Country kids take on the best

Country kids took on the best under 13 badminton players in Australia at the 2012 Under 13 Interstate Series and Regional Teams Challenge at Altona last Friday and Saturday 13 and 14 January.

The event comprised of the Australian state and regional team titles followed by the individual Australian championships. Seventy-four players participated over the 2 days.

‘This year 21 country kids competed in the regional teams challenge. This is the first year so many kids from regional Victoria (Geelong, Colac, Warrnambool and Gippsland) have played in this event. Playing in combined country teams this year enabled more country players to participate, and helped the country kids to be more competitive,’ Vic Country Teams Manager, Marnie Firipis said.

In the regional teams challenge, Jessica Sanders (Gippsland) had great results winning 8 out of her 9 matches. Madison Louden and Sabrina Chung (Gippsland) won 7 out of 9 matches, Ryan Venpin and Benjamin Firipis (Geelong) won 6, and Matthew Crothers (Warrnambool) won 5. Their team, Vic Country Blue finished in third position, after a tightly contested match that culminated in a 3-9 loss against the eventual winners Western Suburbs Badminton Association (WSBA) Gold.

Vic Country Red finished in fourth position after a close 6-6 win against WSBA Blue. Taylah Stephens and Jack Louden contributed significantly to the result, with Taylah winning all 3 matches against this team and Jack Louden winning 2 of his 3 matches. Tristan Turner (Geelong) and Luke Sapwell (Geelong) also won a match each.  The match was eventually won on a count back of points. Vic Country Red coach, Jackie Crothers said, ‘It has been a great experience for the kids to compete against the best under 13's in Australia. I am really proud of the sportsmanship that was shown and the effort that went into every match.’

 ‘The tournament, organised by WSBA, is now in its sixth year,’ President of WSBA, Pat Daw said. ‘Each year we’ve been supported by New South Wales. During the event, kids get to compete in singles and double format. Players range in age from 8 to 12 years.’

According to Craig Booley, coach of Vic Country Blue and former number one Australian badminton champion, ‘The event is a great chance for our players to compete against other players from different regions under the teams format used in all under age Badminton Carnivals. Players also get to develop team bonding skills in an otherwise individual sport.’

Team bonding and camaraderie was easy to see during the day. The kids conducted themselves extremely well, and exhibited great sportsmanship. Even though the country players from different regions hadn’t met before, they quickly developed friendships and combined together well.

The Vic Country players were also supported by coach, Gary Sapwell, who previously coached Victorian team 2 in the Under 17 Australasian Championships (June Bevan Carnival) in New Zealand last year.

The teams challenge was followed by the individual championships on the Saturday, when 12 of the Vic Country team players stayed to take on the best from Australia. The round robin format gave the kids an opportunity to play at least two singles and two doubles matches against players from different parts of the country. It also meant, however, that the kids could meet seeded players in any group.

Benjamin Firipis and Tristan Turner (Geelong) had success in the doubles, beating WSBA players Ocsar Jap and Costa Hatzispyrou in the first round 30-27. The pair’s doubles draw was unfortunate as they met the number two seeds from NSW early on. The pair put up a good fight, finally going down 20-30 to the NSW pair, who then went on to finish runner-up.

In the singles event, Tristan beat Marcus Kong 30-19 and got a good share of points against number 10 seed, Elton Zhang. Benjamin had a very close match (26-30) against Alan Zheng (who went on to come equal third in the boys doubles with Kwee Jin Tan) before going down to William Chau, who went on to take out second place.

Ryan Venpin (Gippsland) had success in the singles event, beating Henry Tang in the first round 30-24, and then the number 7 seed Kwee Jin Tan 30-28. In a close round 1 final game, Ryan put up a good fight against number 10 seed Elton Zhang from the Badminton Academy of Victoria, 25-30. Elton then went onto the quarter-final.

In the doubles event, Ryan and his partner Marcus Kong defeated Ross Audley and Alex Milanese 30-21 and got a good share of points against number 3 seeds, Edward Ma and Dillon Silvester 15-30. Edward and Dillon went on to the semi-final where they narrowly lost 26-30 to the runner-up, NSW pair Daniel Ho and Johnny Low.

Sabrina Chung (Gippsland) had 2 great singles games, beating Alicia Chandran 30-21 and Katrina Yang 30-7, before going down to 7th seed Victoria He 13-30. Pairing up with Charlotte Huynh from WSBA in the doubles, the duo was also successful against Gemma Srijan and Tiann Young from WSBA, winning 30-22.

Badminton is the world’s fastest racquet sport. The game provides kids with a great opportunity to increase physical fitness, learn game strategy, sportsmanship, and to master skills such as the clear, block, smash and drop shots. At the top level it is extremely physically demanding requiring strength endurance, muscular power, agility, speed endurance, anaerobic power and a capacity to accelerate / decelerate.

To find out more about beginner coaching, junior competitions and squad training in regional areas, contact Badminton Victoria on 03 9686 4777.

Junior Pennant 2012 Start

 Call Gary Sapwell for any enquiries 0408 41 22 25 

Gee J's

Each Monday Night Betty Sapwell conducts an introduction to badminton for junior players. They are taught the proper techniques on serving, hitting and game etiquette. Juniors that show potential and want to get further involved can go onto play in Gee J's pennant, join the Development squad on Wednesday nights, or come for some one on one coaching on Saturday mornings which will help expand and develop their skills even further.

Practice sessions Monday 5pm - 6pm costs $3.00

Pennant is on Thursday evenings 5pm - 6.30pm

For more information contact Betty Sapwell 5243 8414

Gee J's Pennant is held on Thursday afternoons/evenings.

Geelong Junior Badminton Association
Office Bearers 2012

President - Gary Sapwell

Vice-President - Daryl Luke
Secretary – Gary Sapwell
Match Results Secretary – Graig Booley
Board Member - Eden Turner

VJBA Representatives – Ken Haggerty

CLUB REPRESENTATIVES
Gee J’s – Betty and Gary Sapwell
St Josephs – Daryl Wedding
Kardinia – David Peak

Geelong Grammar - Peter Bajer