i went to BBC today and attended their grand opening event. a very well organized and ran event and BBC staff managed to invite a lot of dignitaries. a few mayors, a pastor, Don Chew (ex-USAB), the president of Yonex USA. (Ben, can you post their names?) and then after that, they invited Dan Gouw, Bob Malaythong, Chris Hales, Radu as well as Ben Lee for a exhibition match. there were TV and media present as well as tons and tons of people. here are the photos...
here are the exhibition match photos. sorry Radu when you played i already put my camera back into the car and went into badminton mode so i didn't get any photos of you...
Ben Lee so happy at the BBC Grand Opening . Thanks for the photos kwun, It's great to see Ben Lee so happy at the BBC Grand Opening. So you've got a chance to play too... Well Done. .
lighting is much better than average gym. around 1 stop worse than HK/China. i get ISO1600, f/2, 1/500s.
Ben was really enjoying the games. His and his club partner's hardwork over the last year has come to fruitition and i think they deserve some fun time enjoying their creation! as for me i had great time playing badminton with another BC member. i am starting to get my touch again after out of training for years.
Congrats again to BBC.. ..looks like it was a pretty good sized & well attended grand opening. The expression on Ben's face (1st pic) really reflects how happy and relieved he is. Good to see many people in attendance, too! Don Chew's attendance shows how supportive he is of the new facility, esp. coming all the way up from So.Cal! Thanks, kwun, for covering & sharing the pics!
Thank You Hello BCers, I am so happy that Kwun took so many pictures of our Grand Opening to share with all of you who could not be there with us. Thanks Kwun. I just wanted to let everyone know that Bay Badminton was a collective effort between all the partners and not just myself. Without them, this project would not have been a reality. Harry Tan, Victor Lo and Ronald Fong are my partners. We endured so much during this project that we have become very close. I feel that these guys are not only my friends, but they have become my family. We were extremely honored to have our special guests present for our Grand Opening. Our special guests included Senator Leland Yee, Don Chew and his wife Kim Chew, Burlingame Mayor Rosalie O'Mahony, Millbrae Mayor Gina Papen, San Jose City Council Member Kansen Chu, and Yonex USA President Hiro Ebihara. They are pretty much pictured in that order except the Mayor of Burlingame was not pictured for her speech. She is pictured in the ribbon cutting between Senator Leland Yee and Don Chew. There were a few other council members there as well and the President/CEO of the Burlingame chamber of commmerce Georgette Naylor. We were so honored that all these people took the time out of their busy schedule to share this special day with us. Bay Badminton would like to extend our appreciation to all our special guests. Finally, I would like to thank my friends Chris Hales, Daniel Gouw and Bob Malaythong for putting on a great show. I wish I was able to keep up but getting old and slow doesn't help. Thank you again everyone and hope to see you all at BBC soon. Ben Lee
Good Sportsmanship I have been reading posts from other clubs and sources and saw some not so favorable posts. I just wanted to address the competition side of it. When draws are made for a tournament, it is up to the tournament director to make the draw as fair as possible. The players do not have any say where they are placed in the draw. If the draw is heavily stacked on one side, then so be it. I have played many tournaments where my quarterfinals were even tougher than the finals. It's just the nature of the sport. Sometimes I won, sometimes I lost. I think Mike and Chandra are two great players and should be applauded for their efforts. I too have been criticised for winning tournaments that were not so strong. How can we as players help it? We have no control. It is all for the spirit of competition and all players should always be applauded for their efforts. Mr. S, if you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact me anytime. Thanks.