NEW ABC BOARD MEMBERS!!! In light of all this activity we have just added several new ABC Board Members. Joining original board members Dick Abbuhl and myself, are Dick Baltimore, Kathy Furtmann, Francis Hartojo, Chin Khor, Darcy McGrane, Doug Towne, and Rob Waters. Together we have more than 200 years of recreational and tournament badminton experience and a combination of professions, knowledge and dedication that opens the door to a great expansion of badminton activity in Arizona!

I hope you find this website helpful. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to email me at: GCoachGC5@cox.net. We hope to see you on the court!

Guy Chadwick
Founder/Director

The 17th annual 2009 Grand Canyon State Games Badminton event was played at Independence High School on Saturday, June 20. Sixty-seven participants battled in singles, doubles and mixed doubles events in junior, open and senior categories. When the dust cleared after more than 8 hours of play, there were three double Gold medal winners: Krishna Ramasubramanian in Open Men Doubles and Open Mixed Doubles, Sharlene Rubio in Open Women Singles and Doubles, and Seigo Hashimoto in Novice Mixed Doubles and Junior Boys Doubles. The tournament ended abrupted in the middle of the Open Men Doubles gold medal match during an intense rally of diving saves when Parag Modi suffered a severe hamstring strain chasing after the final shot. Modi then had to default the Open Men Doubles and Open Mixed Doubles gold medal matches to end the tournament. The complete results.

The Spring Friends and Family Smash Bash at Chaparral High School on Saturday, May 9 was a surprising success with very little advance notice given and the high school players off-season. We had more than 70 entries and added a couple of fun new events. A new Family Doubles - husband-wife, father-daughter, father-son, mother-daughter, sister-sister, and even a grandfather-grandson combination all competed against each other. We also tried a 1/2 Court Singles with Men's and Women's divisions that had a very large turnout. The star of the day in his debut in an Arizona tournament was Parag Modi who won the 1/2 Court Men's Singles, partnered with Nabeel Rahman to win the Open Men's Doubles, and partnered with Anne Wunderlin to win the Open Mixed Doubles for the triple crown. See all the results. Congratulations to all winners and many thanks to all participants for making it a success. We'll see you all again this summer at the Grand Canyon State Games!

Looking for places to play badminton in the valley? Please visit the Where to Play page for an up-to-date list of open gyms around the Phoenix metropolitan area, complete with hours of operation, addresses, maps and fee schedule details.

Please also visit the Events Calendar page for more open gym, tournaments and other local badminton events related announcements.

For open gyms in Tucson, please visit the University of Arizona Badminton Club website.

Independence High School

Parking is in the Southwest parking lot only. Do not park in the Northeast parking lot (on 75th Avenue) or you will be locked in at the end of the night. All players must respect the grounds and the facility in which they play. Please let us know if you observe anything unusual while you are on IHS property.

Central Christian Church

The Central Christian Church gym will be closed on July 5th.

McQueen Park Activity Centre

The McQueen Park Activity Centre will be closed on Friday, July 3rd, and Saturday, July 4th.

Effective immediately, Wednesday hours have been extended from 5:00PM to 8:45PM.

We are also open on Saturdays from noon to 3:00pm in addition to Wednesdays and Fridays. The drop-in fee remains $2/person for Gilbert residents and $3 for non-Gilbert residents.

Many thanks to Kevin Cao for his tireless work in securing this facility for badminton and for getting yet another day for us to play on.

Foothills Recreation & Aquatics Center

The open gym is on Sundays from 11:00AM to 1:45PM starting on March 16th, and the day-pass fee is $5/person for Glendale residents and $6/person for non-Glendale residents. The pass is not only good for badminton, but also for other amenities that the facility offers for the day.

Deer Valley Community Centre

The badminton open gym hours is Monday nights from 6:00PM to 8:45PM effective immediately. Drop-in fee is $2/person.

Goelet A.C. Beuf Community Centre

The badminton open gym hours is Saturday nights from 5:45PM to 7:45PM effective immediately.

You must bring exact change (i.e., $2) for the drop-in fee.

For more information, please contact Guy Chadwick or Darcy McGrane.

Raymond Kwan has made a couple of badminton promotional video clips in relation to this project and they are available for download. Enjoy!
Clip 1   Clip 2

For results of Arizona high-school badminton matches and tournaments, please visit Nancy Ellis' website.

We've added an Events Calendar page which we will try to keep up-to-date with information on open gym cancellations and openings; tournaments and other local badminton-related events. Please check it out!

You can send your comments and suggestions by using the comments form or by sending a mail to: azsmash@gmail.com. Or, you can also reach us via Google Talk through screenname "azsmash". We're not online all the time, but when we are, feel free to chat with us.