Badminton: Moody mixes study and sport

You get the feeling that Northland's John Moody is a man on a mission.

He must be. It is the only way to squeeze a double law and arts degree and launching a highly successful international badminton career in a four year window, and still manage to emerge in one piece.

Moody, who proudly calls the harbourside settlement of Parua Bay, near Whangarei, his home, is not only in one piece, he reckons he is on track to hunt down a medal at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

The 26-year-old was initially named solely as a singles player for the Games that start tonight.

But right now he is also in line to play the mens doubles with Geoff Bellingham, after Bellingham's long time playing partner John Gordon wrenched an achilles tendon last month.

It his Moody's first chance to play at a Commonwealth Games event, and he is charged up for the experience.

"I finished my degrees last year and playing badminton is all I have been doing for a year now," Moody said.

"When I thought about trying to play badminton fulltime about four years ago I did not think it was possible.

"But now that's what I do and I am just loving the life really," he said.

"At this point I am semi professional and just starting to do really well, but it is events like this that make it all the more worthwhile."

Moody was part of that group of four young badminton players from Parua Bay School known as Tim's Team (after Tim Hempleman the headmaster).

They were all members of the Parua Bay Club. The other three players were Catherine Moody and Dean and Michelle Nuttall.

Moving on to Whangarei Boys High School, he was a part of the school team that won the National Secondary Schools Badminton Championships.

Next, Moody set two national records by winning the national junior championship (under 19) for four consecutive years (no one else has won it more than twice), and the New Zealand International 21s tournament (under 22) five times (no one else has won it more than once, mainly because of the presence of the overseas players).

He then launched into university study, but maintained his love of badminton.

"It was pretty full on for a while there and at times I had to make sacrifices. I gave up playing at the world junior championships in 2000.

"But since then things have got a bit more flexible. University tutors tend to be a bit more flexible than school teachers," Moody said,

Moody recalls his early days in the game, under the coaching of a Whangarei player called Aaron Spence, saying he owes Spence a lot for sending him in the right direction.

Heading to Europe to play while still studying at university, Moody played in the the Irish International, where he reached the quarter-final and played in the United States, losing a semifinal and then making a quatter-final in Canada.

Now he is working on his world ranking which has peaked at 37 and is currently 43.

In Melbourne he is ranked between 5 and 8, with only group rankings posted, but believes he has a real medal shot.

"It all depends on the draw. There are two top Malaysian players here and the rest of us and much of a muchness. If I make a semifinal anything can happen."

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE