Northern Ontario Badminton Association
About NOBA
The Northern Ontario Badminton Association (NOBA) is a district within Badminton Ontario that manages and supports organized badminton in the the governing body for badminton in the Kenora, Rainy River, Thunder Bay, Algoma, Cochrane, Manitoulin, Nipissing, Sudbury, Sudbury Regional Municipality and Timiskaming districts. Our purpose is to support, build and grow badminton within these districts and to represent northern Ontario on the provincial level.
The NOBA Executive is elected in the spring every 2 years by members of NOBA. The executive is tasked with supporting NOBA clubs, growing the membership base and being an active association among Badminton Ontario.
The NOBA Executive for 2023-2025 is as follows:
President - Kurt Tempelmans Plat
Vice-President - Mickey Obradovich
Treasurer - Troy Brushett
Member at Large - TanyaCloutier
Member At Large - Cameron Duff
NOBA HISTORY
Did you know that the Northern Ontario Badminton Association was founded in 1927? It was founded by Captain W. R. Griffiths, a newcomer to the area who moved to the Sault Ste. Marie area. In it's inaugural year NOBA hosted a tournament with several players from the five different Sault Ste. Marie clubs participating. Mr Griffiths and his wife took home the singles crowns in this first of many, soon to be dubbed "The Northern". Over the years, NOBA grew to encompass people and clubs from Sault Ste. Marie to Kapuskasing to North Bay and everything in between. The Northern was run for more than 50 years consecutively (with a break during World War II). The first NOBA Junior Championship was hosted in 1976 and still runs to this day.
To learn more, please read this historical book, "The Northern: A history of Northern Ontario Badminton Association Championships" which was printed in 1980. The link to download it can be found HERE.
We have also uploaded a copy of The Northern Shuttle #28. This was a newspaper circulated in the 1970s and 1980s that was created by NOBA and delivered to over 1000 people monthly to promote and discuss badminton! Check out this piece of history HERE.
We are hoping to put together an 100-year anniversary booklet for our district's 100th birthday in 2027. If you have any photos, trophies, stories, copies of The Northern Shuttle, or anything else that you believe may be of interest, please contact us: north.on.bad@gmail.com.