First Event report 7/7/2025
Author: Jaiden Ou (Founder and President of Net Positive)
On Monday, July 7th, Net Positive hosted its first non-profit tournament at Bintang Badminton, targeting the raising of money and awareness for those in need of equitable and sustainable housing. Through the acts of sports, we brought people together and fought for a righteous cause at the same time. The tournament was unique as it was a double elimination tournament and competition was through the roof. The first-place duo in the tournament would each get $150, while the second-place duo would receive $50 each.
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The event got off to a strong start as people began pouring in through the front door. Marcus and I quickly signed them in and gave them their dark green shirts with Net Positive’s logo on the front and sponsors on the back. The event also provided snacks and drinks such as chips, madeleines, water, and Gatorade. Players, spectators, and family all came together to support the cause of fighting for housing for those in need. In total, about 40 people arrived together to advocate for our cause.
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Next, we organized everyone and gave our speech explaining who we were, our cause, and the rules of our unique tournament. The rules were simple: we would randomly choose your partners and opponents, and once any team reached two losses, they were out. This way, participants would have more freedom to play more games and play without the thought of losing in the first round. We also made the decision to give them random partners. Most people were put with mutuals, or even strangers they had never met before. We strongly believe this event fostered new relationships and sparked new bonds that would have never existed without our event. Then the games began, and competition was everywhere in the gym. We walked around every court and noticed great sportsmanship and grit from every player.
Finally, games went on for many rounds until there were two duos left. One duo that comprised one middle schooler and one elementary schooler: Christopher Rong and Jonas Louie. The other duo consisted of two adults: Lily Tan and Michael Cangjaya. This final battle was electric as both teams saved every birdie, every smash, every net. The whole gym watched as the last two teams battled for first place.
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Both teams fought with great grit and intensity while also maintaining precision in their actions, which led the game to go into a third and final set. The team of adults took a swift lead to 15-8 until Chris and Jonas came with a needed comeback that closed the gap. However, their efforts weren’t enough as Lily and Michael powered through and reached 20 points; they needed one point to finally win. Even though Chris and Jonas were already down by multiple points, they didn’t go down without a valiant fight. They delayed Lily and Michael's victory by scoring the next three points in a row. However, their battle came to an end as Michael hit a hard smash to the sideline, securing their victory. Michael and Lily were given the grand prize of $300, and Jonas and Chris were given a consolation prize of $100.
After the games, we had the chance to interview Mona Sheung, the facility manager at Bintang Badminton Gym, to hear her thoughts on the event and our mission.
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Mona said it was a “wonderful feeling, you get to play and do good things for society”. This was the goal that Marcus and I strived for with Net Positive: to bring positive outcomes throughout the medium of sports. She also stated that she hoped people would walk away from this event with the idea that people can “contribute what [they] can, but also exercise” at the same time.
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She also shared our organization’s common belief that “Doing two good things together is very good!”. Mona’s answers illustrate how organizations like Net Positive can bring people together and also solve a prominent problem in the world. Without our organization, problems such as a lack of housing may go unnoticed in our local area, so we believe it is our responsibility to advocate and educate people on further problems in our community and world.
Net Positive intends to donate to Habitat for Humanity, Bay Area Community Services, Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo, and the Texas Red Cross. All of these platforms raise awareness about finding sustainable and equitable housing. In Texas, many homes have already been lost due to floods. Platforms like Net Positive raise awareness about local impacts, but also raise empathy and interest for cooperation and support on a global scale.
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Allocating part of our donations to address the flooding in Texas was an intentional action. To us, support is without borders, and we wanted to contribute to recent disaster relief and emergency housing efforts. This definitely couldn’t have been done without the support from everybody and our sponsors. Thank you so much to everyone for supporting and believing in us, and we plan to make more events in the future with similar causes that we will continue to fight for.
