Badminton players do it best

Stephanie Ko, left, with teammates Alvin Lau and Melody Liang, says she was pleasantly surprised to find out she was a Premier’s Athletic Awards recipient.

Three Douglas students were presented with Premier's Athletic Awards on February 12.

The trio – Stephanie Ko, Alvin Lau and Melody Liang – are all members of the College Badminton Team.

"I’m very proud of them. All three worked very hard," says coach Al Mawani.

The annual Premier's Athletic Awards recognize the best athletes in BC. Ko and Lau received the nod as the top female and male college athletes in the province, and Liang was honoured as the top badminton player recognized by Badminton BC.

It was a three-peat for Lau, who received the award in 2007 and 2006. He was also named the Male Athlete of the Year Across All CCAA Sports by the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association (CCAA) last year.

Liang is a past recipient of the Female Athlete of the Year in Badminton title with the CCAA and the BCCAA. This is her first time receiving the Premier’s Athletic Award.

For Ko, the recognition is particularly exciting, having moved to BC from Toronto 18 months ago. It was the first award of this stature for her.

"I was actually quite surprised when I found out I received the award because I have only been in BC for a short amount of time. I had to read and re-read the email to make sure I had read it correctly," says Ko.

"I would say Stephanie was the most improved on the team this year. For her to win this award, it’s the icing on the cake" says Mawani.

Mawani credits his athletes’ success to taking a team approach to an individual sport.

"This year’s team has really come together as a group. I asked them to commit last Summer to an off-court training program. Now they’re all good friends," says Mawani.

"They support and give each other confidence."

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