Badminton Canada will be awarding Orlando Athayde their Volunteer of the Year Award this weekend at the King's Head Yonex Prairie Senior Elite Tournament. Orlando is receiving this award for the many hours of work he put into organizing and running the 2017 Canadian Masters Badminton Championships held at Red River College this past April. This tournament was one of the largest held here in Winnipeg in the last few years. It ran for a full week and involved more than 160 athletes from all over the world, 13 officials, 30+ volunteers and many spectators. This tournament was particularly difficult to organize because just a few months before the tournament the original venue was lost and a new venue had to be found. Orlando spent many hours making the changes in venue, and still making sure that all the small details were in place so that participants could enjoy their stay in Winnipeg. Orlando was co-chair with Terry Porayko, who both led a larger committee which included Lisa Warkentine (Transportation), Ian Clara (Communications), Thecla Athayde (Hospitality), Marj Niemi (Officials Liaison), and Ryan Giesbrecht (Executive Director). In the end, the tournament ran from April 3 - 8, 2017 and ran very smoothly.
As well as organizing the Canadian Masters Tournament, Orlando is very involved in badminton in Manitoba. He is currently a member on the Board of Directors of Badminton Manitoba and is a volunteer photographer for the organization. You will find him at almost every tournament held in the province either playing or with his camera. Often doing both.
