Prakash Sukumaran, president of RCBC praised the volunteers and administrators for encouraging the sport within the school before presenting the students with the rackets.
"The Royal City Badminton Club and the Guelph Wellington Seniors Association have been terrific partners and resources to grow the game of badminton in our board," commented David de Burger, coach of the St. John CS Badminton team. "Over the past 20 years, leaders Jeff Millard and George Spence have encouraged community coaches from RCBC and GWSA to give their time to run clinics and/or coach teams at Bishop Mac, Our Lady of Lourdes, and St. James as well as with a number of elementary teams in our board. In addition, these coaches have helped with running the WCDSB city championship tournament for the past 10 years.
Finally, Jeff Millard has been a consistent leader for over 20 years with the badminton program at St. John where the love for this game truly shines. This year the school ran a club with about 40 players throughout the year and currently has close to 40 players playing on their A and B teams.
This partnership and the willingness of these individuals and organizations to “pay it forward” and share their love of the sport is a huge reason why passion for badminton is growing so rapidly in Wellington Catholic.
We are so grateful to Jeff Millard, Prakash Sukumaran, and all of the leaders at RCBC and GWSA for continuing to share their passion for the sport and for being difference makers for our WCDSB students."