Varsity & JV Badminton

KIM MARLOR, HEAD COACH: VARSITY & JV BADMINTON 

A teacher and coach since the fall of 1979, Kim Marlor has coached Tennis and Badminton at Garrison Forest since she arrived in the fall of 1986. She also taught and later coached squash in its infancy at GFS. Kim is committed to empowering young people to recognize, and embrace, who they are in the world of physical education, athletics and wellness. 

It's all about "the journey" for each of her athletes.  Individual sports test each athlete's ability on a daily basis and each young athlete comes to a sport with their own unique story.  Kim encourages each player to practice to the best of their ability, realize her strengths and weaknesses, focus on strengthening the weaknesses in her game play, and celebrate each step towards improvement. 

Skills and drills occupy the first two-thirds of practice and match play (to implement these new skills and strategies) generally occur at the end the practice.  Kim's long term goal for all of the players is to stay involved with all the racket sports (tennis, badminton, squash, pickle ball), "It's very simple...I want them still playing these sports when they are my age." In recent years, most of the students and athletes that Kim works with refer to her as "Marlor."

Email: kimmarlor@gfs.org

 

RICK WIKER, ASSISTANT COACH: VARSITY & JV BADMINTON 

Rick has coached at Garrison Forest for 11 years.  He coaches mainly singles and those players are often in top contention in the IAAM end-of-season tournament.  Overall, the GFS team has been in the top 3 for the past 5 years, including 2 top spots. Rick was apart of the 2017 IAAM A-Conference Championship team.

Rick was a high school county champion for several years in both singles and doubles and the runner-up in western NY competitions. 8 years later, he was a Maryland state champion in singles.

For the past decade (excepting last year when he was injured), he was either champion or runner-up in the Maryland State Seniors (Ages 50+) competing in singles, doubles and mixed doubles.

In 2013, he was 3rd in the nation in his age group in singles and won the consolation mixed doubles.

Rick was the president of the Catonsville Badminton Club for many years,  He also organized and managed the Baltimore Badminton Charity Open for 15 years (raising over $73,000 for the Red Cross). He's now a consultant and web master for that large annual event.

Rick has retired from his IT career and concentrates on woodworking, including furniture; updating his log cabin residence; and coaching group badminton for both GFS and Howard County.  He does not offer private lessons, but recommends the local Loch Raven or Towsontowne club pros for players wanting personalized coaching.

 

Email: wiker@verizon.net