Ooks and Thunder off to CCAA Badminton Championships
by ACAC Sports Writer Curtis J. Phillips
Sinead Cheah knew she had big shoes to fill when she took over the reins of the NAIT Ooks badminton program.
A team, heading into the 2016-2017 season, which had won the last six Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) titles and a team which had for 17 years, been coached by Jordan Richey.
Cheah knew first-hand of Ooks badminton pride as she had been a Ooks student/athlete (2008-2012), having won her own hardware at the national level with two Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) titles in mixed and women's doubles.
Included in her resume were four ACAC All Conference selections and a 2012 CCAA All-Canadian nod.
But in the sport of badminton, or any sport, wins and championships are not guaranteed.
"He (Richey) left me a pretty good team and I was pretty confident that we would get a couple of our athletes in the medals," said Cheah, a member of the CCAA Female Coaching Apprentice Program.
Attending this past weekend's 2016-2017 ACAC Badminton Championships, held at Ralph Klein Centre Fieldhouse in Olds, Alberta and hosted by the Olds Broncos, the Ooks returned to the podium to make it seven-in-a-row (with the sport in hiatus 2012-2014) as ACAC Team Champion for the regular season.
Ooks had advanced to the Saturday team event having defeated the host Broncos 7-0. They met the Concordia University of Edmonton Thunder in the championship, winning 4-3. The Thunder had qualified for the championship by beating The Kings University Eagles 6-1.
NAIT Ooks taking the podium Sunday were gold medalists Jason Rausch, men's singles and Andy Ko and Imran Wadia in men's doubles. Nicholas Roque and Kaili Huang rounded out the top spot in mixed doubles.
Silver in mixed doubles went to Ooks' Jeffrey Ko and Rosanna Chan.
The women Ooks will be bringing silver home from singles Ryo Kurmaochi and doubles Caitlyn New and Kaitlyn Wibee.
Representing Concordia University of Edmonton Thunder at nationals, will be women's singles champion Takeisha Wang, women's doubles gold pair Rachel Smillie and Cecilla Wolski along with silver medal placements Connor Thomas Reinson in men's singles and men's doubles Luc-Ly Nguyen and Braxton Young also with silver status.
Thunder coach Kevin MacAlpine said the return of the Conference Team Event added to the weekend.
"For the past few years we normally would only have the individual, doubles or mixed events to see who would qualify for nationals and that was it," said MacAlpine who was selected the ACAC Badminton Coach of the Year.
"Now that we have a solid four teams, we can hold the team event, so now you are also playing for the team title. It adds to the format and it was exciting."
MacAlpine said Smillie will be one of the team leaders heading to the 2017 CCAA Badminton Championships to be staged March 1-4, 2017 in Toronto, Ontario and hosted by Seneca College.
ACAC gold and silver placements advance to the CCAA tournament.
"Rachel has been to several (CCAA Badminton Nationals) and she is a positive person on and off the court. By the end of the weekend she is a fan favourite. She has a great sense of humour…that is her personality and the fans love it.",
Bronze medal winner at the ACAC championships were: Rosanna Chan, NAIT, women's singles; Braxton Wong, Concordia, men's singles; Joh Li and Joel Simrose, Kings, men's doubles; Layce Donaldson and Sherry Hahn, Olds, women's doubles and once again, Olds with Kieran Johnson and Sherry Hahn for mixed doubles.
"It was an awesome tournament and we are pleased to have had the opportunity to have hosted," said tournament convenor Macky Singh. "We are also really happy with the way we (Broncos) worked so hard. Mary Smith (Broncos badminton coach) has done a great job getting the student/athletes to where they are. It was positive for the sport and Olds College also."
Singh is also head coach for Olds men's and women's futsal and soccer teams.
Returning medalists from last year's CCAA finals held in Nanaimo, British Columbia and hosted by Vancouver Island University, are Chan, Huang, Jeffrey Ko, Roque, Smillie and Wang.
This will be the second time this season that the Ooks travel out of province for play in the fact that for several years they have attended the Honolulu Badminton Club Open in Hawaii.
This year, along with the Thunder, they played in the tournament held January 6-8, 2017.
"It is an incredible experience to go to Hawaii," said Cheah, who also went as an athlete. "It creates team comradery and it is irreplaceable.
"One of the reasons I took up coaching is that I wanted to let the student/athlete have the same experience I had had when I was at NAIT."