A local family smashed it like pros on the badminton courts this month.
Mary Smith and her son Ryder Persson from Ecole Olds High School were both able to recently earn medals in separate competitions.
Mary won gold in women’s plus 40 singles at the 2026 YONEX Canadian Masters Championships in Kelowna, B.C., while Ryder secured a provincial silver in Grade 11 boys singles in Red Deer. She says “I was actually remote coaching Ryder. My daughter was video taping him because I had just won the gold medal, walked off the court when he was going on for his final. So we were able to video it which was a really neat experience.” Both events took place during the first weekend of May.
Mary credits her Dad for holding his drop-in badminton night for helping her fall in love with the sport and while she was coaching it at Olds College, Ryder and her older son Christian both really embraced their training and getting to compete with the college players.
