Lisa Davison's passion for badminton has netted her a position as coach for Team B.C. at the Western Canada Summer Games (WCSG).
"It's awesome to be a part of the games," said Davison.
The 42-year-old, self-described "one-woman show" in Prince George, said the opportunity to attend the WCSG in Kamloops allows her to expand her coaching resume and learn new techniques in teaching the sport.
"I want to open up more doors," she said.
Davison will lead a team of 10 under-19 athletes - five women and five men - during week two of the games from Aug. 11 to 13.
It's Davison's second foray into coaching B.C. athletes this year. In February, she travelled to Halifax as part of the provincial Canada Winter Games team and helped lead the mainly Vancouver-based team to a silver medal.
Six months later, Davison still has a tinge of excitement in her voice when she talks about how the team knocked off a very strong Quebec squad to reach the final.
Team B.C. is one of the favourites heading into the WCSG this week.
"The expectations are very high," said Davison. "We have our sights set on gold."
Davison said the toughest competition for Team B.C. will likely come from Alberta. The two teams meet each other in the final match of round-robin play Saturday at 9 a.m.
B.C. begins their quest for gold with three matches Thursday against Yukon, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories. On Friday, B.C. plays Manitoba and Nunavut, before wrapping up the preliminaries versus Alberta.
After 20 years of coaching in Prince George through Shuttlesport North Central Badminton, Davison said, the opportunity to coach at the Canada Winter Games and the WCSG helps her as she prepares to get her level-three coaching certificate.
Davison said she's also thrilled to work with Abdul Shaikh, a level-five coach out of Vancouver.
"He's a fountain of knowledge," said Davison about her 78-year-old coaching partner.
Shaikh and Davison first worked together at the Canada Winter Games in Halifax.
The team headed to Kamloops is made up of two athletes from Vancouver Island - Janice Walker of Nanaimo and Candace Ip of Victoria - with the rest of the team coming from the Lower Mainland.
The badminton competition takes place at Thompson Rivers University and consists of seven matches against each opponent: two men's singles, two women's singles, two men's doubles, two women's doubles and two mixed doubles.
The fifth- versus sixth-place match and the bronze-medal match are scheduled for Saturday at 6 p.m., while the gold-medal match will take place Sunday at 8:30 a.m.
Medals will be handed out at 11:45 a.m., followed by the WCSG closing ceremonies at 3 p.m.
