Saturday, November 24, 2007

International Student Badminton Tournament

Limerick Post

The sound of shuttlecocks being whacked over nets echoed around the Arena and old Sports Building last weekend, as UL hosted the fourth annual Irish International Student Badminton Tournament. 230 players, from novices to internationals, spent all of Saturday and Sunday trying to serve, smash and sneakily drop shot their way to victory in the Badminton Ireland event.

In total, roughly 300 matches were played altogether, according to tournament administrator, John Donovan. Players competed in four different sections according to their ability across five disciplines – men’s and ladies’ singles, men’s and ladies’ doubles and mixed doubles.

In order to promote socialising across team and country borders, partners for the doubles events are selected randomly. The scoring was calculated using the Swiss Ladder System, which means that all players play the same amount of matches in a league. It also meant that every single rally counted towards the overall rankings. After the first round of matches, the top two players play each other, as do the third and fourth ones, and so on. This format meant that people were always playing against people of similar ability, and it lead to some close-fought matches.

The overall team award for winning the most amount of games by their players across all disciplines went to the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, who emerged out of the 24 colleges represented to take the top prize. The past winners of the event are NUI Galway, UCC and Karlsruhe from Germany.

Some of the top players used last weekend’s event as a warm-up for the European University Championships that are taking place this week in St. Petersburg. Gary O’Sullivan, holder of a badminton sports scholarship at UCC who is representing the Cork team in Russia this week, spoke highly of the standard of play on show at UL this weekend. ‘You couldn’t ask for a better preparation,’ he said.

Both the participants and organisers heaped praise on the quality of the venue. The fact that Badminton Ireland chose to host the event in UL for the fourth year running is a testament to the fantastic facilities on offer there, according to Ivor Guiney, club captain of the UL Badminton Club. He also remarked that there has been speculation that the Malaysian Olympic badminton team are looking into using the Arena as a training venue for the 2012 London Games.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Student badminton puts Limerick on map

Limerick Independent, Limerick Leader

Up to 250 student badminton players from all over Ireland, the UK and Europe converged on the University of Limerick Sports Arena last weekend for the fourth annual Irish International Students Badminton Tournament.

The Irish ISBT is organised by students, for students. Badminton-playing students, alumni and members of universities competed in four skills sections, ranging social players to top national league standard.

Similar tournaments take place all over Europe. The first ISBT was hosted in the Netherlands 21 years ago by the DIOK Badminton Club of the Universiteit Twente in Enschede, in a bid to promote the sport of badminton and its social aspects of.

Last weekend’s tournament, said Mary Browne Director of Development & Coach Education with Badminton Ireland, could not have gone ahead without the help of a string of volunteers, spearheaded by Emma Lindqvist, Youth Leadership Development Officer with BI.

They have been working on the organisation since spring. The tournament format reached Ireland in 2004, and since then it has been held in Limerick.

Ivor Guiney, club captain of the UL Badminton club, said: “It was a privilege to have one of the main international student tournaments in UL for the fourth year running. The fact that it was booked out shows the enormous level of interest from all around Europe in coming to Limerick to play in the fantastic facilities we have here.”

Indeed, according to Ivor, there are rumours afoot that the Malaysian team is considering UL as a pre-Olympic acclimatizing camp before the London games in 2012.

Badminton is thriving locally with 11 clubs active in both Limerick city and county.

Ivor explained: “We’ve got 192 members on the books off and on, playing from Division 2-6 in Limerick. We are also entering a team in the Intervarsities and attending ISBTs in Cologne and Oslo. Anyone is welcome to join—the more members we have the better!”

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Adults go back to school in increasing numbers

Limerick Independent

While the back to school rush is a recent memory for many schoolchildren, they are not the only ones returning to education. Adults form a large number of those who stocked their shopping trolleys with pens, refill pads and highlighters last August. According to Aontas, the Irish National Association of Adult Education, 150,000 adults participate in evening courses annually.

According to a survey by Learning Ireland, an educational publisher, Irish people see the importance of continuing their education throughout their working lives. More than 4 out of 5 of respondents to the Lifelong Learning Index 2006 say they have taken an adult education course, while 77% plan to enrol in a course in the next twelve months.

The national situation is replicated in Limerick, with many educational centres around the city, from secondary schools to third level institutions, buzzing with activity every evening, as adult learners flock to classes in diverse subjects.

Pat Maunsell is a busy man. As the Director of Adult Education at Limerick Senior College, one of the biggest providers of evening courses in the Midwest Region, he oversees an operation that gives courses to some 3,000 learners per annum. He explained some of the reasons motivating adults to return to education.

He noted that while certain learners seek to gain extra qualifications in order to progress in their careers, this is not the only reason why evening courses are so popular today. Others may treat a course as a hobby, while some enjoy the social aspect. He said that there is an increasing emphasis on the idea of work-life balance: ‘People know you have to unwind and de-stress as well as being ambitious and gaining qualifications.’

Mr Maunsell admitted that while for some learners the return to the classroom environment can be intimidating, he said: ‘We give them information at the beginning of the course, and try to present them with an adult friendly environment.’

Although most courses, especially year-long ones, follow the traditional academic pattern of beginning in September, there are many others that start in January. The City of Limerick Vocational Education Committee have published a free guidebook providing detailed information on adult learning opportunities offered by all providers in Limerick City. It is available in many bookshops and educational centres, should you wish to make an education-based New Year’s Resolution next January. A complete listing of courses can also be found on the VEC's website.