Hi, I'm hopefully coming to do a PhD at Uni. of Alberta in Oct. and was wondering what the standard of badminton was like in Edmonton, and if there is like a tournament circuit in Alberta/Canada.. I play at a reasonable standard, highest ranking was in 24th in England. This year currently 50th or so because of injury. So would be looking for people/tournaments of that sort of standard. Any ideas? Thanks people! Ewen
Hi Ewen, Welcome. You should be able to find some good places to play in Edmonton. There is a couple of circuit in Alberta (which is similar to BC) where you have the Provincials plus the Best of the West. You can check out http://www.badmintonalberta.ca/ for further information plus the National Training Centre for Badminton is located in Alberta (Calgary). Folks like cooler, John Luu, etc (Albertans) can probably give you more information.
Hey Ewen, I live in Edmonton and play badminton. There are a few places you can play here. If you were ranked 24th in England at one point in time, the only place you're going to get any badminton good enough for you is at one of the following places: Royal Glenora Club The Derrick Golf and Winter Club The Red Willow Club You can also play on the UofA campus, Friday's at 6 or 7pm at E-19(you can ask around if you come), but no really competitive players go there. If you do end up coming to Edmonton you can contact me and we can meet up to play. I've played some pretty competitive badminton, even been to England to play a few years back for the Leeds Jr and Wimbeldon Jr. In fact, I'm born in 82 as well, so if you were at either of those tourneys I might have seen you. I lost to Ediz Cakin at the Wimbeldon tourney. Anyway, get in touch if you come. Emmet Gibney egibney@hotmail.com
hi ewen, the clubs listed by egibney are appropriate and close to edmonton. If u feel like doing some competiting, the Alberta Series would be most suitable. I suggest u buy a Badminton Alberta membership card if u plan to play more than 2 sanctioned tournaments/year. http://www.badmintonalberta.ca/home.htm
Cooler, I'm impressed. You know about badminton in Canada AND New Zealand......how does that work?! You replied to my post about places to play in canada, and places to play in New Zealand. In case you were wondering, I haven't decided whether I'm doing my PhD in Canada or NZ yet. So where are you from and how come you know about both?! Ewen