School badminton in B.C. next season is set to drop the mixed-gender doubles discipline, an Olympic event, and many in the sport are upset by that decision.
Nearly 3,000 people, as of Saturday, had signed an online Change.org petition to keep B.C. school badminton co-ed in response to the B.C. School Sports decision to split high school badminton into single-gender teams.
The petitions states: “The new format removes mixed doubles, an Olympic event, impacting the sport’s inclusivity and competitive integrity by eliminating this key co-ed component.”
B.C. School Sports says the decision was made to be fair to the six single-gender high schools in the province which are unable to have teams in the mixed-gender doubles event, which is one of five disciplines that make up the points in overall team scoring, along with the boys’ singles, girls’ singles, boys’ doubles and girls’ doubles.
Critics of the decision note there are 460 schools playing badminton in the province and that 454 of them are being negatively impacted by taking away what is a basic event of the sport.
“That’s a fair question and is part of the complexities of B.C. school sports,” said Jordan Abney, executive director of B.C. School Sports.
“We will lose mixed-gender doubles but otherwise the school badminton events will continue with their look and feel and identity with boys and girls still playing together in the same tournaments.”
But without what many consider to be a key and integrating element of the sport.
“Mixed-gender doubles is an Olympic event and we are losing one of the five disciplines of badminton,” said teacher and badminton coach Maggie Lai, who began the Change.org petition.
Lai, who coaches the Grandview Heights Secondary team in Surrey, said a survey with 192 responses from B.C. high school athletic directors, badminton coaches and sponsor teachers showed more than 90 per cent opposition to the B.C. School Sports decision to axe mixed-gender doubles.
Jeff Thom, a leader in the Island badminton community who coaches the Claremont Secondary team, said he hoped a solution can be found.
“Mixed-gender doubles is a discipline in and of itself and it adds diversity to the game,” said Thom.
Abney, however, said a B.C. School Sports executive committee looked at the issue for 18 months and the decision is final.
“It will take effect next season and I don’t see the decision changing in the immediate future,” he said.
“We will look at it in a couple of years as we constantly reevaluate everything.”
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