Is that...? Yes.

                                                            

Have you guys seen the future? I have. And Vince is still playing badminton.

With the same infamous bag in hand and signature swagger in check, VK has been featured in simulation photos for the new Drexel athletic center.

Glorious!

BEN

HELLO

I would like to take this opportunity to let everyone know that I will be taking over as the official Drexel Badminton Club Blog Updater!

Cheers to VK.

That will be all.

BEN

Le Badminton Tournament 2009

This coming weekend is the Drexel Badminton Club's Fall term tournament and team tryouts. We will have 6 courts and feather shuttles to play with! As a reminder, all people who are interested in the Drexel Team must play tryout. Below is the lowdown for the events:

LE BADMINTON TOURNAMENT (check out the attached flyer!)

Date: Sunday October 4th
Time: 12:00pm - 5:00 pm
Location: South Gym of the DAC
Type: Round Robin

- You will most likely play in 5 group brackets, so you will play at least 4 matches.
- The totaled score out of 2 games (no set), will be recorded
- The best teams from each bracket will advance to the final bracket
- There will be a consolation bracket, but it may be abbreviated due to time constraints

Registration:

- To register, Email drexelbc@gmail.com. You will receive an email form to fill out
- To play 1 event (either doubles or singles), the admission is $15
- To play 2 events (both doubles and singles), the admission is $25

Doubles:

- Teams can be mixed gender.

Prizes:

- ummm... not cash, but something much much better (of course)

TEAM TRYOUTS
- You must play in the tournament
- When you register, let us know you're trying out for the team
- Your admission for the first event is covered as long as you have joined Drexel Badminton Club
- We will be watching you play and let you know :)

Le JPEG

Makin' a career out of guest posting...

-VK

The Badminton Soundtrack: Chern-Hooi Lim

Hello! A guest post from a familiar face.

Why haven't there been more posts recently, you ask? Well, times of transition are always difficult and, frankly, action is slower during the summer term. Don't you fret, though. Two-thousand-ten has a lot in store for you. In the meantime, enjoy Drexel Badminton's latest video.

The highly anticipated secret project - a collaborative work between 3 Drexel Badminton members is complete. Your life will never be the same.

Produced by Arturinho, B. Pubusky, V. Kan.

The Badminton Soundtrack: Chern-Hooi Lim


The first in a multi-part lyrical reimagination series.

Don't tell us we're not ready for prime time.

-VK

Change: count on it.

Well folks, it's been a fun ride. This will be my last official post as a club officer. What's the significance of that anyway?

I sincerely hope you've enjoyed what the badminton club has been able to offer you for the past year. Changes have come to us through the club sports council and we've done our best to run our club the best way we saw fit. I'd like to think that we've learned from our mistakes and that the club is on a path of determined improvement. If you have any comments regarding how the club/team is run, please feel free to let us know. You can email the club at drexelbc[at]gmail[dot]com at any time.

These kids are outta here. Courtesy of one Ben Pubusky.

Jeers and cheers to you all.

-VK

The DAC is ours again.

Hi kids. Quick note here: badminton courts are open again.

This Friday the 19th, come play with us from 4 - 8 PM.

If you're on break, make the most of it. If you're not, I weep with you.

Her hands went into withdrawal after giving up badminton for two weeks. Doctors expect a speedy recovery.

-VK

2010 Budget Allocation

Apologies for the usual delay. I'm still reeling from the official budget allocation for fiscal year 2010. While we tried to fight for more money, the bottom line is that the badminton club needs your support now more than ever. How much did we get this year? $6,865.36. About half of last year's budget.

The direct effect on you is still uncertain. We want the club to grow. We want the team to excel. But we can't do this alone.

You will see more fundraising activities from us this year so we can purchase enough shuttlecocks for your practices. We need to make sure our team members are making the best use of our funds when we send them to tournaments to represent Drexel. This won't be easy, but I think challenges will bring out the best in our new officers. As more news unfolds, we will bring it to you.

We'll figure something out.

-VK

Minor Minutes

Z-String and I attended this evening's club sports council meeting. There are a couple notes about your badminton club that are worth sharing. Here they are:

• Budget allocations should be revealed to us tomorrow. All clubs had a minimum of 36% cut from their budget request.
• Starting next school year, physical examinations will likely be required for any student who participates in a club sport. More details will be announced later.
• Finally, we are coming close to finalizing a design for our club's t-shirt. Stay tuned. These shirts are gonna be hot.
  

Safety first.

-VK

Spring Term Court Closure

We're mightily disappointed to have to tell you this, but the badminton courts will be closed from Monday, June 1st through Wednesday, June 17th, 2009. This year's commencement will be held at the DAC on Saturday, June 13th, and I guess they need a lot of time to set up for the event.

Therefore, club and team practices will not be held for the remainder of Spring term.

If you know of any other clubs in the area where the public can play during this time, please drop us a line in the comments that includes place, time, and cost. We can't go without our badminton for very long.

We don't recommend trying other activities in the meantime.

-VK

2010 Officer Election Results

Please join me in congratulating the newly elected officers of Drexel Badminton Club for the 2010 fiscal year. They are:

President: Peter Thai
Vice President: Zdravko Tyankov
Treasurer: Joseph Angelo
Secretary: An Nguyen

Some old faces and a new face to the ranks of leadership, your beloved badminton club is in good hands. Many thanks to those of you who came out and participated in our election meeting. Couldn't have done it without you. We hope to serve you well next year.

-VK

Elections and Free Pizza

Word on the street is that club officer elections are being held this Friday, May 29th, 2009 at 5PM. Where? The theatre room at The Stratum. 36th and Ludlow, for those not in the know.

FREE PIZZA, COOKIES, AND SODA.

If I were you, I'd get there early to secure a sweet seat and a slice of pizza pie. We'll go over the performance of our club this year, expectations for next year, and get underway on elections. Club practice will commence immediately after our meeting is over.

DID SOMEONE SAY FREE PIZZA?

See you there.

-VK

Reminder to nominate next year's officers.

You made me do this.

We need you, Drexel Badminton club members, to nominate next year's president, vice president, treasurer, and secretary. Response has not been as high as we would like.

Email us your nominations by 11:59PM, Wednesday, May 27th, 2009.

Remember that elections will be held this Friday, May 29th, at the Stratum.

Send in your nominations or Peter will commit shameless arson.

-VK

Spent shuttles.

It's not uncommon to see shuttles getting replaced after every 2 or 3 points at professional badminton matches. Surely these birdies, while not 100% intact, are still in very fine condition. What do they do with these shuttles? Is there a black market for shuttles that have been ruthlessly pummelled by world-class badminton players?

I'm just curious, is all.

These were obtained through legitimate means.

-VK

Reminder for this week's schedule

Drexel is holding yet another event this coming Saturday. Set up for an open house at the DAC will begin on Friday afternoon. Therefore...

CLUB PRACTICE IS CANCELLED FOR FRIDAY, MAY 15TH, 2009.

Poop.

-VK

The Ten Commandments of Drexel Badminton

1. Thou shalt always have badminton on the mind.
2. Thou shalt not play two games in a row if players are queued.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of Chern-Hooi Lim in vain.
4. Remember Tuesday and Friday, for they are club practice days. Club members must attend at least 50% of practices.
5. Honor your club officers, who make everything possible.
6. Thou shalt apologize if you strike your opponent with the shuttlecock.
7. Thou shalt high five or shake the hand of your opponent(s) after a completed match.
8. Thou shalt not walk onto a court while the shuttlecock is in play.
9. Thou shalt make honest assessments of close line calls.
10. Thou shalt always remember to have fun.

I've finished drinking for the evening. Your regularly scheduled program will now resume.

-VK

Club practice schedule for this week

It looks like club practice will be truncated this week. Spring Jam is taking place in the DAC this weekend and they're beginning setup on Friday.

CLUB PRACTICE IS CANCELLED FOR FRIDAY, MAY 8TH, 2009.

Please don't kill the messenger.

Good luck on your midterms, whatever those things are.

-VK

Club shuttles have been ordered

I know. This stinks. We ran out of nylon shuttles for club use a couple weeks ago.

Rest assured, a shipment of Yonex Mavis 350s are coming in next week. Please stay patient. We'll see you at practice.

-VK

Tri-meet with Rutgers and Princeton

Still chugging along on that one-post-per-week train.

This past Saturday, April 18th, 2009, Drexel Badminton headed to Rutgers University up in New Brunswick, NJ for a tri-meet against the host and Princeton University. If I were smart, I would have taken pictures of their beautiful campus, but for now, you'll have to take my word for it. There were students, real live human beings, on campus during the weekend enjoying outdoor activities and having loads of fun. Drexel... dream on.

Anyway, here are the results of our badminton matches:

Men's Team
Drexel vs. Rutgers: 9-0
Drexel vs. Princeton: 9-0

Women's Team
Drexel vs. Rutgers: 6-3
Drexel vs. Princeton: 3-6

Mixed Team
Drexel vs. Rutgers: 3-2

An impressive clean sweep from Drexel's men's team against our competitors. I fell on my goods during my singles match but it was clearly worth it.

Congratulations to Drexel and thank you to Rutgers and Princeton for a fantastic afternoon, especially to Rutgers for hosting us.

-VK

Lee Chong Wei vs. Lin Dan to pass the time

I don't usually play better after watching an intense match, especially not between the top 2 players in the world, but what are you gonna do...

Badminton Freak has the videos for the All England 2009 Men's Singles Finals match uploaded here. An exceedingly entertaining match to watch.

We'll be up in North Jersey this weekend for an IBA tri-meet with Rutgers and Princeton Universities.

-VK

NYC Badminton Club Annual Tournament 2009 Results

New York, New York, Big city of dreams;
And everything in New York ain't always what it seems.

Who would've figured that Drexel Badminton would walk away from the NYC Badminton Club's annual tournament with 10 medals?

Here are two of them.

Held from March 27th - 29th, 2009 at John Bowne High School in Flushing, NY, this was their club's 13th annual tournament. To make things fun, half of the group travelled by car with Nisarg. The other half rode the Chinatown bus up to NYC, hopped on the subway, caught a bus, only to walk a fair amount to the actual gym. I also made the group walk about 3 miles to our hotel in Jamaica, NY, passing through a heavily Jewish neighborhood at roughly 1 in the morning. Good times.

Here are the Drexel Badminton team highlights:

• Yehan Ranasinghe - Division A - Men's Singles - Bronze
  
  
• Peter Thai & Zdravko Tyankov - Division B Consolations - Men's Doubles - Golds
• Xiang Mao & Sara White - Division B Consolations - Women's Doubles - Golds
  
  
• Vincent Kan & Artur Vieira - Division C Consolations - Men's Doubles - Golds
• Chunyin Li & Sara White - Division C Consolations - Mixed Doubles - Golds
• Artur Vieira - Division C Consolations - Mixed Doubles - Bronze

Some photos are here. The lighting was really orange and there wasn't a lot of space to shoot from.

And Yehan won 70 bucks. Cha-ching!

For some Grandmaster Flash lovin'...

-VK