Badminton stars say sacrifice key to success

University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) student, Will Lee, 19 years old, and Jada Renales, a 17 year old form six student at Holy Cross College, claimed five awards between them both as they stole the show on the night. The teens noted that sacrifices had to be made in order to reach this stage of their amateur careers and both agreed that the work has only just begun.

Speaking to Newsday, Senior Male and Senior Player of the Year, Will Lee expressed “It takes a lot out of you and your time but it’s about putting in the hard work, especially during the pressing times, staying committed and remaining focused on the task at hand, whether it is a match on the court or an exam in the classroom.” Lee recently started UTT in September and he is looking forward to continuing his rich vein of form in 2017.

“During the semester, my training days got reduced to two days per week, from the usual three days, to accommodate the additional workload, however, the national championships are set for January, so this year, there would be no break for Christmas as I would continue training hard.” Lee set out major goals for next year as he anticipates himself winning every local tournament that he enters while still doing well academically.

Jada Renales has the unique situation of having a coach present almost all the time. Jada, the daughter of Shuttle Force head coach Derwin Renales, elaborated on her experiences of having her father mentoring her both in her professional career and personal life. “It is tough sometimes having a coach as your father because sometimes rest is needed, but there is always a moment where that extra motivation to guide me on the correct path shows up at any given time.” However, she stated that if it was not for his guidance, she would not be able to reap the success she has achieved thus far. Jada won the Under 19 female category and also walked away with the Junior Female Player of the Year award.

“While it is challenging to maintain good grades in school and keeping the performance level high on the court, I would have to continue prioritising my time in order to properly develop and see how successful 2017 would be for me,” she said.

The president of the TTBA, Rahul Rampersad, detailed their accomplishments and, by extension, that of the association as he dubbed 2016 as the most successful year in the history of badminton in Trinidad and Tobago. “This year has been a year of progressive growth.

In January we had one athlete ranked internationally, and today, we have seven athletes with world rankings in different disciplines after their participation in only two tournaments, so we know that these athletes have more to offer in the future.” Rampersad went to discuss some of the plans for 2017. “We hope to introduce new projects as well as revive some of the older ones such as the National Badminton League, which is now carded to begin in February 2017. Also, collaboration with the Ministry of Education to revive the Secondary Schools League and seeking the inclusion of Badminton into the Trinidad and Tobago Paralympic Committee’s programme,” expressed an enthusiastic Rampersad. The TTBA plan to on host the 2017 Caribbean Badminton Championships (CAREBACO) in August, and the president views this as an opportunity which would allow the full complement of athletes to participate and, by extension, enhance the publicity for the sport.