Wednesday 30 March 2011

New Premier Club!

St Austell Bay Senior and Junior Badminton Clubs have achieved Badminton England Premier status and Sport England Clubmark Accreditation.

Tim Jones, Badminton England’s Regional Officer for Cornwall, presented the certificates to Club Chairman Lyndon Allen at the Junior Club night and said “It is fantastic to see such an energetic badminton club be rewarded for their continuous hard work and support. The Clubmark Accreditation recognises those clubs who are proactively encouraging players of all ages and abilities to become more physically active through badminton, while developing their club environment to cater for such opportunities. St Austell Bay Badminton Club are one of many key partners supporting the delivery of the St Austell Community Badminton Network, enhancing the opportunities for badminton provision in the local area and offering a quality experience for all involved.”

(St Austell Bay Club Website)

Monday 28 March 2011

CORNWALL U17s v WILTSHIRE



Sunday 27th March, Tregorrick Park, St Austell

Cornwall U17s Badminton took a great victory on Sunday by comprehensively defeating close neighbours Somerset 23-13 in their penultimate South West Counties League fixture at their “home” venue at Tregorrick Park St Austell.

TEAM
Sam Spencer - Truro College (Capt). Chris Grout - Launceston College. Tony Marshall - Budehaven School. Kynan Clarke - Truro College. Christian Jasper - Launceston College.Chris Cooper - Penryn College. James Gallagher - Wadebridge School.
Beth Wotton - Hayle School (Capt). Beth Rich - Mounts Bay School. Abigail Logg - St Marys School Launceston. Hannah Roberston - Callington Sixth Form. Hester Luke - Mounts Bay School. Rachael Collard - Callington Sixth Form.

In the singles the boys took 5 out of the 6 matches with a classy performance by Chris Grout at no2 . James making his county debut at no6 won well in two hard fought ends 21-18.21-18. Just rewards for a consistent approach at training over two years. His determination under pressure being the deciding factor.

In the girls singles great wins for Hester playing at 3 in two straight ends ,Beth Wotton in two ends and Hannah winning a gruelling 3 ender at no6. This left the team with an 8-4 advantage going into the doubles.

The boys continued their great season at this discipline taking 6 out of 9 games. Christian and Chris Cooper further cementing their partnership at no3 by taking two games with a great win against the Somerset no2 pair.

The girls took all 3 against the Somerset 3rd pair. Beth and Beth making a critical contribution to keep the team on track with a fine win in two ends against the Somerset second pair, being more focussed and retaining the attack on a consistent basis. Our 3rd pairing of Rachael and Hester had a magnificent performance in taking the Somerset No1s to 3 close ends. Great tactical awareness by our girls.

A scoreline of 18-12 in the Duchys favour going into the mixed. This is where the strength in depth of the team lies. New pairings throughout the mixed returned 5 wins from 6. The most nerve racking performance goes to Beth Rich and Kynan at no3,who in 3 ends 19-21.23-21 and 28-26 showed all those present just how much pride there is within the team. A wonderful game to finish a great match for Cornwall.

This victory moves the team into a position to travel to Wiltshire next Sunday in good heart, with the aim of a 3rd place in the League still very much achievable.
A big thank you to all the Grandparents,Parents and Brothers and Sisters of our players who supported the match. Kynan having the full complement of 3 generations of his family in attendance to give support.

Thank you on behalf of Cornwall Youth Badminton to all the staff at Tregorrick Park for their welcome and support over a long season, this being the counties last competitive match at the venue for this season. Always a warm welcome and great facilities.

Team Managers-Sue Cooper-Jon Wotton.

Sunday 27 March 2011

CORNWALL WIN BATTLE OF THE CELTS!

Cornwall Badminton’s 1st team 8, West Glamorgan 7

In the final match of the season on Sunday, Cornwall won a tense, exciting home match, at St Austell’s Polkyth leisure centre, against their strong West Glamorgan rivals 8-7, with the large crowd on the edge of their seats all afternoon. The result keeps Cornwall on top of the league, and facing an anxious wait for the result of the Welsh team’s last match next week, to see who wins promotion.

Cornwall’s mens singles players, Kelvin Edwards and James Whetter, got the match off to a fine start with 2 victories, balanced by Jo Philp and Emily James both losing to their skilful counterparts. Once again, Tom Lyle and Ross Lashbrook impressed with their dominant mens doubles play, easily winning both games, as did the other Cornish pair of James and Guy Michell, who did well to win their games in 3-enders.

The girls pairings were up against it all afternoon, only Jo and Rachel Irish narrowly winning one game, and Emily and Bronwen Wotton coming agonisingly close but just losing in the final end.

So with the score on 7-5 going into the mixed, Cornwall only needed one game for victory, and all 3 for maximum points, tensions were running high in the hall. James and Jo stormed to a stunning win to set the scene and win the match. With both other games going to the wire, each pair of Kelvin and Bronwen, Guy and Rachel were very unlucky to lose despite a magnificent effort.

This team can be hugely proud of an excellent season, seven impressive wins and just one loss, on top of the league, and flying the flag for Cornish Badminton.

Monday 21 March 2011

Cornwall Chiefs keep pressure up


Tom and Jan fight for the crucial last game

Cornwall 1st team travelled away to Avon on Sunday to play their penultimate fixture of the season. Currently top of the table, but with West Glamorgan close behind and with games in hand, Cornwall needed a minimum of a 10-5 victory to take the title chase to the last match. James Whetter set the team rolling with a quick and clinical 21-7, 21-10 defeat of the Avon no.1, whilst Ross Lashbrook was unlucky to lose 21-18 in the third end of a closely fought battle. Jo Philp and Emily James took both the ladies singles to give us a 3-1 lead after the singles rubbers.

With solid, attacking badminton, Emily and Jo comfortably disposed of both Avon pairs. Bronwen Wotton and Janet Santillo displayed an impressive performance to defeat their equivalent pairing in three hard fought ends, and were unfortunate to miss out against the first pair in the third end. The Avon men’s first pair proved to strong for both James and Guy Michell, and Tom Lyle and Ross. However, both Cornish pairs had comfortable wins over the second pairs which meant we were still in the running for our much needed 10-5 win.

Tensions were running high as we went into the mixed doubles, needing to take at least 2 of the 3 rubbers to keep the title dream alive. James and Jo lost out in a tense three-ender to Avon’s first pair, and the pressure was on the remaining Cornish pairs to prevail.

Guy and Bron played controlled yet dynamic mixed doubles, dominating the increasingly frustrated Avon pairing in the third end and claiming victory. With a 9-4 lead it was paramount that Tom and Jan won the last match. All eyes were on the show court as yet again the match was taken to the wire in a tantalising third end. A combination of tactical prowess from Tom, sharp net play from Jan and extraordinary support from the on looking crowd gave Cornwall the edge and we took the final end 21/19. Captain Kelvin Edwards, who was unfortunately unable to play due to illness, was delighted with the 10-5 win; “This reflects some stunning individual results and a gutsy team performance- what a brilliant result”

Cornwall 1st team will need to put in the performance of the season this Sunday 27th to beat West Glamorgan at Polkyth Leisure Centre, and gain a chance of promotion. Home support is very much needed! Match starts at 12 noon.

Wednesday 9 March 2011

Cornwall Under 21 Badminton

Cornwall’s under 21 badminton stars were out in force at the weekend in a triangle match against Avon and Devon. The fixture held at St Peters School, Exeter is the third year the event has taken place and is good preparation for the Inter Counties Competition (ICC) held in April at Hatfield. The ICC is the pinnacle of colt badminton with over 30 counties competing. When the Duchy had arrived Devon had already beaten Avon 6-4 so it was now the Cornish’s turn to face the squad from Bristol.

The singles started well with the Duchy winning 3 out of the 4 singles contests, Emily James, Bron Wotton and Josh Pearce all winning through. Ross Lashbrook was unlucky in his tie taking the Avon number one to three sets and just missing out 14-21 in the third end to a very fit and tricky opponent Horace Tse.

Ross got his revenge in the men’s doubles, teaming up with Tom Lyle. The “on form” pair from Launceston won an interesting three set tussle with the Avon number one pair and extended the Duchy lead further to 4-1. The Cornish second pair of Chris Glasson and Josh Pearce went down in two sets to a hard hitting Avon second pair. “We lifted too much" commented Josh

In the Ladies doubles Emily James and Jo Philip just got run out in the third end 18 -21, while Bron Wotton and Daphne Luke changed tactics and took their absorbing match in three ends. So with a 5-3 score line going into the mixed, it was very much in the Duchy’s favour.

Chris Glasson and Jo Philip devastated their opponents in two ends showing a quality team performance. Daphne Luke and Tom Lyle in the second mixed did not let the side down with a fantastic three ended victory. It went right to the wire but the Cornish duo took the last end 23-21 leaving a fantastic Cornwall overall victory of 7-3. This must have put Devon at unease having only got a 6-4 win against Avon.

“We definitely had the physiological edge” suggested Team manager Kelvin Edwards.
“The matches are out of 10 games, so I placed our strengths in the Devon match in just making sure we got 6 wins to take the tie” continued Kelvin.

Sadly, and beyond the run of play Cornwall lost to Devon 3-7.

“We need to be more consistent, more of the time” commented Kelvin “If we played like we did against Avon there would be no question we could have reversed this score line, Devon did not win this fixture, we lost it!” Harsh words from the Cornwall manager, Kelvin continued,
“There were some outstanding performances today and at times every member of the team really played like they wanted to win, but we just need to see it through, think a little and finish the job”
“Player of the day, Tom Lyle, tactically superb”

60’s MAINTAIN 2nd PLACE

Cornwall 60’s successfully maintained 2nd position within their league with a convincing 11-1 win over Avon 2 at Clevedon on Sunday 27th Feb.

Again without Mike Nancekivell, captain Brian Hannibal brought Bill Edgar into the side. This proved an excellent choice, with Bill securing victory in all his games partnering Tony Roberts in the mens and Celia Hillman in the mixed.

Other successes came from Vera Nancekivell playing alongside Chris Marr and Brian with Phil Oland, while Pat Edwards who was partnered with Celia had one win and one loss.

The four mixed games were closely contested but pleasingly, all ended in Cornwall's favour.
The team are now looking forward to the final match of the season away to Wiltshire at Melksham on the 27th March.

Tuesday 8 March 2011

CORNWALL U13 BADMINTON VS SOMERSET - SUNDAY 6 MARCH 2011

The Cornwall u13 team played their last South West County league match; doing themselves proud by beating Somerset by a very convincing 33 - 3 games. Since Somerset were unable to field a full team of girls, Cornwall travelled up with a full side of boys, but just 3 girls and started the fixture with 11 games in hand. Despite knowing this, the Cornish team went onto court expecting to have to work hard to win games, but soon proved they were the superior players in all but a couple of games. It would be unfair to single out any player, as all gave of their best from beginning to end. The match was a short but enjoyable event, during which Cornwall proved the overwhelmingly better team; both in spirit and strength. The team, accompanied by supportive parents and coach, Cathryn Bick, deserve every congratulations for completing the season in true style! The team: Boys - Alex Julian (Captain), Sam Laity, Isaac Barrow, Nick Peters, Tyler Sillifant and Milo Semonin; Girls - Kellen Moore (Captain), Amy Polglase, Billie Wood (and Cara Thompson, Rosa Higgs and Laura Galley, who were selected for the match, but who disappointingly, had no opposition to face.)



Having remained unbeaten through the season, the Cornwall U13 team is now awaiting confirmation that they are the South West County League Champions - an honour brought home for the first time in the history of the league!




















Report by: Michelle Thompson, Team manager