Our group plays Tuesday evenings. Our attendance has declined recently so we are looking for 5-10 players (maximum) to join us. Our skill level is recreational to intermediate. There are a couple of players who might be considered upper intermediate to advanced. We are a very friendly group and there are no egos and no cliques. We always make newcomers feel welcome. If you plan on attending, please reply to let me know so I can have an idea of how many new people are coming. Otherwise I might end up with way too many people and then no one will get enough playing time. When you arrive, ask for Wayne or Thien. They will be running the program while I am away for a few weeks. WHERE: ------------ Osler Elementary School (3 courts). From Oak Street, turn west on 43rd. Go one block, school is on left. Park in the parking lot next to basketball court. WHEN: ---------- Tuesdays, 6:45 – 9:30 PM Until mid-June 2005. Off for the summer. Resumes in Sept 2005 until June 2006. COST: -------- $5.00 per session. We supply the birds (Yonex Mavis 300 yellow plastic birds).
Hi OslerPlayer, Just a couple of quick questions... How's high is the gym ceiling? (lots of obsticles?) Also, how's the traction on the gym floor? Cheers!
Hi Break-My-String, I don't know the height of the ceiling in feet... it's lower than the high schools and VRC but it's higher than most elementary schools I've seen. When you want to clear the bird from end to end, you don't feel like you're forced to flatten the shot out. As for obstacles, it's pretty good. Two courts are obstacle-free and the third has a rope suspended near the ceiling that rarely interferes. The floor is pretty good because I always sweep it TWICE myself (I don't like the way the custodian sweeps it so many years ago I asked him to just leave the broom for me so I can do it myself. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's a slippery floor). Overall, this is the best elementary school gym I've played in. We've been playing there for 8 years and everyone is quite satisfied with it. Hope to see you there!
OK! I'm sold. I'm going to enter your schedule into my Palm, and when I have one of those rare moments in which I don't have any work on a Tuesday nite, I'll check it out! Cheers!
EGG TART YOU SUCK ANYWAYS SO DONT GO TO OSLER. STEVE IS A COOL GUY AT OSLER, PLAYED WITH HIM A COUPLE OF TIMES. EGG TART SUCKS AND I SEEN HIM PLAY BEFORE ALL HE DOES IS MISS THE BIRDS AND THINKS HE'S ALL THAT :crying:
I dunno about you, but I certainly didn't feel WELCOME the last time I went there since Wayne and especially Thien shafted me there. We played one doubles game and after that, Thien says he wanted to take a break when we were up and then goes on the court with Steve the whole entire night. I don't know about you, but I was pretty PO'ed that night since he could have simply said that he didn't want to play against me again rather than make me sit there and wait looking like a total idiot. I know I certainly won't be going there anymore and waste my time with people like them.
If what world-of-dreams said is true, then the Osler drop-in is going to dwindle for good. Yeah, new people would come check it out and maybe play for a month or so but if the organisers have bad attitudes then they will just go to elsewhere to play. When the facilities are subpar or on-par with other neighbourhood drop-ins, it's the organisers who will make or break the drop-in. I am sure badrad, break-my-strings or speed78 would know more about most drop-in places in the lower mainland.
I'll just chime here and say that world-of-dream's experience at Osler is actually typical where there's ONE strong group at a drop-in centre, and the rest of the other players on the more recreational side. Cliques are clique-y! -dave
Hmm... not sure how good Wayne or Thien is, but it's definitely not because world-of-dreams' weak. It's just plain bad example for the organiser to set. They don't just lose one player/customer at a time, with internet and word-of-mouth among a small hardcore baddy community, they're losing more than one.
Weak or strong, clique's will ostrasize Some places I go, or rather "went" (past tense), if you're a weaker player, the strong ones don't want to play with you cause of uneven skill level and they won't get to go all out. In the other case, if you're a strong player, then they "lose face" and you potentially get isolated either in the game, or on the bench! The friendliest bunch I've met? Kelowna Badminton Club, and txyu, I would say. -dave
It's typical and the same anywhere. I play on Fridays at South Burnaby High now. There are 8 guys there in our big group who will only play with each other. They are intermediate, fast but they make a lot of simple, stupid mistakes too. But if you happen to play with anyone of them and did the same mistakes, they wouldn't want to play with you again. They don't want to share their knowledge/tips either. What makes me play there? Well, at least there are a bunch of us who are friendlier than those guys and we don't mind losing and having a good time.
Speaking from experience, Dave? It's true that at almost all places, you do get cliquey groups. RBC, for example, is no exception and I've been guilty of it at times (my excuse is that I needed the execrise and only have a couple of hours to get some good games in). Based on what world-of-dreams encountered at the Osler Tues group, it makes you wondered if drop-ins are as welcome as OslerPlayer makes it out to be. Oh well, live and learn. As for giving advice/tips, etc. I would say that it depends. I for one, am relunctant to do so for fear of coming across as an a** who thinks he's too good. If people ask, then I've no problem in providing feedback and/or tips.
