From the Commonwealth Games to scooping ice creams on Hindley St.
That is the transition Australian Number One Verdet Kessler has made over the past 12 months after what she considered a lack of financial support from Badminton Australia on the road to next year’s Rio Olympics.
Kessler whose mother Verniece Benjamin-Kessler was Bermuda's leading dancer 1970's – 1987, would have to fork out about $20,000 to play more than a dozen tournaments around the world while trying to accumulate enough rankings points to qualify for the Games.
So she has decided to put her Olympic dream on hold and live a “normal life” for the first time.
For the past four months, Kessler has worked at gourmet ice cream store Mövenpick on Leigh St in the city.
“(The funding situation) was disappointing because after experiencing the Commonwealth Games, I always wanted to go further and an Olympics would be fantastic,” Kessler says.
“Financially I don’t have enough to fund myself.
“Working was a change of lifestyle and so different.”
Kessler was ranked number one in Australia and was the Country’s only Women’s Singles Player at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where she reached the round of 32.
But Badminton Australia has said it could only fund 25 per cent of her travel, accommodation and tournament costs ahead of the Rio Olympics.
The Governing Body also said it was targeting Doubles Players for medal chances, believing pairs had a better opportunity to succeed in Brazil.
Kessler switched to Doubles for a short time last year before her partner quit the sport.
“Everything just went back to square one,” she says.
Kessler has moved back in with her parents in Kurralta Park and decided this year was best spent focusing on saving money, rather than Badminton.
She initially struggled to find work because of a lack of experience — her only previous job was at Bakers Delight for a few weeks when she was 15.
Mövenpick hired her in March.
“I spent a bit over a month applying for jobs and had several rejections.
“I’d go through periods where I was miserable because I wasn’t working or doing much.
“I was fortunate enough to get this job and am really enjoying it.”
Kessler, whose mum was a Bermudian ballet dancer and dad played European handball in Germany, took up Badminton as a seven-year-old after trying it at a holiday clinic.
She climbed to a career-high world ranking of 102 last year.
These days she gets on the court just twice a week, plays mainly local tournaments and works shifts that often finish after midnight.
“I’m just taking every day as it comes.”
But Kessler has not given up on her Olympic dream.
If Badminton Australia cannot lend more financial support ahead of the 2020 Olympics, she hopes to pay her own way to International Tournaments and qualify for Tokyo.
“For now, I’m enjoying the break but it still would be a dream if I were able to represent Australia at the Olympics,” she says.
Badminton Australia national coach Lasse Bundgaard insists Kessler is not being treated any differently, saying the Governing Body does not have enough money to fully fund players.
Bundgaard hopes Kessler is not lost to the sport.
“We would have loved for her to continue ... and she would have received the exact same funding like all our best players would have got,” Bundgaard says.
“There’s not a lot of players who are fully funded — they have to just find a way if they want to make an Olympics.”
