Badminton Oceania is delighted to partner with previous national and state players from Australia, Jeff Tho and Henry Wong, to bring you entertaining stories from players and badminton personnel in Oceania via The Badminton Podcast.

This podcast is for badminton players, by badminton players, celebrating local heroes, interviewing players from all walks of life and pushing you to grow as a player and a person. This is a unique avenue for players, including up-and-coming players, to be exposed to the badminton world and build their profiles, which you can listen to on-the-go.

Check out the latest podcasts below.

THE TOKYO 2020 SHOW

Jeff Tho and Henry Wong partnered with the Badminton World Federation to deliver a daily podcast show throughout the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The first episode dropped on 23 July 2021 and ran every day of the badminton competition.

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Aaron & Gladis Hor (AUS/SIN) - The Birth of AG Badminton
Aaron and Gladis Hor talk about the inception of AG badminton, and how their passion to grow the badminton community has resulted in having to make a decision to prioritise their academy ahead of their 'normal' jobs.
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Jeff Tho (AUS) - Intersection of badminton & business
Jeff Tho is a dentist and business coach/consultant outside of his roles in Volant & The Badminton Podcast. He discusses the lessons learnt from the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 and how it can be adapted to business.
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Daniel Fan (AUS) - Coaching is not about you
We welcome Daniel Fan back onto the podcast - from episode 38. A lot has changed in his transition from a professional player to a full-time coach. He has been doing great things with head coach Nick Kidd, and we talk all about it on this episode.
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Badminton Lights Out - Badminton Controversies
Gronya and Justine bring you a bonus episode where they chat about some of the most absurd and funny things that has happened to them on a badminton court.
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Badminton Lights Out - Work-Badminton-Life Balance
Justine and Gronya interview Jeff Tho (TBP host) to better understand how he balanced his high-achieving academics while playing badminton and continues to juggle multiple jobs now.
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Jasmine Trophy Hunter (AUS) - Badminton for Females
Jasmine 'Trophy Hunter' Wong' talks about her vision for badminton, especially for girls/women, and how her brand is helping to bring more female players to the sport.
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Stuart Brehaut (AUS) - Olympic insights & badminton's future
Joined by Stuart Brehaut (Former Olympian and current Australian National Head Coach) we recap Tokyo 2020, chat about the future of independent badminton players, and where Stuart thinks we're heading as a sport.
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Badminton Lights Out - Riding Solo (AUS/NZL)
Justine and Gronya talk about Gronya’s Europe stint on how she tackles tournaments, trainings and her mental health for the months she’s been away from home.
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Badminton Lights Out - Money Talks (NFA)
Justine and Gronya discuss the struggles of financially supporting your badminton career and a few ways you can earn money and better yourself while achieving your athletic dreams!
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Badminton Lights Out - Training with weaker sparring (AUS/NZL)
Justine and Gronya interview New Zealand's Abhinav Manota to talk about his story and how to improve as a player with limited sparring partners.
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The Physio Strokes - Pinakin Godse (AUS)
Former player, turned physiotherapist with a Masters in Musculoskeletal and Sports Physiotherapy. Hear a physio's view on badminton injuries and how to best take care of your body.
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Badminton Lights Out - How to plan your training program (AUS/NZL)
Gronya Somerville and Justine Villegas discusses the different phases of training you can incorporate leading up to a competition and what each of those look like in terms of on-court and gym training.
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Badminton Lights Out - How to train during lockdown (AUS/NZL)
With many of us still abiding by COIVD restrictions, Gronya and Justine discuss how to train during lockdowns so that you can stay fit and ready to get back onto court when things open up again!
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Badminton Lights Out - Badminton then & now (AUS/NZL)
Justine and Gronya interview their National Team coaches (and ex-players), Stuart Brehaut (AUS) and Rikke Olsen-Siegemund (NZL) to discuss differences in tournaments, athletes and training programs.
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'Para'normal Badminton - Ian Bridge (AUS)
Ian Bridge is a detective inspector, turned Para badminton coach for Australia. He has accompanied teams to 3 World Championships and is heading to Tokyo 2020. Hear more about his coaching philosophy for Para badminton athletes and the challenges that he's overcome.
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Jack of All Trades vs. Master of None - Athi Selladurai (AUS)
Here's 25 year old Athi Selladurai - an Australian national-level badminton player and full time electrical engineer. In this episode, we talk about his badminton story and some of the challenges he has faced in choosing between focussing on 1 thing, or spreading himself across a range of things: which one is better?
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A series of unfortunate events - Justine Villegas (NZL)
Say hello to Justine Villegas from New Zealand! She is a national player who has played for her country at the Oceania Team Events and Sudirman Cup in Nanjing in 2019. She has a very interesting story where she's been able to turn some 'unfortunate' events into things that have made her strong, better and a more rounded person.
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Introducing TBP ft. Badminton Lights Out (NZL/AUS)
New Zealand's Justine Villegas and Australia's Gronya Somerville joins The Badminton Podcast's new featured segment of the podcast: Badminton Lights Out (aka BLO). So you'll be hearing a bit of a different episode structure, new voices, new perspectives and new topics!</p> <p>
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Northern Marianas - then, now, and the future (CNMI)
Have you heard of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands before? Well, now you have! Hear from players, Janelle Pangilinan and Nathan Guerrero and Board Members, Merlie Tolentino and Christy Villaflor, to understand what the future of badminton looks like for the remote country.
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The fight for funding - Robin Middleton (ENG/AUS)
Robin is a former English Mixed and Men's Doubles player, who after moving to Australia went on to represent AUS at the Commonwealth and Olympic Games. In this episode, Robin discusses the pressures that players face and the difference in Badminton cultures.
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Gronya Somerville's romance & COVID projects (AUS)
Listen to hear what Gronya Somerville has been up to during the COVID lockdowns. Based in Melbourne, Australia, she has been in one of the longest and most strict lockdowns in the world. And she's been making full use of the time with some new projects she has been working on.<br />
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It's never too late - Nathan Tang (AUS)
Nathan Tang will be representing Australia at the 2021 Thomas Cup Finals. His playing career started very late, and in this episode, he discussed his journey and his hope is to inspire the younger generations of players to keep at it.
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BWF's singing umpire - David Turner (AUS)
David is a man of many talents. On the badminton scene, he is a former international BWF umpire, lines judge and is a member of the BWF Assessment Panel. Learn more about the pathway to become a world-class badminton official.
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Making it happen in Oceania - Julie Carrel (BOC)
Learn from Julie Carrel, the CEO of Badminton Oceania (BOC) - one of the continental confederations of the Badminton World Federation. She shares information about the organisation, what it has done and where they are headed - which involves great things for badminton.
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NZBL: a COVID product - Anona Pak & Abhinav Manota (NZL)
An exciting new event: The New Zealand Badminton League. We discuss the ins and outs of the league; why it was created, what's involved and how to watch, all the while learning more about national players, Anona Park and Abhinav Manota.
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The PAIN of an Olympic journey - Daniel Fan (AUS)
Daniel Fan was going all-out for his 2020 Tokyo Olympics campaign. You may think that travelling around the world competing full time is like a dream come true - which it is for many athletes. But that doesn't mean that there aren't nightmares along the way.
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Badminton's next chapter - Jamie Parsons (AUS)
The new CEO of Badminton Australia, Jamie, shares his wisdom in how we can grow our sport within our community - wherever we are in the world. His impressive resume and success with other sports gives insights that all badminton community members can learn from.
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Oliver Leydon-Davis (NZL) - badminton has levelled up
Oliver Leydon-Davis is a New Zealand national player who has spent time training with team XTRM in Taiwan, played for Højbjerg in the Danish Liga and has been part of the BWF commentary team. Learn more about his exciting badminton journey so far.
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Gronya Somerville (AUS) - Thoughts on COVID-19 & the 2020 Olympics
Gronya talks about the effects of COVID-19 on her badminton and life, how you can get the most out of the self-isolation and how she feels about the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games being postponed to 2021.
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Stop overthinking in matches - Community Q & A (AUS)
We have started The Badminton Podcast's Community Q & A where we answer the questions that you send us via Instagram. In this episode, we talk about the mental side of badminton and how to get out of your head, when you get sucked into the trap of overthinking.
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Shining the light on para-badminton - Celine Vinot (AUS)
Celine is an Australian Para badminton champion in Women's SL3 singles and ranked 15th (WS) and 25th (WD) in the world. Learn more about the different categories of Para badminton, how the sport is developing and busts some common myths associated with the sport.
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Foot for thought - Jasmine Kouch (AUS)
Jasmine is a podiatrist from Melbourne, who helps badminton players prevent and manage injuries. In this episode, she discusses the most common podiatry-related injuries, how to prevent them and how to manage them if you ever experience them.
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Subtle Badminton Traits - a chat with Josef Sutrisna (NZL)
In this episode, we talk about current badminton trends in the world and how although training badminton technique is important, the way you play badminton can be your own expression of yourself.
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2020 Olympic Medal Predictions - Jeff Tho & Henry Wong (AUS)
The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games are fast approaching with less than 4 months before the Olympic qualification period ends. Based on the results of 2019, Jeff & Henry give you their predictions as to who will be standing on the Olympic podium at the Games.
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The ingredients for success – Tjitte Weistra (NED/PER/NZL/AUS)
Tjitte is a former Dutch Men’s Singles player and national coach for Peruvian and New Zealand. Nowadays, he is a business mentor and manager. In this episode, he discusses the ingredients of success, where it often comes down to one thing: people.
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LinkedIn to Badminton - Ferdi Mak (AUS / HKG)
Ferdi's story involves badminton, real estate, sales, marketing, and recruitment in one of the biggest professional social media platforms, LinkedIn. Listen to his fresh perspective that will get you thinking differently and challenge you to live life a little more light heartedly.
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Badminton Vs Tennis - Ernest Ng (AUS)
Ernest is passionate about all racquet sports. He started with badminton, before trying tennis and in this episode, he tells us his story about the transition between the two sports and what he’s learnt along the way which relates to sport, career and life.
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Gronya Somerville (AUS) - who is she on a deeper level?
Gronya Somerville is one of the most well-known badminton players on the international circuit today. Learn more about the Instagram star as we uncover what’s true and real in life in the eyes of this young and influential athlete.
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Hitting your goals rapidly – Jeff Tho (AUS)
Co-founder of Volant Wear and co-hosts of The Badminton Podcast, Jeff Tho, speaks about his life achievements and how you can introduces a goal setting process using 5 key steps: how to turn dreams into reality.
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Preventing badminton injuries through strength training – Justin Li (AUS)
In this episode, Justin uses literature and his background in sports science to explain the importance of strength training in the prevention of the most common badminton injuries, that’s applicable to badminton players of all levels.
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All about career changes – Erica Pong (AUS)
Erica has represented Australia at the World Junior Championships, Sudirman Cup and Uber Cup Finals. In this episode, Erica talks about her off-court decisions to transition from physiotherapy to investment banking and how to handle fear and judgement.
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How to live your passion – Henry Wong (AUS)
A proud badminton player, registered veterinary surgeon, co-host of The Badminton Podcast and co-founder of Volant Wear. Henry shares his story about finding and following his passion for growth and change - and turning it into action.
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Building High Performing Teams – Andrew Surman (AUS)
Former South Australian state representative, Andrew Surman, uncovers what it takes to manage and create a high performing team, which can applied to sport, career and life. His insights and experience in this area conclude in actionable steps you can use to become a better leader.
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What makes a good coach? - Stuart Rowlands (ENG/AUS)
Previously a national player for England, Stuart has taken on coaching roles with Badminton Australia, a college in Adelaide and coaches several junior players privately. Hear more about his journey and his take on the skills needed to become a good coach.
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2019 World Championships - Jeff Tho (AUS)
One of the co-founders of Volant Wear and hosts of The Badminton Podcast, Jeff Tho, shares his experiences coaching the Australian Team at the 2019 World Championships, outlining the differences between being a player and a coach on the world stage.
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How badminton helps in the corporate world - Sam Ho (AUS)
Ex-national Australian Junior Badminton Player, Sam Ho, talks about how his involvement in badminton has contributed to his success in both his career and his life, including his work as a corporate banker and in his journey as an MBA student.
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