The Amateur Athletic Union would like to welcome Watkins Fessal as the Florida Badminton Director.

He has been ranked as high as 7th in the USA and competes in mixed doubles,singles and doubles tournaments, and has won several awards whilst competing in the sport.

Watkins, a St. Lucia native  was educated in England, where he was also a certified coach. He is also a USA Badminton certified coach ,and is one of their Regional coaching director for the Florida area, and a long-time player.

An entrepreneur, Fessal owns several British patents, one for a shuttlecock-serving machine, which he wants to have made available to schools, clubs, YMCA and recreational centers, at an affordable price.

Currently, he is working to bring badminton into the Osceola, Polk, Lake and Orange School Districts as a physical education option to the school curriculum.

His mission statement is that ” NO CHILD WILL BE LEFT BEHIND “ target children who do not get to play the main sports because of the physicality of those sports, and really still want to have a competitive edge, not just now but for the rest of their lives.

As a direct result, we will see healthier, fitter future generation in our children.

Watkins Fessal supervises players at the Kissimmee Civic Center and their abilities range from tournament-caliber to beginners.   He sees badminton as a sport that offers much to players of any age, and sees it as the only racquet sport which truly give longevity.

“This is a sport for a lifetime. Most people who try it fall in love with the sport, Watkins said.” “It has everything. It requires good reflexes; agility and stamina to play at the tournament level, but anyone can play the sport and enjoy it.”

Badminton is the fastest racquet sport, with the shuttlecock composed of cork tip and goose, duck feathers weighing 5.25 – 5.75 grams has been clocked at speeds of over 200 mph.  It has been an Olympic sport since 1996.Watkins Fessal held the Southern Open Badminton Tournament to the Kissimmee Civic Center in 2006. 75 players from attended this tournament across Florida. He is also working with AAU and hopes to host an International Event in 2010. Details of which will be posted on the AAU Badminton site. The AAU will be running its first Badminton League set to launch late 2009-2010.

Contact Watkins at watkinsfessal510@hotmail.com. www.16feathersclub.com

This entry was posted on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 6:32 pm and is filed under AAU Links, AAU News, AAU Sports, Badminton. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.