\ud83c\udff8\ud83c\udc04<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How a badminton club became a practice in community.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It started with a dingy little place in downtown Winnipeg. A sketchy area of the city where you wouldn’t want to be unless you really had to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There were only two badminton courts. We played on tile floor, not meant for sporting activities. But… it worked. I had rediscovered the sport of badminton after only having played it sparingly in high school. I had always loved sports in general. I gradually became enamored with the skill, speed, power, strategy and agility required to perform at a high quality level for badminton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More importantly, I really enjoyed the teamwork and camaraderie of playing with a partner. Sometimes that person was a stranger who just walked on the court but once the game was over, that person could be someone you had shared a moment with\u2014possibly a newfound friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connecting with others in person, in real life…<\/p>\n\n\n\n What a novel concept huh? \ud83e\udd2f<\/p>\n\n\n\n I decided I would create a club that would play out of that questionable setting. Why? There was a lack of access unless you were well off\u2014which I was most definitely not. I also didn\u2019t really know anyone who was. I wanted to play more regularly, and I figured that if others could get the chance to experience the activity like I did, we would all be winning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I still remember the very first official session I hosted. How could I not? I happened to be the only person in attendance…<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the time, I didn’t really have any money. I still paid the rental out of pocket even when there seemed to be little to no interest as I kept trying to get the club off the ground. Any other reasonable person would’ve dropped the idea when all the signs pointed to walking away and cutting my losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet\u2014I stubbornly stayed the course. I believed in what badminton was capable of and what it could potentially do for the community. The challenge in front of me was to figure out a way to get the word out, get people curious, and let them have an enriching experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To build the door. Turns out that maybe I wasn’t so delusional after all\u2014that was only the beginning of my evolution as a community builder while using badminton as my main tool of choice. I’ve gone through many iterations of clubs and programs over the years, most of them growing to capacity and even exceeding it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The formula is simple: remove as many barriers as possible. Treat people fairly. Include them. Get your hands dirty when you must. Enjoy the process. Remember that what you do makes a real difference even if no one tells you that is indeed a fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The work enables us to fulfill the basic human need to play<\/strong> and connect <\/strong>with others. You can feel the sense of community when you walk into a place that is well cared for by its participants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We could all use more of such places\u2014don’t you think? \ud83d\ude0a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \ud83c\udff8\ud83c\udc04 How a badminton club became a practice in community. It started with a dingy little place in downtown Winnipeg. A sketchy area of the city where you wouldn’t want to be unless you really had to. There were only two badminton courts. We played on tile floor, not meant for sporting activities. But… it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-64","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/khanhmai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/64","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/khanhmai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/khanhmai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/khanhmai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/khanhmai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/khanhmai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/64\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91,"href":"https:\/\/khanhmai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/64\/revisions\/91"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/khanhmai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
I just had to do my part.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Show the way.
Curate the environment.
Then… get out of the way.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n