Charlie Lay, a second year member of the Humber College badminton team, was selected as the 2009/10 Ontario Colleges Athletic Association Male Badminton Player of the Year. The announcement was made on Friday morning at the Awards Banquet prior to the beginning of the 2010 OCAA Provincial Badminton Championships, which are being held at St. Clair College in Windsor.

Charlie has had an exceptional season, which could potentially be topped off this weekend with a third straight OCAA Doubles Championship and another trip to the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association National Badminton Championships. He, along with a number of partners in both Mixed Doubles and Men’s Doubles has medaled in every event this year, with the majority of them being gold.

He will partner up at the provincial championships with last year’s OCAA Player of the Year Mark Wong. They won the West Division Championship two weeks ago, an event where they went undefeated.

Charlie has won two consecutive OCAA Doubles titles, one while at St. Clair College in Mixed Doubles in 2008, and another last season at Humber in Men’s Doubles. He also captured the Bronze Medal at the 2009 CCAA National Championships.

“Charlie is the hardest worker on our team. He is our captain and our leader,” noted Humber Head Coach Michael Kopinak. “Not only does Charlie show this on the court during competition but he is always motivating our team to take part in additional workouts outside of practice. Lay is a true competitor and is well deserving of this award”.

With the announcement of the OCAA Player of the Year honours, Charlie has been nominated for the CCAA National Male Player of the Year award, which will be unveiled at the 2010 CCAA Badminton Championships in Edmonton in two weeks.

Charlie, a Windsor native, is currently in his second year of study in the Architectural Technology program at Humber.

(Courtesy of Humber Athletics)