Volunteer award honours Goodbehere’s big commitment

ife member of Monrad Badminton Club, Bruce Goodbehere, won the 2013 Badminton New Zealand Volunteer of the Year in Auckland last month.

Goodbehere is also Manawatu Badminton Association vicepresident and has served on this committee for many years.

He is a well- known administrator and a respected competitor on the court in Manawatu. Goodbehere has a friendly demeanour and is always willing to help others and this is evident in the huge range of voluntary jobs he does.

He uses his IT skills to improve our website and all MBA schools competitions and the MBA Superleague competition.

This has made the MBA competitions run smoother.

He also attends all schools’ competition days, helps out kids with coaching or rules and represents Manawatu on masters and veterans teams.

The MBA is grateful to him for his voluntary work and we also awarded him our Manawatu Badminton Volunteer Service Award for 2013. The badminton season is well under way with Manawatu schools competitions, Manawatu senior teams picked, six Manawatu junior players representing the Central region at under- 17 Australasian championships and the Manawatu Open.

The Manawatu primary schools competition was in term 1, with 19 teams from Whakarongo School, Hokowhitu School, College Street Normal School, Our Lady of Lourdes, West End School, Cloverlea School, Awapuni School and Russell Street School.

Division one was won by Whakarongo’s Lachlan and Zac Bradford and division two by College Street’s Monty Feulufai and Chalitha Gantamadasa.

The Manawatu secondary schools’ competition is on at Arena Manawatu on Mondays, with 54 teams taking part from Palmerston North Boys’ High School, Palmerston North Girls’ High School, Feilding High School, Freyberg High School, Awatapu College, Nga Tawa Diocesan School, St Peter’s, Queen Elizabeth College and Longburn Adventist College. The Manawatu masters, vets and seniors teams are all playing in the North Island inter- association badminton team league and we have had some good wins already.

Manawatu masters division three team: Dave Reardon, Wayne Young, Shane Ogier, Alan Samuel, Simon, Allan, Michelle Boudreau, Rose Wapp, Jo Smith, Sandra Lynch and Pui- Ching Tan. Results from April 5 – beat Waikato 10- 2 and beat Horowhenua/ Kapiti 12- 0. Best of luck this weekend in Auckland.

Manawatu masters division five team: Bruce Goodbehere, Greg Busch, Malcolm Taylor, Glenn Weggery, Tupu Mauala, Janice Cudby, Leigh Dome, Susie Hilbourne, Leonne Goodbehere and Kim Hildred. Results from April 5 – Lost to Wellington 11- 1 and lost to Wellington North 6- 6 ( 14- 13 games). Good luck this weekend in Rotorua.

Manawatu veterans division two team: Rose Wapp, Michelle Boudreau, Mary Roberts, Rosemary Asplin, Simon Allan, Shane Ogier, Bruce Goodbehere and Ian Angove. Results from May 10 in Hawke’s Bay – Vets 1 Lost to Hawke’s Bay 8- 1 and beat Counties Manukau 6- 3.

Manawatu veterans division four team: Jeyamohan Ponnampalam, Nick Miller, Alf Meads, Don Allomes, Janice Cudby, Leigh Dome, Sue McDowell and Leonne Goodbehere. Results from May 10 in Wanganui – Vets 2 lost to Wanganui 8- 1 and defeated Taranaki 6- 3.

Senior division three team: Mike Newton, Josh Curry, Nafiu Nizar, Ting Hatthaphone, Wei Lim, Sandra Lynch, Indah Dewi, Mayoora Jeyamohan, Caragh Alley and Rebecca Ye. Results from April 12 – beat Waitakere 10- 6 and beat Hawke’s Bay 8- 8 ( 20- 17 games).

Senior division four team: David Wasley, Ben McEwen, Jonathan Tan, Callum Hill, Elijah Paul, Danielle Skarott, Geena Morgan, Rebecca Hutchings and Jessica Rich. Results from April 12 - Div 4 lost 12- 4 to Wellington and lost 15- 1 to Hutt Valley. We had six Manawatu players selected for the under- 17 Central Region team to the Australasian Championships in Auckland in April. They finished ninth beating the Oceania team and Mainland on the way.

Congratulations to Rebecca Ye, Niamh Alley, Wei Lim, Arrooran Jeyamohan, Junius Ong and Chris Varghese.

The Manawatu open was at Arena Manawatu recently with 90 competitors in our under- 17, senior and senior B grade events.

Players travelled from Auckland, Hawke’s Bay, Wellington and Wanganui and Manawatu players took home some trophies.

The Adidas Badminton under- 17s Want to play badminton? Here are the clubs in Palmerston North: Monrad junior ( 6pm) and senior club ( 7pm): Mondays at St Peter’s College.

Junior Mondays at Palmerston North Boys’ High School ( 6pm) and senior Tuesdays at the B& M Centre ( 7.30pm).

Tuesdays from 7pm at Palmerston North Intermediate Normal School.

Thursdays from 6pm in the B& M Centre until December.

Saturdays from 2pm in Massey Rec Centre, check out – www. manawatubadminton. org. nz were dominated by Wei Lim and Rebecca Ye, both winning singles, doubles and mixed events.

Senior results: Carragh Alley ( Manawatu) was runner- up in the women’s singles. The Manawatu women’s doubles was won by Sandra Lynch and Indah Kadek Dewi, Nafiu Nizar and Ting Hattaphone were runners- up in the men’s doubles, and Caragh Alley ( Manawatu)/ Pun Thepkunhannamit ( Taranki) won the mixed doubles.

Thanks to Mike Newton ( Palmerston North Badminton Club) for running the event and all our sponsors. Manawatu Badminton, in association with Tennis Manawatu, Central Squash and funding partner Sport Manawatu, is piloting our ‘‘ Let’s Make a Racket’’ initiative at College Street Normal School.

All children at the school are getting coaching classesfor each sport.

To date we have delivered to more than 400 children and will continue until the end of the academic year.

Clive Robertson from College Street is doing a tremendous job organising the PE timetables and ensuring every child gets the opportunity to try the racket sports.