Badminton introduced me to Urban Policy
Working at Badminton Alberta introduced me to urban policy without realizing it.
Urban Governance is defined as the decisions made by an authoritative actor (public, private or voluntary) to address urban problems.
Badminton Alberta not only interacts in the realm of urban policy, but it also helps make it. It organizes community programs and events for people in Alberta, makes authoritative decisions over the sport of badminton in the province, and works with governments to influence policy regarding Alberta’s urban areas.
I’ve had a long-lasting connection to Badminton Alberta. I grew up playing in Badminton Alberta sanctioned tournaments, played on provincial teams, and coached Badminton Alberta programs.
Along the way, I never truly realized what it took to operate a non-profit and took for granted the two-person operation of the Badminton Alberta Office until I was hired as a summer student through a provincial grant program.
Working at a non-profit revolves around finding funding and revenue generation, aside from traditional streams, such as generating revenue from badminton lessons and tournament fees. Many programs utilize government grants and sponsorship.
People who work for non-profits have to be jacks of all trades. On top of the area of specialty that the non-profit organization operates in, people who work in that space also have to be entrepreneurial and charismatic to find money to fill the organization’s budget constraints.
To do this, these organizations have to contribute to urban policy.
When attracting sponsors, Badminton Alberta had to promote the province and the city its events were operating in. That meant facilitating deals to sell advertising at events, making a business case to hotels and other sponsors on why their sponsorship would be beneficial to them and not just the organization
Most importantly, the operation of Badminton Alberta relied on the community.
Tournaments were hosted in Calgary, Edmonton, Okotoks, Red Deer and Fort McMurray, to name a few, because of the infrastructure that the cities had to offer. Nightlife, hotels, transportation, sporting infrastructure, and things to do besides badminton all impacted where it would hold tournaments.
The Canada Open (Canada’s largest badminton tournament) was held in Calgary at the WinSport facility and was granted funding based on the economic development of that specific area of Calgary.
Community economic development was at the forefront of the organizations’ objectives. It would look for ways to add value to Alberta’s cities and use each cities strengths to add value to its own events.
What made Badminton Alberta such a successful organization was the director’s ability to obtain government funding and sell badminton to corporate sponsors. He had to know all of this on top of his badminton-specific know-how.
The civil society contributes to urban policy in many different ways. Badminton Alberta plays a role in Alberta’s urban policy, and it impacts Alberta’s citizens even if they don’t play badminton.
