26 years old Canadian, Phyllis Kai Yi Chan is one of Canada’s Team Coach and has been a outstanding badminton player for several years. But how did she meet our sport?
“My father used to play recreationally in Hong Kong but never had any formal training. When we immigrated to Vancouver, Canada, my father wanted my older sister to learn the proper technique and enrolled her in some lessons. I watched from the side and wanted to play as well. I picked up a racket at the age of 6 years old and kept going.”
Phyllis has been playing badminton since she was 6 years old and has managed to be 2012 Pan American Champion in Women Doubles, won bronze in Pan Am Games Toronto 2015 and was Canadian national champion for 3 consecutive years (2013-2015) in the same modality. In addition, as a player she has represented Canada in the Commonwealth Games, World Championships, Sudirman Cup, Uber Cup, Pan Am Games and other international tournaments, and in 2016 she announced her official retirement.
New challenges would come for Chan. She is aware that she can share everything she has lived with the new generations of athletes, so she decided to become a coach.
“I was very fortunate and always had very good coaches guiding me throughout my competitive career but I have noticed a distinct lack of high performance female coaches and athletes in badminton. It is my passion to share the experiences that I have gained through badminton and to give back to a sport which has been part of my entire life. It is my hope to inspire the next generation of athletes to achieve their best.”
Sport can become part of your life, it can help you grow, fill you with personal satisfactions and define how you are, Phyllis grew up playing sports and took badminton to a more internal level her your life.
“Badminton is so much more than just a sport to me. I have spent most of my childhood at the badminton club where I was able to become friends with people of all ages. When I got older, I had the opportunity to travel and connect with even more people from different places and cultures. Badminton has given me a place to belong and to realize my ambitions. It has taught me the value of hard work, perseverance and teamwork. I am the person I am today because of badminton.”
In many countries of our continent, many thletes stop competing in tournaments once they are in their later years of high school. They often say that there is no future in going to play badminton tournaments and it is too expensive. But Chan wants to help this change in her country.
“It is my goal to increase badminton participation in Canada and have it become a mainstream sport where there are opportunities for athletes to compete or continue to play a role in badminton as a career. I also want Canada to be seen as a strong badminton nation on the world stage.”
And they are very close to it. Canada will be the country that represents our Region in the next Thomas & Uber Cup 2018, to be held in Thailand in May, after being the champions in the II Male & Female Pan Am Continental Team Championships 2018.
The authorities support becomes vital in the training of the players and also in the performance of the coaches. How did Phyllis live this in her transition from an athlete to a coach?
“I have been very fortunate to have the support of my national and provincial badminton associations and a wonderful mentor, Abdul Shaikh. When I decided that I wanted to pursue coaching as a career, the associations gave me their full support and opportunities to gain experience as a coach. My transition from an athlete to a coach was smooth and I am currently continuing my high performance coaching education at the University of British Columbia.”
As a woman badminton player, as a woman coach, Phyllis has faced different challenges and she has known how to solve them, so she wants to leave us this message:
“I would encourage women to have the courage to dream big and not to underestimate themselves. Treat obstacles as challenges and opportunities for growth. The results and opportunities will come only if one keeps working hard and looking ahead. Failure is the stepping stone to success. Every successful person is only at the top with the help of many others. Always remember to be kind and stay humble.”
Photo Credit: Badminton Photo
