Sad Loss

Jolyon Thompson

...
Jolyon Thompson passed away on Feb 26, 2023 at age 62.

Hello everyone,

Unfortunately, I have some very sad news to pass along.

In case you haven't heard, longtime COBA executive member, Jolyon Thompson, passed away Sunday as a result of a heart attack. Needless to say, we're in shock. I spoke to his wife yesterday, she's flying in, today, from a job commitment in California. There will be funeral service which will be held in about 2 weeks time.

I'll post the details on the Badminton website( badmintonontario.ca ) as they are made available to me.

Jolyon's involvement in badminton as a player, coach. official, and the list goes on, is well known throughout the province. He's helped me greatly, especially this past year, when my body hasn't been going along with the program...

He will be GREATLY missed as a badminton "enthusiast" and as a friend to many (myself included).

...and so it goes.

Russ Le Blanc
COBA president

As a provincial umpire, I have worked with Jolyon Thompson at many provincial tournaments for the past 25 years. He is a great guy to work with; The last time I met him was 10 days ago at the Ontario Winter Games at Petawawa and he was the COBA team coach. He taught his players to compete with sportsmanship. Ar the end of the event, every official received a Thank-You Note hand-written by each COBA team member. What a great coach he was! The COBA team is the only one team out of six districts that did such thoughtful gestures. His passing is a great loss to Badminton Ontario!

Fei Tam
President of ODBA