book and started to educate themselves they would understand the sport of badminton and that students have every right to play it and just like the other sports. I sense the people who are showing a lack of knowledge have never played the sport. It's an Olympic sport too.

[nigel]

Not sure why Christopher picks on badminton in this case. It's an olympic sport that requires power, endurance and hand-eye coordination (when smashed, the bird travels at an initial speed of up to 200 mph). The "backyard" stereotype? Who knows. Anyway, thanks for the balanced article & look forward to follow-up after Ofsaas in Stratford.