I am convinced beyond a doubt, the coolest people you will ever meet in your life are the ones that play badminton. Badminton people come from all over the world.What’s cooler than that? Play Badminton! Live Badminton!!
Vijay Sasidharan
Wed, Feb 13 2008
I started playing indoor badminton 2 years ago. I have played in severals venues in and around Portland where there are drop in sessions for badminton. However, I have experienced that there have been no drop in venue where you could practice badminton. The main reason is that whenever a venue announces badminton dro in session, there is so much interest from public that it feels like by practicing we are taking time off from 4 players who could have played on the court. So, I think the solution is to have a venue dedicated to badminton pratice. The badminton players come there with purely the intention to practice and not to play games. I have already started putting this idea into practice. The management of Tualatin Hills Athletic Center
(Address: 50 NW 158th, Beaverton OR 97006-4105) has given me timeslot from 1 PM to 3 PM for dedicated practice. I have already had around 4 practice sessions and it is working out pretty good. So far, the practice group has been between 2 to 4 players. We start off with warm up, the standard drills and then also each other with specific areas that they would like to improve on. If you see this blog, and have the time and will to participate, give me a call at (503) 804-7266. The next practice session is on Thu Feb 13th 2008 from 1 PM to 3 PM.
Live Badminton!
Vijay Sasidharan
Wed, Feb 13 2008
I started playing indoor badminton 2 years ago. I have played in severals venues in and around Portland where there are drop in sessions for badminton. However, I have experienced that there have been no drop in venue where you could practice badminton. The main reason is that whenever a venue announces badminton dro in session, there is so much interest from public that it feels like by practicing we are taking time off from 4 players who could have played on the court. So, I think the solution is to have a venue dedicated to badminton pratice. The badminton players come there with purely the intention to practice and not to play games. I have already started putting this idea into practice. The management of Tualatin Hills Athletic Center
(Address: 50 NW 158th, Beaverton OR 97006-4105) has given me timeslot from 1 PM to 3 PM for dedicated practice. I have already had around 4 practice sessions and it is working out pretty good. So far, the practice group has been between 2 to 4 players. We start off with warm up, the standard drills and then also each other with specific areas that they would like to improve on. If you see this blog, and have the time and will to participate, give me a call at (503) 804-7266. The next practice session is on Thu Feb 13th 2008 from 1 PM to 3 PM.
Live Badminton!
Portland needs more places for badminton. Our drop in clubs are swamped with players, we have no place to go for just training and coaching. Here’s the challenge: Go out and find a decent gym. One with high ceiling and badminton lines on the floor. Check the schools in your area, not just the public ones, check the private ones to. Check community colleges and churches. Find that gym.
Now talk to the facility director about renting the gym for badminton. Talk to them about offering badminton as an activity. Tell them you have the resource to put together a program of badminton. Tell them you have people who will come and pay to play. If they say yes to badminton, you are a hero and now have a new mini career. Don’t worry about getting help, you won’t be going it alone. Once you start up a badminton club other players will magically appear and help you sustain and grow it.
This how we can get badminton on the map, this is what will lead us to public funds and parks bureau support. If you need help, or find a gym call me at 503-720-9644
Monday, Januray 28 2008
Tonight Wes and I (Vijay) went to Tualatin to catch some badminton action at the Athletic center. The drop in schedule was from 7:30 PM to 10:00 PM. As usual, we called to confirm that badminton was happening. On arriving there at 7:40 PM, we are informed at the front desk that due to some private rental, there are only 2 badminton courts available for drop in play. They also warned us that there were already atleast 30 badminton players waiting for their turn. This situation of higher demand for badminton court time has been in Oregon for a long long time. Our neighbouring state Washington has dedicated 24*7, 5 court badminton facility at Bellevue (www.bellevuebadmintonclub.com). In fact, I still see folks playing on the courts right now on their web cam!(11:20 PM PST). Dear Oregon badminton lovers, when you have had to wait those extra long times just to get atleast one or two decent games a drop in session, havent you wished that there was a dedicated badminton facility where you can walkin or reserve time slots and play badminton to your heart’s content? Here is a chance to express your feelings to the whole world. Let’s hear it. We are waiting….
LIVE Badminton!
Friday, 25 January 2008
The Badminton Development Officers, Vijay Sasidharan and Wesley Stevens will be heading to Mt.Scott tonight to lay the sports tape on the Mt Scott gym for a dedicated singles only court. Earlier this week, the Mt Scott Community director, Vince Arditi gave his approval for the Singles court. This is great news for Portland singles players. If everything goes fine, the Mt Scott badminton fans will have some singles games to cheer to in the comming badminton sessions. Live Badminton!
—Latest update @ 10:00 PM PST —
Success! The singles court is ready for action! Check out the pictures above. It took Wes and Vijay about 2 hours to create the singles court. Hope it stays on.
Cheers.
Dear friends,
Since I started playing badminton in Portland, Oregon in 2005, I have seen several venues in and around Portland where indoor badminton is being played. Now, as you all know, there are 5 different events in badminton. (1) Mens Singles, (2) Mens Doubles, (3) Womens Singles, (4) Womens Doubles (5) Mixed Doubles. Out of these 5 events in badminton, mostly doubles is being played in most of these courts. Is this because there is nobody interested to play singles? No. It is because the general psychology right now is to cram as many players into the court at any given time (say 4) because there are people waiting on the sidelines. If that is the case, why dont we have 8 people playing a “quadruple”. Then there could be 8 people in each court using it to the optimum. Each person has lesser court to cover and it could be a win-win, right 
? Hmmm…maybe we never thought about that! Let us for a moment think about badminton’s racquet sport cousin, Tennis. Tennis has the same events as badminton does. In a place like Portland where it rains almost through out the year, the tennis players are also pretty much restricted to indoors. But, from my personal experience, I have seen players playing singles in inoor courts and not getting frowned upon. I think we need to start somewhere. What are the possible models? (1) If two people are interested in playing singles, they make it known as they enter the court and other players accept that. In this model, there is no court reserved for singles. If a player can find another player who is interested in playing singles, they can do so when the court becomes available. (2) The organizer(s) of the club earmarks a court and/or timeslot for singles. This way, players clearly know where to play singles and doubles, respectively. It also might ecourage more players, especially beginners to try out both versions of the game. I would like to know the views of other badminton lovers.
Live Badminton!
Vijay
There is a new venue to play indoor badminton in Oregon. It is Conestoga Recreation Center at 9985 SW 125th Avenue, Beaverton, Oregon 97008 Ph: 5036296313 Today, January 8th 2008 was the first official drop in session from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM. We wanted to check the place out before announcing it to the badminton lovers. There is one court with white tape marking the boundaries. This is the trial run by the Public park authorities to check the interest for playing indoor badminton there. If there is sufficient interest, we hear that they will rip off the existing floor markings and put professional badminton court markings for more courts and resurface the floor. This is great news that a recreation center is ready to do this. We should welcome this and show our support by showing up to play badminton. Live Badminton!
Prakash Padukone isn’t a place or thing. It is a man. One of the best Indian badminton players in all existence. And here is our local rep from Portland Oregon Vijay Sasidharan with the man in Bangalore,
India…. awesome You can read up on the amazing accomplishments of Prakash at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prakash_Padukone