Sponsors coming in with funds

Dear friends, parents and players


It has been a good week. The sponsors have been great.

As mentioned in my earlier posts, I managed to get Henry Heng the CEO of Refresh Pure Waters to be a Gold Sponsor for BAWA. Refresh Waters have agreed to donate 6000 bottles of water to BAWA.

Henry's business website is http://www.refreshpurewater.com.au/


Henry is also running for the Upper House of WA's Senate. Info regarding his campaign can be found at http://henryheng.wordpress.com/about/


Good luck to his campaign.
I have persuaded BAWA to allow the Under 15s to sell some of the bottles and to keep the proceeds for their Caloundra trip.


With that assurance, the Pua brothers have agreed to buy $500 worth of the bottles as soon as I can deliver the bottles. The Pua brothers have always supported me through all my fund raising activities.

Badri Gosavi, the owner of Two Fat Indians Restaurant has also signed up as a Bronze sponsor with BAWA.  BAWA has agreed that the funds will go to the Under 15s so we are all grateful. His business website is at http://www.twofatindians.com.au/

Jeff Miles , my business mentor has also been a great sponsor as usual. He is another person I call on whenever I fund raise and he never fails. His website is at http://www.thebusinessdoctor.com.au/

Gwen and Eduard who are my badminton buddies have also got the What Scratch Group to sponsor the team. Their website is at http://www.whatscratch.com.au/

Gertie Chong and her daughter were at my office on Friday and on hearing of the team's financial plight, they had no hesitation in donating to their cause.

Friends like Patsy , Albinus and Juny Jong have also kindly donated funds to the team.

I am also waiting for confirmation of funds from one of my client who is the CEO of the MUI Group in Malaysia. I should be able to finalise the sponsorship soon.

So it has been hard but rewarding work getting funds for the team.

I got the players to send thank you emails to the sponsors. There is nothing more important than saying thank you.

I did tell you that the blog will be different this time as I am writing from a Manager's perspective.

The players had a good training session again this Sunday.

Kay Terry and Silvi.

Tyz and Heer v John and Titus

Sophie getting extra training from Mark and Jaz

Sophie and Olivia v Kay and Gwen

Tyz in full flight

The equally graceful Olivia.

The players warming down

Thanks to the volunteers

We are lucky to have players like Kay Terry and John Botha help the team. Kay was the Australian Singles, Doubles and Mixed Champion for years. John also played at international level.

Mark , Titus, Silvi , Jaz, Ed and Gwen were also great in helping out. 

At the end of the training, the players did their first team cheer and huddle. The future looks and sounds good. Good night.

3rd week of training

Dear readers

Wow, what a great training day.

The day started with BAWA president Judith presenting the team uniforms to all the players. This was Sophie's and Heer's first team uniform and I am sure they must be feeling so proud.

The uniforms are sponsored by Li Ning and the uniforms look beautiful. WA's distinctive gold uniform always look great at the National competition. This year, the uniform also has the Tan and Tan Lawyers logo as I am a major sponsor.

I have also been sending out requests for sponsorship for the team so as to help some of the financially disadvantaged players.

I sent out an email to my contacts last Friday and on Saturday I received an email from Denning Chong of James Chong Lawyers. Denning is a good friend of mine and has always been generous whenever I needed help. He always generously sponsors my CEO Sleepout every year.

Denning has sponsored the WA Under 15's team with a $750 cheque. What a generous sponsorship. We all thank him and James Chong Lawyers. Visit http://jameschonglawyers.com.au/  
for info re his practice.

Hopefully we will get more sponsors through the week.

Coming back to the training today.

We were grateful to have Titus and Silvi. They will definitely be in the Under 17s team for next year.

Edward and Gwen also came around to help the team. Gwen and Ed are part of the uncles and aunties team that play at Wesley where my boys first started playing badminton.

Now they are finding it hard to keep up with the boys.

Coach Kim addressing the players

The boys taking a breather 

Heer and Tyz v Titus and Andik

Edward, one of our volunteers

Sophie and Xiang v Edward and Annie

Alex and Olivia

Silvi and a very slim Gwen

Hanif, our cameraboy for today. He is an up and coming Under 15s State player

The team gave the volunteers a hard time. The WA Under 15s team is getting stronger as the players start to jell as a team.

We are trying all the different variations in players match up.

We are grateful for the volunteers and hope they turn up again next week. See you then.

By the way:

This is the content of an email I sent out last week:

Dear friends

Many of you will know that I have been very involved in badminton for the last 10 years.

My involvement in badminton has been even greater as my 2 sons represent WA in national competitions.

My youngest son Tyzton has been appointed as captain of the 2012 WA State Under 15s team and he will be travelling to Caloundra,Queensland from 29 Sept 2012 to 8 Oct 2012.

The other players in the State team include:

(1)    Xiang Lin, originally from China.

(2)    Heer Gudka, originally from Kenya.

(3)    Olivia Fianita, formerly from Indonesia.

(4)    Alexandra Phan, Australian born of Vietnamese descent.

(5)    Sophie Leonard, a true blue Aussie.

This is a multicultural team showing how the sport is enjoyed by all races.

I am the manager for the team and my wife Annie Sim is the team Umpire. Our positions are honorary.

The players get limited funding from Badminton Association of Western Australia (“BAWA”).  The players get NO funding from Badminton Australia which is the main Australian sports body in charge of badminton.

The players are expected to fund raise and they work hard to do so. They have been selling fund raising chocolates but the fundraising work has been hard. Sophie, who is in her first state team, has to walk in her neighbourhood for around 4 hrs to sell chocolates to sell approximately $52 with a 40% net cost. Her loving parents accompany her for safety reasons.

Parents fund raise by doing kitchen duties: cooking, cleaning donating and selling food during badminton competitions organised by BAWA.

Some of the players have such high skills but are unable to represent their State for financial reasons. The current team have their challenges too financially.

Hence, the reason for this email.

I am appealing to your love for your children and sports for any kind of sponsorship.

This is what your sponsorship can do for the players:

1.       $500 pays for a return plane ticket for 1 player.

2.       $300 pays for 1 player’s accommodation for the trip.

3.       $104 pays for the transport cost of 1 player during the trip.

4.       $22 pays for the food cost of a player each day.

5.       $10 pays for the player’s training session each weekend.

The players have been training hard to make WA proud.

Last year’s Under 15’s team made history by winning Bronze for WA. The team members were Tyzton, Xiang and Olivia.

This year there is a chance that they can win a better medal than bronze and the players are giving everything they have.

Information regarding the team can be seen at http://badmintonwaunder15s.blogspot.com.au/

If you sponsor through a business, you are entitled to get a tax reduction. Badminton WA will issue an invoice to you for your sponsorship.

The players hope that they can thank you for your generosity. All sponsors will have their names mentioned in the team blog.

If you are able to help the team with sponsorship please send a cheque payable to:

Badminton Association of Western Australia.  Just write at the back of the cheque: For the Under 15s team.  

The cheque can be posted to my office at 6/78 Terrace Rd, East Perth WA.

Alternatively, please do an electronic funds transfer to:

Tan and Tan Lawyers Trust account at:

Commonwealth Bank

06 6000 1099 3391. The transfer has to state it is for the BAWA Under 15s state team.

Any amount will be welcomed.  Even if it is as little as $10/. If 100 readers send $10 each, the team will raise $1000.

The players are proud to represent Western Australia and they hope Western Australians will be proud to support and sponsor them.

2nd training session at Duncraig

Dear parents

It was another good training session today. Unfortunately Olivia was not well enough to join us. However, we were pleased to welcome Heer to the team today.

We were lucky to have with us today, our BAWA President Judith Cousin. Kay Terry , my manager mentor also helped out today. The young players have so much to learn from these experienced players and we are grateful for their time.

Jazton, my son was also good enough to get out of bed early on a Sunday to help the team and his younger brother out again.

I have a new challenge for this team as Heer is vegetarian. My boys are meat eaters so cooking vegetarian is not something I am familiar with. Heer's grandmother did offer to travel with us so that she can cook for the team and her grandson. Where am I going to get the funding for that?

Funding remains a very live issue for the team.

We even have problems getting new shuttles for the team. Here's a picture of  Phil and Annie sorting out the good shuttles from the bad and recycling as much as we can.

Phil and Annie sorting out shuttles

Last Friday, I was able to speak to Andrew and Gillian Chai from Samson Victor Badminton Club where my boys play every Friday. They were kind enough to donate some old and new shuttles to us. Andrew and Gillian have always been supportive of the boys. In fact, they have sold more chocs to their club members for the boys than any other body else.

The fact that there are only 6 players in the team makes it so much harder to fund raise.

I have been working hard to get sponsors for BAWA and at this stage may be able to sign up Refresh Waters as a major sponsor. Refresh Waters is a public company and I know the CEO Henry Heng well enough to be able to speak to him direct regarding sponsorship.

Their website is at http://www.refreshpurewater.com.au/


Hopefully , once the first sponsor is signed up, others will follow.

For the moment, we can only rely on BAWA and the player's parents and friends for support.

It was pleasing to see Heer's grandmother turn up today to support her grandson. So we had 3 generations together today in the name of badminton.

The players with some parents and 1 grandmum. Kay and Judy are also in the picture.

The players going through their routines

Kim giving advice

After the training, the family went for our usual chicken rice lunch at Ten Ten Restaurant. Tyzton had a special training session with Nick Kidd while Jaz and I returned home.

While waiting for Tyz to return from training, Jaz and I watched The Hunger Games. I do not know whether I agree with children watching the film or reading the book as the story line was more than violent.

I am glad we live in a society where we only play for medals and honour. Oh by the way, in the Hunger Games, they also needed sponsors.

So here I am readers, any assistance with fund raising will be greatly appreciated. Good night.

First day of training

Dear readers

The State Under 15s team had their first training session today.  It was a good training session. We were lucky to have with us Mark Duxbury, my son  Jazton and Andik who is Olivia's father. Titus Tan, who was also in the 2010 Under 15s team was also great in helping out.

Mark and Andik were supporters who helped to train my sons Jaz and Tyz in their first Under 15s team in 2010.  The boys were so raw then. You can see how different the Under 15s team are right now. Alex and Olivia were also in the 2010 team when they had their first national competition representing WA.

How much all these players have grown in their skills and maturity.

Before the training I was speaking to Sophie Leonard. She was telling me how she had to walk for 4 hrs around her estate to sell all her fund raising chocolates. What a trooper. We have to thank her parents Phil and Tonia for supporting Sophie and walking with her during those fund raisers. This is Sophie's first time as a State player and I am sure she will do us proud as she has all the determination and courage necessary to do well.

We are thankful for all the support the parents give to their children. We  all know that the parents sacrifice so much so that they can see their children achieve their dreams of representing WA and who knows, maybe Australia next. At the end of the day, it is about  our children. Unfortunately some parents do not see that.

Coach Kim Rodgers is doing a sterling job organising and encouraging the players. He was also the coach for the 2010 Under 15s team.

At the end of the training session I usually like to get one of the players to thank all the volunteers and parents. Today was Olivia's turn. She spoke so well and that is proof that representing your state 
teaches you confidence which can be carried through to adult life. I remember Olivia was such a quiet and timid player in 2010. Now she speaks with such confidence.

By the way, the family watched Lee Chong Wei fight hard but eventually getting a silver medal at the Olympics. What a great player and we wish him all the best in the future.
Lin Dan has proved to be one of the greatest player in history after winning 2 consecutive gold medals.

Till I blog again, good night.