Thomas is our current serving President and has been for the pass couple of years. HIs inclusion with badminton has been significant with pushing out badminton to the more extensive Cook Islands, having done 3 out of 15 of our remote islands and with room to expand even further.
If Thomas is not attending to badminton, you can find Thomas helping out his Mother run the local Te Kainga O Pa Taunga Mental Health Centre and clinic. Te Kainga provides health services to the wider community and delivery programs to help there client overcome Mental Health.
“The most important thing about being a leader isn’t too much about the leading, it’s more about listening to those who are around you” – wise words from our next Serve-ing Pacific winner, Thomas Mereana-Ngauru (Badminton Cook Islands President)
He was nominated for his comittment to leadership, playing an instrumental role in the development of badminton across the country.
From the management of Badminton Cook Island, congratulations and all the best for the overall staycation prize
Music credit Bensound(Caption from Badminton Oceania)
Pictured: Robbie Thackham and The Edgewater Resort and Spa staff play AirBadminton on the beach
In late January, our Coaching and Development Manager, Robbie Thackham, took advantage of the quarantine-free bubble in operation between New Zealand and the Cook Islands to lead a Pacific Coaching Course, deliver a player development camp and launch AirBadminton into The Edgewater Resort and Spa.
Firstly, the Pacific Coaching Course was delivered to a total of 11 aspiring coaches across the week, with four women and seven men upskilling. The course bridges the knowledge gap between qualifying as a Shuttle Time teacher and the more extensive experience required for the BWF Level 1 Coaching qualification.
Since inception, the Pacific Coaching Course has aided over 62 coaches across the Pacific (14 face-to-face and 48 via online components) in obtaining the knowledge to assist their nation’s qualified coaches to train their respective national squads and player development teams.
The Cook Islands currently has five BWF Level 1 coaches (Thomas Manea-Ngauru, Ngaoa Ranaginui, Hebrew Tom, John Taulu and Eric Gamez) and will receive additional support across their ever-growing programmes thanks to the development of Pacific qualified coaches.
Across the same week, 26 players from tiers two, three and four of Badminton Oceania’s Player Development programme benefitted from the expertise of Robbie Thackham, who led coaching sessions to cover various techniques and tactics of the game. Particularly for the players in tiers two and three, the training aims to prepare players for a level of competition that is stronger than what is currently available in country.
“It was a pleasure to join the aspiring coaches and players in the Cook Islands who continue to show great enthusiasm for growing the game across the country. The coaches can now assist the BWF Level 1 coaches with confidence and every time I meet the junior players, I continue to see their improvement. The next step for them is to take advantage of the international tournaments as border controls start to ease throughout this year“, says Robbie.
Find out more about the Player Development programme here.
Meanwhile, another benefit of the trip was the opportunity to launch AirBadminton in country at The Edgewater Resort and Spa.
AirBadminton was officially launched in Guangzhou, China, in May 2019 and began a global rollout in 2020. The outdoor version of badminton aims to inspire more people, to play more badminton, in more places, while hosting the physical, mental and social health benefits of playing badminton.
Halted by the growing presence of COVID-19, member associations have gradually acquired the resources to increase AirBadminton participation. This will be bolstered by Badminton Oceania’s plan to include AirBadminton in the activities on offer across Pacific resorts, starting with The Edgewater Resort and Spa.
Robbie Thackham joined The Edgewater’s General Manager (Franz Staufer) and several staff members to show them how to set up the courts which uses an outdoor net and line set (with different dimensions to traditional badminton), alongside the rules which are unique to the game.
Following Robbie’s training, the resort was equipped with two AirBadminton sets (also used to host the recent 2022 Cook Islands Beach Games) to encourage tourists, guests and local player to play AirBadminton across their beachfront facilities.
The Edgewater Resort and Spa is also the official accommodation provider of the Oceania Masters in Paradise 2022 (a masters badminton tournament), which will feature AirBadminton as part of the social events.
Photo credits: Cook Islands National Olympic Committee
The 2022 Cook Islands Beach Games took place across Rarotonga at the end of January, bring the island’s most popular sports together across their stunning beaches and backdrops.
AirBadminton, the outdoor game which launched two years ago, made its debut at this year’s edition of the Games. The new version of the sport is recognized for its accessibility to play badminton anywhere: on hard, grass and sand surfaces in parks, gardens, streets, playgrounds and beaches around the world.
Given the diverse range of landscapes and stunning scenery offered across Oceania, the alternative version of the game is an exciting opportunity for players to get involved, admire the urban or rural environments, while still benefiting from the multiple health and social benefits of badminton.
“This was the first ever AirBadminton tournament in the region so it’s very exciting”, says Badminton Cook Islands President, Thomas Mereana-Ngauru.
“It was a team event. They have had plenty of time to practice and prepare and everyone was looking forward to competing”, says Thomas.
Across the three days of competition, 60 players formed a total of 12 teams, with each rubber consisting of the traditional disciplines of single and doubles, while also introducing the new format exclusive to AirBadminton – triples.
The tournament took place at The Edgewater Resort and Spa – hosts of the Oceania Masters in Paradise 2022 – and eventual hosts of the Pacific resorts launch, where AirBadminton plans to be a recreational activity on offer to guests staying at resorts across the continent.
Despite finishing fourth in their pool, the team named ‘Bring It On’ turned it all the way up to 11 throughout the knockouts and went on to become the eventual winners of the inaugural AirBadminton competition. The team includes Danny Simpson, Carlie Marsters, Ambushia Mateariki, Kathleen Adams and Ahkim Tikaroa (pictured below).
“We were delighted to take home the first Gold medal. We struggled to come together during the pools but eventually found our form during the knockout rounds. It was an exciting and unique opportunity to play AirBadminton so competitively, outside. We hope to defend our title in next year’s Beach Games”, says gold medalist, Ahkim Tikaroa.
Meanwhile, the silver and bronze medals went to teams ‘Lessgho 2.0’ and ‘Team Assassins’, respectively.
Team Assassins: Ngaoa Ranginui, Shane Pedersen, Tokoa Elikana, Kariana Hagai, Solo Akamoeau and Tavita Piakura.
More images, videos and results from the AirBadminton at the Cook Islands Beach Games 2022 are available on the Badminton Cook Islands Facebook Page.
Interested to find out more about AirBadminton? Get in touch with your local member association or find out more here. Learn more about the doubles and triples version of AirBadminton in the video below.
Pictured: Tinomana Naea (back row in red) with Shuttle Time students
Congratulations to the first Serve-ing Pacific winner, Tinomana Naea, from Cook Islands. He was nominated for excelling with ‘Inclusiveness’ – one of five organizational values which Badminton Oceania embeds across all programme areas.
Tinomana is a committee member and Shuttle Time Tutor for Badminton Cook Islands and his hard work, loyalty and determination has never faltered since joining the organisation over four years ago.
Tinomana
His involvement has been pivotal to the delivery of Shuttle Time and badminton in general across primary and secondary school programmes and after school classes. Other members of the Badminton Cook Islands Committee acknowledged his extreme passion for the sport, always going the extra mile to balance his own personal and work life with the responsibilities to make room for school children and their ability to learn and develop through badminton.
Badminton in the Cook Islands has grown tremendously over the last four years (despite the challenges of COVID-19), including the ongoing annual primary school’s tournament (which always starts with a ‘Shuttle Time roadshow’), initiation of a mixed generation tournaments, ladies only sessions and increased Shuttle Time workforce to cater for the increased appetite among children, their parents and wider community groups across the country.
One key highlight in Tinomana’s time as a volunteer includes the success of a student group from Avarua School who he has been guiding and teaching Shuttle Time for the last two years, who consequently went on to win the junior division of the annual college tournament in 2020.
“He is a very proud coach. He definitely claimed the bragging rights, but it definitely goes to show, when you have great people supporting you and the dream, anything is possible”, says Thomas Mereana-Ngauru, President of Badminton Cook Islands.
“He’s had my back since becoming the President of Badminton Cook Islands and is extremely popular among the schools and their students in the Cook Islands. I know his story will inspire and encourage others to step up, lead and inspire others through sport”, says Thomas
While his list of motivations to volunteer was endless, some key factors included physical and mental health benefits, the ability to bring people together and in helping children to develop numerous skills.
“I’ve enjoyed seeing badminton grow on this island. There are so many people here who didn’t know badminton existed just a few years back – most people only knew about rugby and netball. It’s great to see there is another sport taking off which they can get into. It’s opened up a lot of eyes, especially for the kids”, says Tinomana.
“I like helping out people, helping out the kids and enhancing the awareness of badminton across the Cook Islands. For me, it’s all about getting to see the children grow. They start off very young and you watch them grow and some of them go on to win, even at the National Championships and it’s great to see them achieve so much”
Once again, Badminton Oceania thanks Tinomana Naea for his ongoing work and his commitment to upholding our values, particularly inclusiveness. While he intends to continue volunteering with Badminton Cook Islands for the foreseeable future, he is hoping that he can have an even greater impact on the organisation’s long-term vision by assisting with the planning and implementation of international standard badminton courts to assist their multiple development programmes and potential events.
The prize for each winner in Serve-ing Pacific is a lunch voucher which Tinomana and a guest can use to support local. Additionally, he will be the first to enter the random six-monthly draw (including the previous six winners) for the ultimate staycation prize, which will be drawn in May 2022.
Keep your eyes peeled at the beginning of January 2022 to find out who the next winner is.
Do you want to volunteer in badminton? Or do you know a volunteer who you would like to nominate? Find out more by clicking here.
On Saturday 11th December we will be holding our end of year Awards evening at 5pm at a venue to be confirmed. It is an open invitation to all our players, supporters and families to attend and to please bring a plate. The theme is Island Wear. There will also be entertainment and some fun games
We will be presenting the Awards for
· Under 11 National Champs
· Under 13 National Champs
· Elite Business Competition
· Open National Champs
And this year we have included 4 Special Awards which we will be calling on everyone to submit nominations with the winners being announced on the night. Each year we hope to add more Awards to the list and we encourage everyone to take part
Those Special Awards are
· Badminton Personality of the Year
o Nominate a player, supporter, coach or someone whose personality stood out and had a positive impact on you this year
· Junior Player of the Year
o Nominate a Junior player who has impressed you in 2021
· Senior Player of the Year
o Nominate a Senior player who has impressed you in 2021
· Photo of the Year
o Simply send through a photo from either off our facebook page or of your own that stands out to you and highlights the 2021 badminton year
o The winning photo will win a Cash Prize & grace the cover of our 2021 Annual Report
Send all entries and nominations to myself before 8th December 2021
Leading up to the competition, to sense the excitement from the players is pulsating
It was an action packed four evenings of Badminton Opens Nationals held at the TSA. Men’s and Women’s Singles were played on the 12th and 13th November 2021. Men’s and Women’s Doubles and also Mixed Doubles were played on the 19th and 20th November 2021. Furthermore consolation matches were also played.
Initial two days of Women’s and Men’s Singles hushed up a nights of vulnerability with nail biting matches. This year was another extremely tough year. At first there was elimination rounds which would later on turn out to be engaging matches to watch, everyone was out there doing their best.
However, reigning champions for Women’s and Men’s Singles managed to hold on to there titles for another year. Meeting with fierce resistance from both opponents and due to an injury for the Men’s singles, the opponent had to pull out.
Evening three and four were met with Men’s, Women’s and Mixed Doubles. This year’s Doubles saw the return and inclusion of ex and newbie players added to the draws. This tossed several players in a furor while contending.
Our Grand Finals contenders for Men’s Doubles were from our U19 Squad VS our Elite players. For our Women’s Doubles they were from the U19 Squad VS U15 Squad. Pure extreme talent was laid out on the night with winner takes all. Unfortunately our Men’s U19 and U15 Women’s dual had not manage to capitalized during there finals and had succumb to the talent of our winners. Also, our reigning Champs for Mixed Doubles managed to also secured there title for another year.
The Doubles consolation matches also drew attention from a roaring crowd. Made up of losing teams from our first rounds and mostly U13 players. This made for an exciting match for our Juniors.
Congratulations to all our winners and to all those who were involved with making this tournament a success. Our prizegiving for Open Nationals alongside our Elite Social will be held on Saturday 4th of December 2021 venue tbc. Please book this date down and will see you all there for our celebration.
5th Annual Primary School Badminton Tournament 2021 Held at the TSA Friday 12th November
The day had finally come, where our coaches had been in different schools, delivering Shuttle Time classes in preparation for this day.
The tournament started in the morning with the arrival of different schools followed by a welcoming speech, and then proceeded with our first matches. The matches were played in a round robin format, followed by Play-offs, Semi Finals, and then Finals with 41 rounds in total. What an action packed day it was.
There was a minor issue that had emerged from this years Semi Finals. One Year 6 Boys group who lost during the play-offs, and was mistakenly been added to the Semi Finals. However, when the issue emerged the team had manage to address and correct this issue which lead to an additional Semi Finals and a rematch Final and an even more cheerful and exciting atmosphere.
It was good to see our kids and parents soaking up the excitement and having fun. One excited grandma had been at the tournament to watch her grandson play, this is what she had to say.
“I came to watch my grandson play for Te Uki Ou at Badminton. They won their group (happy grandma right there).. Hats off to all of you that persevered with elevating Badminton to what it is today.. well done, well organized despite the little final hiccup.. Keep it up, & pass my congrats to the commitee when you get the chance…” said excited grandma
In spite of COVID impacting our economy, the association was able to onboard our awesome sponsors Bank of the Cook Islands and Federal Pacific Insurance, to provide healthy snack packs to our schools and volunteers, and also onboard Vodafone to provide prizes for our participants and champions.
Thomas Ngauru, the President of CIBA had mentioned throughout the tournament, that CIBA was on the scout for talented individuals who would go on to represent Cook Islands at the next AIMS Games in New Zealand for 2022.
“Despite the cancellation of last years and this years AIMS Games due to COVID. We will carry on as planned, to take a team to AIMS Games unless otherwise stated” said Thomas
Thank you to Badminton World Federation (BWF), Badminton Oceania (BOC) our Primary Schools Apii Nikao, Apii Avarua, Apii Arorangi, Apii St Joseph, Apii Takitumu, Apii Te Uki Ou, Apii Akatemia, Apii Papaaroa, our sponsors Bank of the Cook Islands, Vodafone and Federal Pacific Insurance, and our volunteers, for coming on board and believing in our initiatives and values as we make badminton accessible to the Cook Islands
Congratulations goes out to all our winners in your respective age groups and to Apii Nikao for taking out the Overall Championship 2yrs in a row. Fact, Second School to do this, lets see if we can be the first to make it a three-peat
Pictured: (left to right) Tereapii Akavi, Te Pa O Te Rangi Tupa, Zarrian Heather-Rau and Kaiyin Mataio
It was a smashing weekend for Badminton Cook Islands with their Under 15s National Championship Games taking place last weekend at the TSA Arena.
Thirty players participated in singles, doubles and mixed doubles matches with most of the players being part of Badminton Oceania’s Player Development Programme and Badminton Cook Islands’ development programme for the Under 15s and Under 13s age range.
The results from each of the players’ performances on the court will set them up to qualify for the upcoming VICTOR Oceania Junior Championships in New Zealand which is hopefully set to take place in February next year.
The U13 squad participating just recently returned from New Zealand after they were stuck in lockdown on the way home from attending a development camp with Badminton Oceania earlier in the year.
Thomas Ngauru, president of Badminton Cook Islands, said that those players were back in good spirits and had come back with a new strength and passion for the game.
“It seemed to have really brought them together,” Ngauru said.
Even with only two weeks of preparation, they looked forward to taking part in the final tournament of the year.
“We always look forward to seeing how players do well against each other, especially when it means so much for their selection next year in the Oceania Championships. It’s also good preparation for the new year,” said Ngauru.
Day one saw a blend of games from men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles matches being played with finals held on Saturday. There were additional consolation matches held.
The final day on Saturday kicked off with mixed doubles elimination matches which turned out to be another evening of exciting matches.
“Unfortunately nerves defeated the best of many of the athletes,” Ngauru said.
This year’s winners for boys and girls singles, saw both of them take out first placing in mixed doubles and girls and boys doubles.
The night ended with a prize giving with each winner receiving Vodafone top up vouchers and some also receiving goodies.
The Junior Development Squad also participated in their respective age groups, showcasing their abilities and wellness levels on the courts. The Junior Development Squad have had intensified on court training and strength and condition training throughout this entire year to showcase their abilities as well as to see how well they have improved.
Badminton Cook Islands wanted to say a huge meitaki maata to Badminton Oceania and their main sponsor Vodafone Cook Islands, making events such as these possible.
A big thank you was also extended to the coaches and The Box Tumuora for developing and empowering their juniors and the for Badminton Cook Islands management and the parents of the players for their time and efforts.
VIEW ALL RESULTS HERE
Text first published by Alana Musselle, Cook Islands News
Was an extraordinary beginning to our 2 day U15 Nationals Championship 2021, with some spectacular matches being played.
Day 1 saw a blend of games from Boys Singles, Girls Singles, Boys Doubles, Girls Doubles and Mixed Doubles matches being played with finals to be played on day 2. There were additional consolation matches happening also. Highlight matches saw a more talented Boys Doubles team being taken out in an exhilarating match 22 – 20, 12 – 21, 21 – 15. Moreover Number 2 seeded U15 Boys Single Player just manage to secure him a spot in the finals 21 – 11, 18 – 21, 21 – 15.
Final day kicked off with Mixed Doubles elimination matches, another evening of exciting matches. Unfortunately nerves defeated the best of most of our athletes this evening, with some battling to capitalise. This years winners for Boys and Girls Singles, saw both them take out 1st placing in Mixed Doubles and Girls and Boys Doubles. What a great achievement. The night ended with a prize giving, with each winner receiving Vodafone topup vouchers, and some also receiving goodies
Our Junior Development Squad have had intensified on court training and strength and conditioning training throughout the entire year, and to showcase there abilities and wellness level, and to see how well our squad has improved. We have our Junior Development Squad compete in our Nationals in there respective age groups, which is held yearly.
Huge meitaki maata to Badminton Oceania and our sponsor Vodafone Cook Islands for making our events possible. Also, thank you to our coaches and The Box Tumuora for developing and enpowering our Juniors. Lastly thank you to CIBA management and our parents for your time and efforts. Bring on the opens!!!
Congratulations to all our champs of 2021. Full results and finals can be viewed below
We have kicked off our Primary School Program for 2021, delivering our Shuttle Time Program in schools around Rarotonga for the next three weeks to Years 4, 5 and 6, Thank you to our Shuttle Time coaches who will be delivering our grassroot initiatives to our children. Our kids will be learning the different skills needed to play badminton and excel
Shuttle Time lessons are designed to provide children with a positive image of badminton through many opportunities to have fun, engage with others and experience success.
As usual, we will be ending off our program with our very popular Annual Primary School Tournament. This will be our 5th year running this tournament. With around 130 children and 9 schools participating in last years tournament with Apii Nikao taking out the overall winners.
This years tournament will be played on the 12th November 2021 at the TSA on 8 courts, where schools will battle it out to be the overall winners and champions for 2021
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