Friday afternoon

After a long school week, I was really looking forward to playing some badminton with the kids. To our disappointment, the gym was set up for a Mariachi concert. Standing outside the gym, I offered the kids and Coach Aldo to join me to order the end-of-season awards before grabbing a bite. I took Louie, Mayra, Elida, and Melissa, while Aldo took Sam in our cars and headed to J & J's Trophy on Foothill. I placed the order for the plaques. Then, the seven of us went to eat pizza at Costco. We joked and laughed the afternoon away...

No badminton, but simple good times nonetheless.

Go Kemp Go!

I met Coach Kemp when I was a freshman at West Covina High School. Him and his mom, Mrs. Wells, became the biggest influences of my high school years and beyond. I played all four years of badminton for Kemp. It coincidentally were the only four years that he coached at WCHS. He coached me to be the best player that I can be. We lost in the CIF badminton semis during our last two years. Tonight, he coached the Diamond Bar badminton team to the finals! They'll face a great team in Mark Keppel on Saturday. No matter what happens, Coach Kemp is the best coach ever. I wish him the best of luck.

All Done

The badminton season ended tonight. We lost 6-15 to a very good Cypress team in the quarter finals. While I'm proud of our players, I have a long way to go as a coach. Aside from badminton skills, I need to teach our players good sportsmanship, teamwork, and competitiveness. I am grateful for the help from Coach Kilmer and Coach Aldo. Now, I still need to schedule and plan for our banquets and awards.

Badminton Comic

Mrs. Coulter, my administrator for Saturday morning classes, gave me this timely comic.

(See also: GoComic.com)

Bling Bling

Badminton finals results - seven medals total! Our boys doubles Alexis and Sam won 4th place medals, Tony and Eddie finished 3rd place with bronze medals. Our #1 boy Juan finished with a silver medal in singles. The story of the season is Mayra and Lizette. They finished undefeated (20-0) in league play. In the league tournament, they went 3-0 to win a pair of gold medals. Mayra played with so much class and confidence. Lizette showed me that she was a true fighter as she played through her shoulder and back pain. When they won the final point, honestly, I almost cried. I'm so proud and happy for Mayra and Lizette.

Our first round CIF match will be Monday at home against Redlands High School. Bring it on.

League Pre-Lims

We played the first round of league individual pre-lims today. We were on the losing end in one of the upsets. Nonetheless, our team will have both boys doubles team, one girls doubles team, and a boy singles in the semi-finals tomorrow. Good luck to these seven kids who will earn league medals!

We also learned that our school will host Redlands in the first round of CIF match ups on Monday.

Not this year

Our team lost another tough match Monday afternoon. While we improved upon our score (9-12) from Friday (6-15) against the same school, our lost eliminated our chances to be league champions this year. I reminded the players that we are winners as long as we give it our all, respect the opponents, and play the game with dignity. We still need to prepare for two more league matches this week.

6-1

Our team fought a tough matchup against our rival school Friday. We lost 6-15 to a very strong team. As long as we play with full effort, I'm proud of my players regardless if we finish first or last in the league. We're currently 6-1 in league play, with three more matches this coming week before individual league Pre-Lims and Finals.

Not Too Old

This is a big week for the badminton team. We play three matches, including one against the top team in the league. During practice today, I decided to play competitively against our players. I beat our #1 singles guy 11-3, 11-8. Then, I played doubles with the boys. While down 2-12 in the third set, we came back to win 17-16.

I'm not too old for this....yet.

11 - 10

Our JV and varsity badminton teams both won today, both scores were 11 - 10. It's as close as it gets. I told the players at the end, even had we lost, I'm still proud of them. Huge credit to Sierra Vista - good players and better kids. We will face tough challenges this week.

Truth be told - I had no intention to coach badminton when I started here at Gladstone. Yet, I see this opportunity both as a responsibility and as a blessing.

Varsity Badminton Shirts

The varsity kids wanted a different shirt. I remember when I was a high school player, the shirts were the same for both varsity and JV players. I think it's better to have just one shirt...but I know it's not about me.

JV Badminton Shirts

This local company does a lot of T-shirts for our school. I just picked up the order earlier this week, the kids are excited about the new shirts.

Badminton

We won again on Friday. Our varsity team is now 4-0. During school, we participated in the Springs Sports Rally. This game is special, my brother Randy came by to watch me coach. I think it's the first time that he's seen me interact with the kids. Our players stepped up in the tense moments to win the matchup 14-7. We still have a lot of improvements to work on. What a way to kick off the weekend!