By Jamie Shinkewski
Ottawa’s hidden hub of world-class badminton talent continued its growth this fall as the eighth Olympian in the RA Centre club’s history chose to setup shop in the nation’s capital.
After completing her structural engineering degree at the University of Western Ontario, London 2012 Olympian Alex Bruce chose Ottawa as her new home training base, inspired in large part by the RA club’s tradition of producing many of Canada’s best international players.
“It definitely made it a more attractive option when I was thinking about going there to train, knowing there is all that experience,” signals Bruce, who won a mixed doubles gold medal at the Oct. 13-18 Pan American Badminton Championships in Toronto, her hometown. “There are so many national champions that hang around and they’re always willing to chat with you if you need any advice.”
Another attraction was the chance to work under the direction of coach Andrew Dabeka, a past Olympian himself in 2008.
“He takes a lot of care in what he does and how he treats everyone in practice,” notes Bruce, 24. “I like how much energy and effort he puts in to our high-performance group.”
There are a number of other rising stars based at the RA Centre, including three of Canada’s top-ranked men – Joseph Rogers, Andrew D’Souza and Sergiy Shatenko, who were also Canadian representatives at the Pan Am Championships.
“Everyone is bringing up everyone’s game and that for me is the cool thing,” highlights coach Dabeka, who was ranked as high as 20th in the world during his playing career – an all-time best for a Canadian male.
Dabeka trained in Denmark and coached in Switzerland before returning to work his magic in his hometown.
“I think all of those experiences have helped me acquire a very high level of knowledge that a lot of Canadian coaches don’t have,” indicates the 36-year-old. “I think I’m bringing that to this program here.”
Tough road for Canadians in elite badminton
Unless your name is Michelle Li (the Pan Am and Commonwealth champion who’s ranked 11th globally), it’s a big challenge for Canadian badminton players to make noise on the international stage.
Limited funding is a major hurdle. A number of RA players received Ontario Quest for Gold program funding and have equipment sponsors, but Bruce is the only one who receives national carding assistance.
Still relying mostly on tournament winnings, Bruce is able to pursue badminton full-time, although as a doubles specialist, her struggle is to sync up with Phyllis Chan and Toby Ng, her Vancouver-based women’s and mixed partners.
“It’s tough because our country is so big,” underlines the #61 and #52-world ranked women’s and mixed doubles player. “You want to improve your own skills and make sure your partner is on the same page, wherever they are.”
For D’Souza, finances are a major hindrance to improving his world ranking, currently outside the top 200. The 20-year-old University of Ottawa human kinetics student tends to perform well when he takes part in international competition – he knocked off the event’s second seed en route to a quarter-finals appearance at the Pan Am Championships – but can’t afford to attend enough tournaments to climb the ladder.
With help from a few sponsors, the RA club’s high-performance program funds some travel to international competitions, though many players pay their own way.
“I think it’s super valuable. That’s where the biggest jumps are going to happen for these guys,” underlines Dabeka, noting that it’s even more important in North America where the level of play isn’t nearly as high as Europe or Asia.
The RA club’s inclusive approach is a great way to draw athletes and their supporters, but getting them to the top is challenging without much money.
“We want to open the doors for people to come and play. If you’re good, great, if you’re not so good, still come and enjoy it and hopefully improve,” adds Dabeka. “But on the high-performance side, we have some very serious players and very good talent. It would be good to have more resources available to get them to the next level.”