BADMINTON IAPS REPORT

Report by Mr Ethan Walsh, Sports Coach

On the 20th of November a Year 6 squad of Caspar, Lewis, Henry, Ruben and a Year 8 squad of Monet, Julian, Jeronimo and Arjan set of in the morning to Eastbourne for the first time in SJB history to compete in the Badminton IAPS competition. The competition was split up into two groups for both age groups, playing up to a score of 15 with every point won in a match being added up as an overall total.

Caspar and Lewis scored overall 41 points finishing in 4th in their group. Henry and Ruben scoring 65 coming 4th in their group, then in Year 8 Monet and Julian with a very difficult group scored 16 overall with Jeronimo and Arjan only losing 1 game scoring a total of 39 out of 45 total points for their group, finishing in second place. The team work and communication displayed by all pairs was impeccable even when the matches didn’t seem to be in our favour the determination to score as many points as possible was still there.

Every team managed to make it into the quarter final knockout stages where the format changed and the first team to score 21 points would be the winner. Unfortunately, after some tough matches across Year 6 and Year 8 all the teams ended up losing. The most notable match in the quarter finals was Jeronimo and Arjan where it looked like they were out of the game when it was 20-11 and they managed to win the next 9 points in a row but just falling short at the end losing 21-20. 

All the boys who represented SJB for the first time performed exceptionally well considering there was limited practice for both years. They all worked hard and made great improvements. The determination was outstanding in the group stages with every team trying to always score as many points as possible.  To make it all the way to the quarter final knockout stages and play against some of the best schools with some county and England international players, was amazing to watch.

I hope all the boys, especially in Year 6, take this experience and the skills that they’ve learnt so they are ready for next year when they will be competing against the current Year 7s for their spot in the U13s team. The current Year 8s have the ability to perform against some of the best players in their age group.

I’d like to thank Mr Manning for coming along and supporting the boys on the day and for his help in their practice sessions, it made a major impact in their performance.