Champ Blake seeks help for Cuba

 

By the time she was 12-years-old, Blake was a member of the FMT Badminton Club which she joined in 1999. That year, she was selected for the national junior team after winning a few local tournaments. That marked the beginning of an impeccable career. Blake has since achieved much more, including winning two bronze medals at the Caribbean Regional Badminton Confederation (CAREBACO) Championships in 2000 in the girls under-15 singles and doubles, just after one year of officially playing badminton. Blake made a brilliant debut in her first senior tournament in 2006, smashing her way to gold in the women’s singles. She has since dominated this category, having held the title for four years, missing out only in 2007 when she was unable to defend her title.  However, the racket mastermind showed her true prowess taking the Open singles title that same year, in the process defeating some of the more seasoned players.

 

In March last year, Blake suffered with a lower-spine disc bulge due to a recurrent injury she sustained while playing a match when she was 15. Not being one to back down from any challenge, Blake boldly made the decision to defend her title despite her obvious handicap. “I was in so much pain I was unable to sit for more than five minutes. Even walking was difficult. It forced me to miss competition in the beginning and middle of the year. During this, I’ve been doing physical therapy everyday at the clinic and at home.” Blake revealed that by mid 2011, her strength started to come back so she started to prepare to defend her national title. “I just had faith and I knew it was going to get better. I didn’t care if I had to go and defend my national title with my back sick. I was still going. I don’t know where I got the strength from but I know I was praying...God made a way.” Charming in every sense, it would take only a few seconds to fall in love with Blake’s charisma. However, the gregarious Sangre Grande resident warned that all the “nice thing” goes as soon as she steps on the court. “I’m really an aggressive player. All the pretty and nice thing goes when I’m on the court. I’m like a man when I’m on court....it’s like I’m in a fight. I don’t care I’m fighting to the last.” As a sport development officer, Blake ardently takes on the responsibility of developing sport in her St Andrew/St David district. She intends to start a badminton academy potentially based in North Eastern College as her first project for the year.

 

However, she cautioned that in order for badminton to truly be developed in T&T, a few problems must be addressed: “To take the sport forward I really think that we need to have a better organisation. (When that happens)...the sport will be a lot better. The availability of courts is also a main hindrance in the development of the sport.” Although Blake has the distinction of having beaten every local woman badminton player, she is not satisfied with that as her main goal is to qualify for the 2016 Olympics. But to do this, she must first acquire sponsorship to participate in international games in order to gain Olympic qualification points. Her last international game was the 2010 CAC games where she made it to the quarterfinals and since then, the gifted athlete has been unable to participate in international tournaments because of a lack of sponsorship.  

“Yes I might be the number one (women’s) player in T&T but that’s not enough. I have to compete at an international level to get at a higher level. I can’t be playing locally and go outside and want to say that I am number one in Trinidad...it wouldn’t happen like that. I have a good chance at making it (to the Olympics). I'll be glad for anyone who can assist me with getting sponsorship.”