Alan Chow, Head Coach for the NAIT Ooks Badminton team has been named ACAC Badminton Coach of the year. This is his second year of coaching for the team. During his first, he coached multiple athletes into the CCAA Nationals “Last year was my first year and we had a pretty solid team…I only knew a couple kids…I wasn’t able to recruit or add any more players I knew.”
Badminton has been a part of Chow’s life for many years. He played at the college level, making it to nationals twice. He also ranks as one of the top players in Alberta.
“[Badminton] has been a part of my life this whole journey…Now my kids are starting to play so I told them it’s in their blood,” said Chow.
The award comes after a successful season, with one of his players being named ACAC Badminton Rookie of the year. “I feel happy and proud to just coach in general. So for me to get an award for coach of the year, I was pretty excited.”
Chow credits his team for making him a better coach. “Having a good team in general, whether it’s just the characteristics of who they are as well as the performance, kind of really boosts a coach.”
He’s cautious of over-coaching the team, saying “I think it becomes too much for people … you want to simplify it in certain aspects.” Chow also used an individualistic coaching strategy, focusing on what each player needs to grow.
“As coaches, we were kind of just able to guide them into strategies … making sure they’re the highest level they can be,” Chow explained. “I think each athlete is a little bit different from one another … there’s some things we’d do as a group … and then I have an assistant coach who would do one-on-ones with them [to] focus on certain aspects of their game they wanted to focus on.”
Next on Chow’s list is reaching nationals as a team.
“We haven’t won the actual championships as a team, so I’m looking to recruit some more players, looking to get some more returning players that I want in and hopefully go for that championship.”
Cover Photo: Chow coaching team members at a tournament in February. Photo via NAIT Ooks.
