Participants are being sought for a free Aboriginal youth badminton camp that will be held in Port Alberni next month.
The event, which is hosted by the Tseshaht First Nation, will be held on Nov. 5 at the Alberni District Secondary School gym.
The camp, which is sanctioned by Badminton BC, is open to all Aboriginal youth, regardless of their badminton abilities, who are between the ages of 10 and 19.
Ken Watts, the operations manager for the Tseshaht First Nation, said the camp can accommodate the first 25 youth that sign up.
The camp is being held in partnership with the Aboriginal Sport, Recreation and Physical Activity Partners Council.
Watts said this group is helping to organize various sporting events for Aboriginal youth across the province.
"Part of it is because there will be no North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) next year," Watts said. "Usually there would have qualifying events for that right now."
The 2011 NAIG had originally been awarded to Milwaukee, but officials from that city decided last year that they were no longer interested in hosting the games.
Those games were eventually cancelled when no other city stepped up to host the event, even a year later in 2012.
As a result, the next NAIG is now scheduled for 2014 in Regina.
Watts said it was only natural to stage a badminton camp locally.
"Port Alberni is known for being a badminton city," he said. "And there have been some great players come out of here in the past."
Besides competing in a mini-tournament, those who attend the November camp will learn various badminton skills, run through a number of drills and also learn about different game strategies.
Though there is no registration fee, those who wish to take part at the Port Alberni camp must sign up before Oct. 31.
Racquets for the day will be provided for those who do not have their own.
Also, lunch will be provided for all camp participants. And they will also receive a free t-shirt.
The Port Alberni event is one of two upcoming BC Aboriginal Badminton Camps that are scheduled. The other one will be held Oct. 29 in Williams Lake.
Watts said there's a chance Port Alberni will also host another camp in another sport.
"We may host a wrestling camp as well," he said. "We're still working on the logistics of that. We're hoping we can pull that off in the New Year."
For more information about the Port Alberni badminton camp or to register contact Tyrone Marshall at
(250) 724-7320 or (250) 731-4121 or through email at recreation@tseshaht.com or either Chris or Rita Sowden at (250) 723-6251 ext 254 or (250) 724-6224 or via email at eeriksowden@gmail.com.
Port Alberni
