Lisa Davison has a new philosophy when it come event planning.
"I've started to not be afraid to ask people to help out," said Davison, coordinator of the Badminton Roadshow, which is in Prince George Oct. 21 to 23.
It all started when the idea for the roadshow was floating around in Davison's head, during the 2011 Canada Winter Games. Davison was in Halifax with Team B.C. and so was former Canadian Olympian Anna Rice. During a casual conversation Davison discovered Rice had similar ideas about introducing competitive badminton to people across British Columbia.
"It's never been done to this extend in the north in the last 20 years, " said Davison.
Rice, a two-time Olympian at the 2004 and 2008 summer games in Athens and Bejing, will take part in exhibition badminton matches tonight (7 to 9 p.m.) and Saturday (7 to 9 p.m.). Also, taking part are Christin Tsai, the 2011 Canada Winter Games mixed doubles gold medalist; Jon Vandervet, 2010 Canadian national doubles gold medalist; and Alvin Lau, 2010 Canadian national doubles gold medalist.
"This calibre of talent has not every come up here," said Davison. "It took a lot of perseverance on my part."
The exhibition matches will take place at the Northern Sports Centre on the UNBC campus.
The weekend event also includes free teacher and school clinics and youth day camps and adult clinics.
Also, on Saturday, there is a Smash-a-thon, which will divide the court at the CNC gymnasium in half, with one side having six and a half hours of straight badminton to learn new skills and the other half a fun, training atmosphere. Rice will be on the court from 3 to 4:30 p.m.
Badminton is one of the sports in the 2015 Canada Winter Games which Prince George will host.
