Badminton: Full-on coach Michelle Au also Bay's No 1

Badminton Hawke's Bay's community development officer Michelle Au will play for the province's top team on Saturday. Photo / Warren Buckland

Intensity levels at badminton clubs throughout Hawke's Bay must improve.

That's the call from Badminton Hawke's Bay's new community development officer Michelle Au who has completed her first three months in the role. Like so many newcomers to the Hawke's Bay sports scene Au was surprised by how laid-back players are in the region.

"I want to see those intensity levels increase and I want to help create more opportunities for our players," Au said.

A former South Australia rep and the No 1 woman for the Hawke's Bay team which competes in the national division four competition, Au, 27, can't be accused of lacking intensity. She is full on when it comes to spreading the badminton gospel in the province.

She has a player-coach role with the division four team which opens its campaign with home fixtures against Hutt Valley and Waikato at Meeanee on Saturday, coaches all of the province's age group teams from under-13 level to under-19s, runs shuttle time programmes at primary schools and for the coaching provider Youth Town, para badminton with assistance from the Halberg Trust and the term two Hawke's Bay secondary schools competition which is expected to cater for more than 90 teams.

Au pointed out 10 players, who are either amputees or reliant on a wheelchair, have participated in her para badminton programmes.

On Saturday Au, who has yet to decide on which club she will join in the Bay, will play with Meeanee's Cynthia Fan in doubles play and another Meeanee player, Simon Huang, in mixed doubles. Although she has done some development work with the team's female contingent Au said it was too early to gauge whether promotion would be a realistic goal.

"I haven't seen what the standard is like among the other teams but I'm looking forward to it."

As part of her coaching with Hawke's Bay age group teams Au has a High Performance Group which includes members of the Hawke's Bay under-17 team which will tackle the annual June Bevin tournament which starts in Invercargill on Monday.

A former University of Adelaide player and Sturt club player across the Tasman who took up the code at the age of 9, Au has secured a Kiwi Sport grant to help upskill the province's coaches. Central Hawke's Bay's Anna Burrows and Au are the Bay's only Badminton World Federation level one coaches.

"I want to help other Hawke's Bay coaches get to that level. I'm busy but it's all good."

Au was just as busy during her days across the Tasman. She managed the Australia team at the 2016 world junior champs in Spain where it finished 25th, two places better than New Zealand.

Last year she managed the Aussies at the Oceania Junior Champs in New Caledonia where they finished second to the Kiwis.

From May 1-6 Au will do social media and communications work for the New Zealand Open tournament in Auckland.

When Au, who will attend a Sport Hawke's Bay-organised Active Hub Day in Central Hawke's Bay tomorrow, isn't coaching or playing badminton she will more than likely be found running. She will tackle the Hawke's Bay Half Marathon on May 12.

"I've done a couple of half marathons in the past but I haven't trained as much for this one because of work."

She has every right to be confident her programme numbers will grow after youngsters watch television coverage of the sport at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and they decide to give it a crack. In Au they will find a passionate and well-qualified coach ready to take them as far as they want to go.

The Hawke's Bay national division four squad is:
Men: Simon Huang, Jacob Young, Jimmy Bass, Aaron Roberson, Karljeet Cappie.
Women: Michelle Au, Cynthia Fan, Linda Gee, Wishy Cookson, Lucy Kitchin.