County Badminton Finals
Well done to the boys and girls who travelled to face the best of Devon in Paignton on Tuesday. The students were in awe as they were greeted with the 16 court sports hub and soon got to work warming up ready for their opposition.
The Key Stage 3 boys were all from Year 8 and therefore a year young, but led by Harvey they battled well, beating Paignton, narrowly loosing to Ivybridge and loosing more heavily to the eventual winners Exmouth. Dexter put his power serves and use of angles to good effect and Archie was a super front court asset putting pressure on his opponents. Tristan and Edward rotated through the doubles matches with Edwards low serve a highlight and Tristan’s net play also of high quality.
The Key Stage 4 girls were marshalled by Bethan with long time partner Shola along side her in the doubles. In the best fixture of the day the girls met Tavistock first up and the games swung back and forth. Bethan’s depth and backhand, normally so effective were overpowered by the Tavistock number 1, before the doubles with Shola and Vanessa went our way. Sophia, battled hard and out classed her opponent to win her singles before a doubles loss. It all rested on the Year 10’s shoulders as Vanessa and Sophia took the match to the wire, steeling the game and the match 21-18. Winners Uffculme came out on tops in match two and progress to the South West Finals. Then the girls demolished a hard working, but less able Paignton side.
Second in the county is a good end to the year.
The Boys from Key Stage 4 were led as always by Mikey with the second ranked player Andrew close on his heels in terms of performance. They met Paignton in match 1 and won all five games with a highlight being Joe and Guy’s doubles where both boys showed fabulous changes in depth and power. Match two was against the eventual winners again Exmouth and the squad found the going very tough with wall to wall county players in the opposition. Every great shot played by Andrew and Mikey in the singles seemed to come back and challenge them further. A great reality check for the best in our school. Their final match was cracker against Ivybridge. Two closely matched teams demanded the best from Mikey and team and although it was tight, Mikey’s guile, Andrew’s court coverage and the team work and skill shown by Guy and Joe won though.
Second in the country for the older boys was a great result to finish with.
An additional mention for the students who were commented on by other staff as being incredibly polite, knowledgeable on the rules and sporting in their behaviour. A super day out enjoyed by all.
