Birdievents.com

While NBA teams are busy drafting their free agents and rookies, USA badminton is also intending to recruit players from overseas.  In this moment, USA is persuing World and Asian junior champion Zulfadli Zulkifli.  Zulfadi Zulkifli was born in Los Angeles, therefore he is USA citizen and able to represent USA in the Thomas Cup.

However, the Los Angeles-born lad does not want to turn his back on Malaysia — not at the moment, anyway.  Zulfadli’s dad Zulkifli Sidek, who is also his coach, confirmed his son was approached by the US Badminton Association and a US player. They want to strengthen the US team for the Thomas Cup.  It is pertinent to point out Zulkifli used to train the US team from 1990-94.  "My son said no. He wants to play for Malaysia and I guess he pretty much made up his mind,” said Zulkifli.

“I also want Zulfadli to play for Malaysia and I’m happy he made that choice. "But I hope to see Zulfadli in the Malaysian team for next year's Thomas Cup, even as a reserve.”

BAM have yet to name the squad for the Thomas Cup in May 20-27 in Wuhan, China.  Former junior player Arif Latiff was part of the Thomas Cup team in 2008.

Zulfadli was apparently approached by an official during last year’s Thomas and Uber Cups held in KL. The USA team played in the Uber Cup.  American player Howard Bach followed up later to ask Zulfadli to consider playing for US as they “lacked singles players”.  Zulfadli, who plays under the KLRC banner, is yet to receive his incentives since winning honours for the country last year.  Zulfadli was the placed third in the 2010 Asia Junior championships and the national team were runnersup in the same competition.  This year, he won the World and Asian junior championships and the Commonwealth Youth Games.

Zulkifli insisted his son was not demanding the incentives but found it strange how quickly Sea Games medal-winners were rewarded in a pomp affair. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak graced that ceremony at the Juara Stadium in Bukit Kiara on Friday.  Zulfadli is preparing for the India Open GP Gold (Dec 20-25) before heading to the US for a training cum holiday stint.

The new CDP is a result of the contributions  of many badminton coaches (USAB Coaching Department) from all around the USA. Several meetings were held between 2005 and 2006. When Mohan rejoined USA Badminton in late 2009, both he and Fred Coleman  continued with the development of the CDP with continuous input and support from the Coaching Department. USAB also would like to acknowledge the kind contributions of the Caffery Family which helped USAB in the initial foundation activities to design and set up the current USAB's Coach Development Program.

USAB Coach Development Program (CDP) Mission Statement – The mission statement of the USAB CDP is “to provide safe and quality coaching services for the badminton community.”

Coaching Tracks - The USAB Coach Development Program (CDP) will provide service to two distinctive coaching tracks – the Community Track for those who coach athletes of all ages, levels, abilities and interest and a High Performance Track for those who coach high performance athletes who compete at our national championships and internationally.

Course focus - After several pilot courses, USAB has now developed new courses for the Community Track - Level 1 & 2 Community Coach Courses. Both courses are more detailed and intensive than past Level 1 and Level 2 courses.

Courses are designed for a ‘specific participant community.’ Each course is made up of a number of competency units which are presented as ‘modules.’

Course Organization and Management
With in put and ideas from the Coaching Department, course organization and management is now in the early stages of going on line. The database system is managed by RailStation. This includes on line coach directory, course registration, course organization, coach evaluation, e-certificate, etc

Prerequisites for entering a USAB coaching course – For the new CDP, course participants must complete the following before registering for a course:  (1) join USAB as a member, (2) complete a background check, (3) complete First Aid & CPR courses and (4) complete mandatory sports foundation courses with ASEP (American Sport Education Program).
Long Term High Performance Coach Development - While focusing on the Community Track to grow broad based participation in the sport, USAB is also committed to develop its own USA trained High Performance Coaches. USAB has encouraged former and current High Performance Athletes holding a USAB Level 1 Coaching Certificate to serve as assistant coaches at the Pan Am Junior Championships. This event provides an opportunity for Senior, High Performance Coaches from the USAB High Performance Pool to evaluate and guide the assistant coaches. These coaches are then upgraded as Provisional Level 2 High Performance Coaches. USAB ran a pilot High Performance Coach Competency Assessment in the Bay Area in October, 2011. Two High performance Coaches (Raju Rai and Kowi Chandra) were involved in this first pilot project - High Performance Coach Competency Assessment.

Certification - Currently all those who have previously completed certification with USAB in the earlier format/structure will still be certified if they so desire. All previously and currently trained coaches have been adjusted and moved into the two coaching tracks. 

USAB Certified Coach - In the new CDP, a Certified USAB Coach is a coach who:

• has successfully attended and completed a USAB endorsed coaching course,
• has current USAB Membership and is in good standing with USAB,
• has an active current background check ( by  the National Center for Safety
• USOC endorsed background check
  
• holds a current First-Aid and CPR Certificate,
• has attended a face-to-face USAB Coaches’ Code of Ethics and Conduct Training,
• is familiar with Athlete’s Rights under USOC guidelines.

Active Coaches - from January 1, 2012 onward, in order for coaches to remain as an Active Coach USAB Certified Coach, they have to meet the minimum requirement of having a current USAB Membership and current background check. USAB will announce for other prerequisites to be a Certified Coach which will be made mandatory at a later time.

Inactive Coaches - Coaches, who have completed their certification in the previous system but do not wish to continue their development, but only maintain their current USAB Membership, will be deemed as Inactive Coaches.

USAB Coach Directory - USAB currently publishes the names of coaches who are current USAB members and those whose USAB membership has lapsed. All coaches whose USAB membership has lapsed, have until December 31, 2011 to renew their membership so that their names will be listed on the USAB Coach Directory.  

Certificates – Effective November 15, 2011, USAB will cease issuing hard copy certificates after each course. Participants who have successfully completed a course and Active (USAB Certified) Coaches will be able to ‘print’ certificates through their USAB profile at any time. 

Inactive Coaches and coaches whose membership has lapsed will only be able to print their certificates until December 31, 2011. 

Coaches who would like to have a more formal hard copy certificate can request the USAB National Office to organize but they will have to pay USAB a $10 fee for administrative and mailing costs.

Re-certification
In the near future, re-certification and continuing education will be required to maintain active certification.

Maintaining Coaching Record If a coach opens a new profile, he/she will lose all previous coaching records and will not be able to print certificates. His/her old records will only be maintained under the old profile.
For more information go to: http://usabadminton.org/resources/coaching

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Badminton has announced the prospective coach and team leader nominees for the 2011 United States Pan American Games Badminton Team.  Representing the United States of America as coaches and team leader of the eight badminton athlete that will compete in the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, October 14-30, 2011 are:

Ignatius Rusli (Orange, Calif.), Men’s Head Coach

Ben Lee (San Jose, Calif.), Women’s Head Coach

Mohan Subramaniam (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Team Leader

Wendy Carter (Gig Harbor, Wash.), Replacement Coach

The coaches will be responsible for coaching the eight badminton athletes that will represent the United States of America in competition at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, October 14-30, 2011.  The athlete nominees for the 2011 United States Pan American Games Team – Badminton were originally announced in June and are as follows:

Women’s Team:

Iris Wang (Arcadia, Calif.)

Rena Wang (Arcadia, Calif.)

Eva Lee (Orange, Calif.)

Paula Obanana (Mountain View, Calif.)

 

Men’s Team:

Howard Bach (San Francisco, Calif./Orange, Calif.)

Tony Gunawan (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Sattawat Pongnairat (Long Beach, Calif.)

Halim Haryanto Ho (Milpitas, Calif.)

 

All nominations to the 2011 United States Pan American Games Team are pending final approval by the Chief Executive Officer of the United States Olympic Committee.

Cee Ketpura (Orange, Calif.) had qualified for nomination to the 2011 United States Pan American Games Team – Badminton, but withdrew from the event for personal reasons.  With Ketpura’s withdrawal, Iris Wang (Arcadia, Calif.) has now been nominated to the 2011 United States Pan American Games Team – Badminton.

The 2011 United States Pan American Games Badminton Team will be an interesting mixture of experience and youth.  The team will be led by three Olympians in Bach (U.S. 2004 and 2008), Gunawan (Indonesia 2000, Olympic gold medalist in men’s doubles) and Lee (U.S. 2008).  Bach and Gunawan, the 2005 World Champions in men’s doubles are well on their way to the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England with Gunawan on track to being sworn in as a U.S. citizen in September 2011.  Similarly, Ho, a native of Indonesia, will soon become an official citizen of the United States of America.  Ho and Gunawan paired up to win the 2001 World Badminton Championship in men’s doubles in 2001.  Bach, Gunawan, Lee and Ho obviously bring a plethora of international experience to Team USA.  The remaining four members of the team, the Wang sisters, Pongnairat and Obanana, will all be looking to this event to gain valuable international experience and ranking points that could propel them to the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England.

This will be Bach’s fourth Pan American Games.  At the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil he won the gold medal in mixed doubles with Lee and silver in men’s doubles with Khan “Bob” Malaythong (Rockville, Md.).  He won gold at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in men’s doubles with Kevin Han and silver in men’s doubles at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada with Mark Manha.  In 2007, Lee captured the Pan American Games triple-crown, winning gold in women’s singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.

The 2011 Pan American Games will be held, October 14-30, 2011 in Guadalajara, Mexico.  The badminton competition is scheduled to take place from October 15-20th and will be held in Guadalajara’s Multipurpose Gymnasium.  Team USA will compete in women’s singles, men’s singles, women’s doubles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles.

Unlike the 2007 Pan American Games, the 2011 Pan American Games will count toward an athlete’s international ranking in the Badminton World Federation.  This makes the 2011 Pan American Games a very important qualifying event on the road to the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England.

The Badminton World Federation’s Olympic Qualification season for the 2012 Olympic Games began on May 1, 2011 and will run through April 30, 2012.  Participation in the Olympic Games is solely determined by an athlete’s international ranking.  Five badminton events will be contested at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England; men’s doubles, women’s doubles, men’s singles, women’s singles and mixed doubles.