City of Markham commits a “HOME” for Badminton at Markham PAN AM CENTER

Hello Everybody,


A meeting was held between City of Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti, Commissioner Brenda Librecz, Director of Recreational Services – Mary Creighton, Chief of Staff – Raj Raman and Acting-President of Federation of Badminton Clubs (FBC) – Philip Chow on Tuesday, December 2, 2014


The City of Markham had officially committed to given Badminton a “HOME” at the Markham PAN AM Center, after the 2015 PAN AM Games, to build a Legacy for Badminton.


After the TO2015 PAN AM Games (Sept, 2015), the address of the Federation of Badminton Clubs will be change to:
· Federation of Badminton Clubs (FBC)
· Markham PAN AM Center
· 16 Main Street, Unionville
· Ontario, L3R 2E5
· (No longer Philip Chow’s address…YEH!!)


FBC will have an Office to service the Badminton Community, Storage space for Badminton equipment, and access to a meeting room for meeting and planning, at the Markham PAN AM Center.


A meeting will be scheduled between the City Staff, Badminton Canada, Badminton Ontario and FBC to detail out the execution of the Legacy plan over the X-Mas Holiday.


FBC need a NEW President to take Badminton to the NEXT level.


FBC is well situated to grow Badminton with the programs we have put in place:
· League played had grown from 4 teams to 28 teams in the last 4 years.
· SMASH program is now acceptable by the York Region School Board for grade 4 to grade 6 students. Pilot programs completed with 12 schools (200 students). FBC has access to 175 elementary schools. Catholic School Board had requested this service as well.
· Model for obtaining the Trillium Grant is established. FBC is committed to helping other district to implement this model.
· High Performance Sponsorship is put in place. $5000.00 sponsorship was given to 6 players in Oct, 2014 for their pursuit of excellence. FBC goal is to invest $40,000 toward our High Performance Players in the next 4 years
· Scholarship will be introduced to the York Region School Board (Public and Catholic) in June, 2015. A total of $30,000 will be given out as Scholarship in the next 4 years.
· FBC now have a HOME.


I had resigned as President on Nov 30, 2014 at our AGM. Since no one step up to be President, I had committed to the FBC Board to stay on as ACTING President until a NEW President is elected. Even though our legacy plan is back on the track, I don’t intend to come back to the FBC Board as President.


The last 6 months negotiating with the City had been a challenge and NEW Leadership is still needed to work with the City to take Badminton to the next level.
For those of you who know me well, I am a terrible President for Badminton. I am nothing BUT a good CHANGE Leader.


At a high level, I promise the Badminton Community the following:
· A HOME
· Creating an Environment to grow the sport (access to the School)
· Model to get Funding (eg. Trillium Grant)
· Grass Root development and Linkage to HP
· 7 Years of my volunteer life


I have 2 more years to go. In these 2 years, I plan to:
· Live up to my responsibility as Badminton Sport Chair for TO2015 PAN AM Games.
· Transition to a NEW FBC President within the next year
· Develop a sustainable volunteer program for FBC & the City of Markham (legacy programs cannot be sustained without an engage volunteer force)
· Help another District under Badminton to get the Trillium Grant


My time will be better spend doing the above rather than be President of FBC.

My 7 years commitments to the Badminton Community will end of Jan 1, 2017. My next project is to build a Droid which will take 3 years. I may come back to volunteer for Badminton in 2020.



YEAH!!! I am building R2D2 on my spare time and by 2020, I will have a life size R2D2 running around my house. How cool is that??? So good to be a GEEK!!