After a recent run of poor form, the U18 Badminton team pulled out a shock result against Leicester Grammar, largely due to the leadership and motivation of head coach and team manager Ian Bateman.

Seeded first was Ryan Mills, up against a little dude, who’s first in the county for the under 15’s. Ryan played an excellent game and put in some great shots, but just came up short when the “little dude” managed to scrape a win. Congratulations Ryan, well played.

Oliver Hoult seeded second, tore apart his opponent and gave us an easy win, Oliver is a county player and did very well to beat someone three years his senior. Well Done Oli. Just after Oliver, Ash Mason beat his opponent 21-9. This was an excellent result and Ashley played some excellent shots and kept his cool, resulting in a brilliant win.

Seeded fourth was Ben Konarski, who came up short at 21-19 to the guy, we believed would be positioned first. Ben played well and managed to pull back a 17-12 loss, to come so close to winning. Unlucky Ben, well played.

With the singles out the way and a 2-2 draw, the lads looked hopefully into their doubles, knowing they had a good chance. Oli and Ryan tore apart the second pairing firstly and won 21-9. An easy game for them, which they said was won by “serving low, waiting for the lift and smashing”, a tip Ben and Ashley took into account. Meanwhile they were up against the number one pairing, and after an early lead, came short at 15-21. Ashley played some excellent shots and really got the other side worked up, whilst Ben, playing brilliantly, tore apart the “little dude” who was first in the county... One person doesn’t make a team, right?

Swapping pairs, Ryan and Oli took on the number one pairing. Both are exceptional players and Ryan played some phenomenal smashing, and Oli with exceptional movement, whipped around the court. Winning the game 21-16, well done lads. Brilliant play.

Ben and Ashley then took on the number two pair, and after a hard fought battle, some excellent smashing by Ben and brilliant movement and stretching by Ashley, they managed a brilliant win, of 21-8. Congrats to Ben and Ash.

Well done to the team, an overall win of 5-3... bring on Beauchamp!!

Training takes place for under 16’s and 18’s every Monday night after school, if anybody is interested in coming along, either for the team or a friendly game.

Reporter: Ben Konarski

Published on Tuesday 2nd March 2010 at 09:00