Where to play in California - LA and San Francisco

Discussion in 'USA West' started by Karma, Nov 23, 2009.

  1. Karma

    Karma Regular Member

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    Hey,

    I'm a senior studying in Vancouver but looking to go to school in California (applying to UCLA, USC, UC Berkeley). Probably gonna end up going to Berkeley or USC. Being a devoted fan of badminton, I had a bunch of questions about badminton in California:

    How big a sport is Badminton California?
    Where can i play in California? (esp LA and around San Francisco)
    Who's and where's a good coach in California?
    Notable badminton players in California?
    How are California players ranked?
    Whether it is true Tony Gunawan and Howard Bach train in California?
     
  2. supralover23

    supralover23 Regular Member

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    Oh man, where to start? There's an essay that could be written, but for the sake of brevity:

    California is the badminton center of the US.

    As for playing, every school you're applying to has their own badminton team. This year, I'd rank them UCLA first, then Cal, then USC.

    If you want to play at clubs, SoCal has 3 major clubs (OCBC, SGVBC, and ABC), but all of those are going to require at least an hour to drive to from USC or UCLA.

    NorCal has a ton of clubs to play at all over the Bay Area. If you're applying to Cal, GGBC2 in Emeryville is the closest IIRC (about 10-15 minutes away), but there's close to 10 clubs within an hour drive.

    Every club in California has coaches. It really depends on what you're looking for, but almost every club has imported ex-national players from China/Indonesia/Vietnam/etc to coach.

    Howard and Tony train/play at OCBC.
     
    #2 supralover23, Nov 23, 2009
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2009
  3. Karma

    Karma Regular Member

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    OMG thank you so much Supralover23.

    Had no idea Badminton was so big in California (outrageously glad to hear that). Surprised it seems it's even bigger down there than up here.

    I ran a quick google search for MMBC but couldn't find it. Could i have the full name? And OCBC is pretty close by :D especially if those two American Badminton giants play there. And i'd better get into Cal if indeed badminton is so accessible.

    I've trained badminton seriously for about 3 years, train with some of the best coaches here in Vancouver and now provincially ranked so I'm looking for a legit coach.

    Thanks again, look forward to running into you in california maybe? haha Irvine?
     
  4. supralover23

    supralover23 Regular Member

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    MBBC = Manhattan Beach Badminton Club. Last I checked, they were membership based, so they didn't have drop in play, but that may have changed.

    OCBC may be closer, but it's going to be way more expensive for you than SGVBC or ABC. You also probably won't get to play with any of the national team members, at least not unless you're being coached.

    Which club did you train at up in Vancouver?
     
    #4 supralover23, Nov 23, 2009
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2009
  5. Karma

    Karma Regular Member

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    Well there are several badminton places up here in Vancouver that I train. There's ClearTwo Badminton and RichmondPro Badminton. I have a private coaches at each of these two centers. I also used to train at Vancouver Racquets Club but that became inconvenient as it was too far away.
     
  6. ctjcad

    ctjcad Regular Member

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    My 2 Canadian cents..

    - What major are you planning to study?
    - For UC school, go with Berkeley. Tops.
    - California is huge in badminton. It's like the China of professional badminton.
    - Tons of excellent coaches, equally spread out in NorCal as well as SoCal.
    - Concur with pretty much what supralover23 wrote. If you want easy access & lots of choices to full time baddy clubs while going to school, NorCal is the way to go. SoCal, you can have access but will take up your driving time.
    - USC is quite close to SGVBC but still will take you at least 30 min. to drive to and fro. OCBC is even farther to USC. MBBC will take you abt the same amt of time to SGVBC, maybe a bit longer (depends on traffic).
    - The last enticement of all, the U.S. Open badminton tourney is always held in SoCal (OCBC). So, if you want to watch it, live, you'll have easier access. Also, lots of Canadian players usually compete @ the U.S. Open.:cool:
     
  7. Karma

    Karma Regular Member

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    I'm looking to get into law after ugrad so pretty much anything is open to me. I'm looking at USC Marshall business or Berkeley L&S (complication with Haas, closed major for freshmen) Pretty much up for anything, get some good marks + LSAT -> Law.

    Is US open really in California? did not know that. This is freaking amazing. Never knew.. tbh always thought the US couldn't care less about badminton.
     
  8. supralover23

    supralover23 Regular Member

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    Yep, US Open is held annually at OCBC. Entry fees to watch are pretty absurdly high though, so some people just end up entering one event (singles, generally) so they can watch for the entire week.

    You'll also get people from NorCal driving down to watch/play, so chances are you'll be able to arrange a carpool.

    In general, the US doesn't care about badminton, at least not compared to the main sports (baseball, football, etc). Even darts, bowling, and billiards get more TV airtime. I actually think I've seen more spelling bees on ESPN than badminton. Rather depressing, if you think about it.
     
  9. ctjcad

    ctjcad Regular Member

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    - You could go to USC for your undergrad and then to UCLA for the post-grad (i heard from a friend, who is studying for her post-grad degree, it is arguably the top law school in SoCal)..;)
    - U.S. Open has been held @ OCBC for at least a decade (after the 1996 Olympics). They've held it in other venues/cities throughout its history (Long Beach was the 1st host in 1955. Then Fullerton, Manhattan Beach, Pasadena, Irvine, LMU & UCLA. Then prior to the 1996 Olympics, they held it in Atlanta). But yeah, SoCal has basically hosted this tourney throughout the majority of its history.
     
  10. Karma

    Karma Regular Member

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    I was actually thinking of going elsewhere for law. Say NYU law or Harvard or Yale (if i can get in miraculously). I don't like staying in one place for too long i guess.

    I should visit OCBC sometime then. If it's such a center of badminton attention.
     
  11. Joseph

    Joseph Regular Member

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    If you plan on playing open gym in SoCal, you should probably go to SGVBC instead of OCBC. OCBC is nice, but open gym is expensive and I think you're forced to use their own shuttles.

    I think NorCal or SoCal you can't go wrong. Plenty of highly skilled players in both areas and plenty of places to play.
     
  12. shreky

    shreky Regular Member

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    hey karma .... bintang is opening its 4th gym in the bay area next year. they said it would have 29 courts! .... maybe you should go to stanford instead?

    btw ... how is the snow over there? i heard you guys already have over 200 inches in whistler! awesome.
     
  13. captainB

    captainB Regular Member

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    yo karma,

    There's a place called Bay badminton club (BBC) where a dude named Chandra Kowi is gonna coach there and hes like #2 in US for doubles and mixed doubles. :)

    so yea...hope you chillax in CA
     
  14. captainB

    captainB Regular Member

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    its in NorCal....just to tell u
     
  15. shreky

    shreky Regular Member

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    i thought chandra is the coach in ggbc? he is moving to bbc?
     
  16. Karma

    Karma Regular Member

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    Thanks! I googled him. Looks pretty good. Will he have time though? I mean someone of that calibre must be pretty full if he's a coach.
     
  17. Milkk

    Milkk Regular Member

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    Ya Chandra just moved to bbc this week ): it was really sad for most people at ggbc. Since he just started at bbc I'm going to guess that he probably doesn't have many people right now, but at ggbc he taught a lot of people.
     
  18. kevinyao0615

    kevinyao0615 New Member

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    There are plenty of places to play in California. If you go to the San Francisco area, they are opening a new Bin Tang badminton Academy. Berkley is probably the best college to play badminton at since there are many good players like Terrance Pang. The best place to play at is probably Smash City in Milpitas. They probably have the best training program since almost all their big name players win CCS and nationals. There are many GREAT players at Smash City to play with, such as Bruck Belayneh, Galdino Rosas, Andy Quach, Terrance Pang, etc. I would say SoCal has some of the older players, but NorCal has more newer players that are simply amazing.
     
  19. shreky

    shreky Regular Member

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    just curious .... why did he leave ggbc?
     
  20. bulutangkis

    bulutangkis Regular Member

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    Maybe because Mike Yang is selling GGBC? In any event, I'm sure it's a welcome news for many players at BBC.
     

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