LPSD Sports Academy badminton coach, Diane Gow, is flanked by Tayton Graham on the left and Danielle Binetruy on the right as the first male and female recipients of the Golden Birdie Award for outstanding players. Geoff Lee Meridian Source
A couple of young badminton players from the Lloydminster Public School Division Sports Academy are probably still gobsmacked after receiving the Golden Birdie Award.
It came as a complete surprise to Tayton Graham and Danielle Binetruy to each receive a medal and $100 as the first male and female recipients of the award.
Their names were called out by academy teacher rep Austin Dyer during a full-player gathering at the Hoop Factory last Wednesday with their instructor Diane Gow on hand.
Gow presented Tayton with his award and cash prize while Danielle was unable to attend and got hers along with a hug from Gow on Thursday at E.S. Laird where both students attend school.
“These are two outstanding students,” said Gow, who coaches several volleyball and badminton teams.
“It was definitely a surprise. They had no idea we were coming.”
Tayton says he didn’t know the award “was even a thing” during a media scrum.
He was also asked why he thinks he is getting this award and replied, “Because I love badminton and I’m a good player—and good sportsmanship.”
He’s not bragging as those checkboxes were among the selection criteria to win the Golden Birdie, as Dyer explained to all of the eligible players before naming the winners.
“One is how those people treat their peers. So when we’re playing sports, how they treat their peers, specifically to badminton,” said Dyer.
Number two, he said, is sportsmanship.
“Those that definitely show sportsmanship, true integrity of the game and get along while they’re playing and make sure it’s done right, they were definitely considered,” he explained.
“The third one is skill level within badminton, so how good of a badminton player are you and how much did you improve as we did our sessions.”
The last one he said was having an obvious love for the game.
“This is a really big deal in Lloydminster to win the Golden Birdie Award,” added Dyer.
Modesty helps, too, as Danielle mainly had kind words for Gow instead of herself.
“She’s an amazing coach,” said the Grade 8 student who plans to learn more from Gow next year too.
Gow was an elite players who once made the collegiate nationals and won a silver medal in women’s doubles.
“If you can’t play anymore you coach, that’s what I always say,” she said.
Gow says badminton teaches kids sportsmanship, playing with a teammate,m along with it being “a great all-around sport,” as she put it.
She says the academy has two three-week sessions in December and February.
“I start with basics and I build them from there. I encourage them to try to make their school teams and hopefully they’ll be at the Comp because that’s where I coach too,” said Gow.
“For tryouts for high school I’ve had 40 Grade 10s come out, which is phenomenal.”
As for the Goldie Birdie, Gow credits Sheldon Gallagher, principal of Rendell Park Elementary School for coming up with the idea.
“He’s the one who said ‘hey why don’t we do this award.’ I said ‘I love it, let’s get a medal and let’s get them a cheque and make this a big deal,’” she said.
Tayton waffled between whether he valued the medal he called a trophy or the $100 the most, then revealed his plans for the money.
“The trophy is pretty cool, but $100 is also pretty cool. I’ll probably save up for a truck when I’m 16,” he explained.
Danielle, meanwhile said, “I don’t even know” with no spending plans yet in mind.
Teacher Natalie Wiebe, who helps out at the academy, congratulated Danielle and spoke about what the Golden Birdie means to everyone.
“It’s an awesome thing to see and I think it just speaks to our community and how much Diane pours into these kids and I know the kids just love instruction from her, so it’s awesome to see,” said Wiebe.
