Junior Badminton Tournament
Last weekend saw another very successful Junior Badminton Tournament held at Tees Active’s Thornaby Pavilion.
The tournament, sponsored by Tees Active Limited who provided the Courts and Higman Sports who provided the shuttles, is open to all players under 19 years old, who attend a school or badminton club within the Tees Valley, regardless of ability.
There were a total of 30 events with categories for boys and girls, singles and doubles and age groups down to under nines.
With 123 participants taking part, the weekend saw the Pavilion buzzing with energy and excitement. There were 60 Boys and 36 Girls taking part in the Singles on the Saturday and 42 Boys and 38 Girls taking part in the Doubles on the Sunday.
During the weekend there were 520 games of badminton played, 260 on singles day and the same number on doubles day.
All matches were played using the new Badminton Scoring System of Rally Points to 21.
The competitions were all sporting and very good-natured, with superb badminton played by all.
Even the Under 9 Singles competition was a keenly fought affair.
With the rally point scoring system, matches were much closer than previous occasions.
Each event category had it’s own mini-league/s with appropriate quarterfinals, semi-finals and finals.
Consequently every player had a chance to play several matches.
As well as the girls and boys doubles competitions on the Sunday, there were two Mixed Doubles Competitions.
Mixed doubles in Badminton is one of only a very few sports where the girls play as equals to the boys. These mixed competitions again proved to be very popular with the players.
The timing of each competition during both days is such that players are allowed to enter two age categories. This enables the talented players to enter their own age category and an older age group category. Consequently winners of one age group could be winners/runners up of a higher age group as some of the results show.
Tournament Referee, Roger Cook, said, "Once again the Teesside Badminton Coaches Association have shown how to run a successful and enjoyable tournament that attracts players of all ages and abilities. He wished to thank Sheila Boyes who was the organiser for this Tournament and the Club Coaches and other volunteers who help run the tournament on the day. Without their efforts, the tournament would not be a success. It is good to see how the standard of players improve from one tournament to the next. This tournament in previous years has been used as a stepping stone for young players, who are now playing for their respective counties, namely Durham & Yorkshire.”
Roger added, “Junior badminton players throughout the area are very fortunate in having two excellent local sponsors, Tees Active and Higman Sports, who continue to support the game they love, by providing courts and shuttles. With their support the tournament continues to very successful. We need to build on this success and with the continued three-way partnership of Teesside Badminton Coaches Association, Tees Active and Higman Sports, grow this tournament into an even bigger event.”
Organisers of the event, the Teesside Badminton Coaches Association, want everyone to participate in such tournaments with ability being no barrier to entry. Hence the reason for holding novice categories. It’s vitally important to us that everyone from complete novices to county standard juniors have a chance to compete on an equal footing, as badminton can be such a rewarding sport.”
Date of next Junior Tournament is 24th / 25th March 2007. The organisers will again be making a special effort to get more players from Schools, who have just started to play the game, involved in future tournaments.
More information on local badminton activities can be obtained on the Tees Valley Badminton website - www.teesvalleybadminton.co.uk or by contacting the Tees Valley Badminton Development Officer - Sheila Boyes on 07725 823556 / (01642) 316008 or the Teesside Badminton Coaches Association Secretary - Roger Cook on (01642) 656227.
For more information on badminton, indoor sports, Thornaby Pavilion please call (01642) 760971.