Hey there, I don't play in Sacramento very much but why don't you drop me a PM and we can discuss. Are you able to make it to Vacaville sometimes?
You can get your racquet strung at Racquet Solutions, 2326 Fair Oaks Blvd Ste A. Phone 916-646-6745. same day service.
I'd like to know of one too. I currently have an unstrung Cab20 that i'm looking to get done with nanogy that i will provide. @RacquetStringer Does Racquet Solutions do badminton rackets too? The store seems to be tennis only.
Davis is fairly close to Vacaville so if you want to venture out there on Sunday morning, we can discuss what string, tension, etc you are wanting. FYI, I've been stringing rackets for the past 10 years and I was a member of the UCD Badminton club. Are you in the club as well?
Yes, we do sell and service badminton gear. We also do racquetball and squash. We have a few cool racquets in stock, and shuttlecocks. We'd love to make contact with more badminton players. Come on in and check us out. We've also opened a new location in Gold River, if you find yourself in that neighborhood.
@RacquetStringer I actually went to Jesuit High School (Class of 08), which is situated on Fair Oaks, so I'm pretty familiar with the area. I might stop by and take a look sometime during the summer. I've been looking for somewhere in the general area to get B-ton supplies besides the ARC at Davis. Sadly, the Sacramento region is sorely lacking in badminton anything, whether it be stores, gyms, etc. @Norcalstringer I actually do attend UCD currently, just finished my freshman year this past week. I've thought about joining UCDBC, but the only drawback with the club is they primarily in Hickey Gym, which has particularly slippery floors, worse than even the Pavilion had Plus I wanted to try out the Davis Open men's singles/doubles B, which would entail me not being on a badminton club or team. And there is no way I could compete at the A level since I've only been playing since september. But I digress... I don't think I will be in the Davis area til maybe September/start of the new year. I'm not in too much of a rush to get the Cab strung, so perhaps I'll wait until I can get you to string it. What kind of a machine do you use?
I don't know the exact model but I use an upright Alpha stringing machine with a crank tensioning system. Sorry to hear that the Hickey Gym is slippery. I used to love playing at Hickey when the floors weren't really slippery. I heard that they play at the ARC too although I've never been there. If I'm understanding you correctly, you're not allowed to play B singles/doubles if you're on a team or in a club?
Yea. Most of the tournaments are split into 3 levels, AA, A, and B • AA designed for highly skilled, competitive teams/individuals that may have any number of "experienced" players on the team roster. • A designed for above average skilled, competitive teams/individuals, that may have only a specified number of "experienced" players on the team roster(the maximum is two experienced players for team sports, individual/dual sports will vary by sport) • B designed for average skilled, competitive teams/individuals that cannot have any "experienced" players on the roster. 1. "Experienced Athletes" may compete in the sport where they are "experienced" as stipulated in the rules for that activity. The term "experienced" refers to former intercollegiate athletes, current intercollegiate athletes, club athletes, and professional athletes. The term "experienced" will expire two years after the athlete has played in his/her last intercollegiate, club, or professional contest. At this point, he/she is no longer considered "experienced." 2. The term "former intercollegiate athlete" refers to any player who has used one year of athletic eligibility at a four-year institution according to NCAA rules. 3. The term "current intercollegiate athlete" refers to any player who is on the coaches' list of a men's or women's intercollegiate team at the time of the first intramural game or first intercollegiate contest in the current academic year (including athletes who are red-shirting). 4. The term "club athlete" refers to any individual who has participated for, or is currently participating on, a competitive sport club team at a four-year institution. 5. The term "professional" refers to any individual who has participated as a professional or semi-professional in a sport. *NOTE: Once a participant appears on a Sport Club or ICA roster he/she immediately becomes an experienced player for that like sport.*
So to break it down in terms of badminton... Experienced refers to anyone who has competed in collegiate club competition, collegiate team competition (I don't think we have an official school team), or has played professionally either currently or in the past two years. So for B, no experienced players allowed. So even though I'm newbie, if I joined badminton club, I'd most likely not be allowed to play. For A, at most one experienced player. So for singles, that means anyone can play, and for doubles, only one of the pair at most can be experienced. I think AA is only used for doubles, though I'm not particularly sure, where both partners can be "experienced." Though I wouldn't be surprised if its split into AA and A, AA for experienced "experienced" and A for newbie "experienced." And there's mixed doubles, men and womens doubles and singles. And yes, unfortunately, the Hickey gyms are old, dirty, dusty, and slippery. Even the best badminton shoes need a good wipe down before playing. But the MAC room at the ARC has much better flooring, but 2 less courts, and has to face competition from the much more popular indoor soccer, which really cuts into the prime badminton playing hours. And the pavilion is currently being remodeled as well.
Thanks for the explanation It's been sometime since I played at a UCD tournament. Are there other levels aside from A, AA, and B? What happened to C & D?
Unfortunately, even though some players here seem godly to my inexperienced eyes (which places LD, PG, and LCW in the realm of unreachable), apparently our best are only maybe B level, so our so called AA level would really be appropriate for a B level or maybe not even A level player in the bay area. And thankfully the davis open tournament is held in the gym, so there are much more courts available for that period, with much better flooring. No rubber mats, but at least its not slippery.
We don't have a traditional A/B/C/D/E level system. The badminton around here is very poor. I only found out about the traditional system through BCF. The AA/A/B system is unique to the UCD sports programs and tournaments for students, though players from other cities are more than welcome.
What you are referring to is the Arc's Annual Badminton tournament in which there are only A and B levels of play. The UC Davis Badminton Club holds two tournaments a year (Fall and Spring Open) which are organized under the A/B/C/D system. It is one of the largest (if not the largest) badminton tournaments in Northern California. Perhaps the badminton around the Arc is poor, but certainly not the entire University.
I see. Sorry for that. T-T my bad for the mess up. Do you have to be a member of the club to participate in the Opens?
Nope, anybody can participate in the opens. A note about the Hickey Gym floors: the club does its best to sweep and clean the floors before practice, but unfortunately they are preceded by the Fencing Club and the dozens of other groups that use the facility before them, who apparently love to track dirt and dust into the gym and not clean up afterwards. Oh and one finally note to keep this thread on topic, the UCD Badminton Club does have its own stringer, so when you come back for the school year you will have somebody local for your stringing needs. PM me or come to one of the practices for more info.
