At its Fall General Meeting on October 28, 2007, the Ottawa District Badminton Association honoured District badminton player, coach and enthusiast, Ann Rayner, for her dedication and contributions to the interests of Badminton in Ottawa and Ontario for over 30 years. Long-time friend, Paula Green, ODBA Director of Participation Development, introduced Ann to the meeting and pointed out that Ann was a "true builder of the sport" and had made significant contributions in so many different ways for the better part of four decades.

Paula noted that over those years, Ann had been an ardent competitive player, a coach (currently Level 3), a coaching course conductor, a mentor and a tireless volunteer. She had coached extensively at the RA Centre and at the Soong Badminton Academy, and particularly in recent years, had conducted Level 1 and Level 2 Coaching courses in the District. Paula also noted that Ann had served with distinction on the ODBA Board of Directors for many years, first as Secretary, and later as Director of Junior Development. In this latter capacity, she created or rejuvenated the District junior tournaments. It was in the early 90s at a District Bob O'Reilly Tournament that Paula had first met Ann, who organized that tournament. Paula's son, Alexander, had so much fun at this, his first tournament, that he determined to be a competitive player, and today, continues to play and compete at the university level.

Paula also mentioned that Ann had been the co-manager and assistant coach for two Ontario Winter Games and for the 1995 Canada Winter Games at which the Ontario Team won the Gold. In 1995, Ann was recognized by the Ontario Badminton Association for her contributions to badminton by being selected for the Keith Hollands Award.

In her closing remarks, Paula wished Ann well in her retirement from active playing and coaching, but expressed the hope that she would continue to contribute to badminton in Ottawa in some capacity.

Ferdy Doreleyers, Chair of the RA Badminton Club, added to the tributes in pointing out that in addition to her long service as a member of the RA Executive Committee and as a coach and mentor to RA juniors, when she helped so many get to out-of- town events, and to her other accomplishments already mentioned, Ann participated in several City of Ottawa-The Hague Twinning Games. Ferdy noted with a twinkle in his eye that these events were a lot of fun. He added that the high esteem in which Ann was held could be seen in the fact that a few years ago she was accorded the rare honour of a life membership at the RA Badminton Club.

Terry Leung, ODBA Director-at-Large, noted that while he had not known Ann for a long time, he had come to know her in recent years in her capacity as a coaching course conductor, and that in this capacity, her students had summed her up in one word: "inspiring".

Charlie Lui, ODBA Director of Marketing, read out best wishes from Janet and Dominic at the Soong Badminton Academy, who were unable to attend the meeting. More specifically, Janet and Dominic extended their best wishes to Ann on her retirement, expressed sincere thanks for her decades of work in building the sport in the region, and noted how honoured they were to have worked with her as a coaching colleague and as a coaching course conductor. They thanked her for being such a great mentor for their new coaches.

Fei Tam, President of the ODBA, then presented Ann with a bouquet of flowers and a plaque inscribed as follows:

Ann expressed her appreciation at being honoured by the ODBA, and shared with the group some of her thoughts on the occasion.

Ann played competitive badminton all over the province for nearly forty years until she was sidelined by a knee injury at the U.S. Seniors & Masters in California in 1998. A persistent heel injury led to her decision this past year to put away her racquet for good.

It was in the late 70s, when her own daughters were beginning to play, that Ann discovered that although working with beginners was "the most difficult stage to teach, [it was] the most rewarding for the coach and athlete". Ann completed her Level 1 and 2 coaching certification at this time.

Ann recounted that one of the major highlights of her coaching career was working intensively for a period of four years as Assistant Coach with Head Coach Dominic Soong as they prepared the Ontario Provincial Team for the Canada Winter Games in 1995. She explained that in addition to the three components of training which were standard up to that time--- technical, tactical and physical, they were able, as result of their Level 3 Certification work, to introduce to the athletes a new component that was just entering the badminton lexicon: psychological. Today, no-one questions how powerful a tool this is in developing a player to handle pressure, focus better, recover from injuries better and improve skills more quickly. At the time, they tapped the books and tapes by Sports Psychologist, Terry Orlik, at Ottawa U. "What a thrill that was when we defeated BC for the Gold Medal !", Ann recalled. Today, some of the original players are familiar names to everyone: Mike Beres, Charmaine Reid and Kyle Hunter.

Being selected for the OBA Keith Hollands Award in 1995, was in Ann's words, "my most honoured and special event of my career", all the more so, because Keith had been a dear personal friend from Ottawa and had had such a great passion for the game.

As noted earlier, for Ann, training people for their Level 1 and 2 under the Coaching Certification program has been particularly rewarding and where she feels she has added most to the development of the sport. "I just loved seeing the keen faces after the sessions ready to share their knowledge." She wondered aloud, however, to what extent individual clubs were keen today to have certified coaches in their clubs, as in recent years, only one or two clubs have had members interested in being coaches on a regular basis.

In reflecting on the changes over the years in badminton rules, scoring and equipment, Ann spoke particularly passionately in support of the new rules for the use of protective eyewear for juniors. She recounted that she personally had been hit in the eye by a bird and had had to spend a week in the hospital, while they waited to see whether surgery and perhaps loss of sight might be the result. Since then, she always used the safety eyewear. "To play the net with no fear can make a big difference in the game."

Ann closed her remarks by recounting her own basic guiding principle: Give each player as much positive support as possible to help the athlete develop a love for the game. "If I could have them go home feeling good about themselves and keen to come back to learn more, then I knew I did my job well."

ODBA members then had an opportunity to chat individually with Ann, as the meeting took a break for a buffet lunch.

By Terry Leung, ODBA Director-at-Large

This version updated December 6, 2007