The 2014 Under 17s team is announced

Dear readers

It is official. The team has been announced. The players that will represent WA in the Under 17s team in 2014 at New Zealand are Xiang, Edward, Jasper, Gavin and Tyz. The girls are Olivia, Julia, Geri May and Sophie. We have a 5th girl training to see if she will be selected. Her name is Adele and she is trying hard to make the grade.

It has been a tough fight for the boys to get into the team. The hardest fight was between Jasper and Kai Chen. They both had to fight for the last spot. There was so much passion when they were playing to get into the team. Such passion especially from young Kai Chen.

He was visibly upset after losing to Jasper. I had to remind him that he was still young and had a full 3 more years to represent WA in the Under 17s.

The players have to learn that failure is the mother of success.  I am sure Kai Chen will excel for WA in the Under 15s next year. He will feature strongly in the next few Under 17s team.

Other than Heer, the other boys that did not make it to the team will still be able to try again next year as they are all under 15 years of age. Heer will train hard I am sure for the next state team which will be the Under 19s. WA  is lucky that the boys are always strong. We have to wait for Yuli to train more girl players.

Kay and I have been busy fund raising. I have managed so far to get sponsorship of $1100 each from:

(a) MUI Group which is based in Malaysia.
(b) 2 Fat Indians Restaurant
(c) Big Foot Massage.

I am still working on a few other sponsors. Kay has done well with a fashion show and her chocolate sales. We are all working hard to raise funds for the team.

The players have been working hard selling chocolates and jellies.

Xiang and Tyz are flying to Singapore this Saturday to represent Australia in the Singapore Youth International. We wish them luck.

The other team players will be playing in the AC Sports Classic. The parents are doing kitchen sales for fund raising. Yes, it is a family affair as everyone chips in. I am doing a spaghetti bolognese which I hope sells well.

Good night.

The 2014 Under 17s trials starts

Dear readers

The trials for the WA Under 17s team commenced today. There was a strong performance by all the boys. There are 10 boys pitting their skills to get into 5 spots.

The boys are (not in order of merit):

Kai Chen, Ee Kiat, Heer, Jasper, Xiang, Tyzton, Gavin, Je Ren, Matthew and Edward.

Kai Chen and Jasper were in the Under 15s team this year with Xiang. They won bronze and Xiang was ranked no. 1 while Kai Chen was ranked 6th  with Jasper ranked 8th.

Xiang of course won the triple crown.

The girls to date are Olivia, Julia, Geri May and Sophie. Geri May was in the Under 15s that made bronze this year. She was ranked equal 10th in 2013. Julia was in last year's Under 17s team that was placed 4th.

Sophie was in the Silver winning Under 15s team in 2012 with Xiang, Olivia, Heer and Tyzton.


All the parents were supportive today watching their children compete.

Thanks to Trevor and Andrew Chai for being the selectors. Most of the parents helped with umpiring.

Badminton and junior players are only so good because of their supportive parents.

There will be a fashion show to fund raise next week.

Our current issue is uniforms as Li Ning may be pulling out. It is a shame as they have been a very supportive sponsor having sponsored WA state teams for over 3 years.Hopefully we will hear good news soon.

It is too early yet to forecast who will make the boys team. Good luck to all the players. Some of the players are still quite young and if they do not make it to the team, they can rest assured they will be in a good position to get to the team next year.

Good night.