This week we took two Year 10 teams of 5 girls each to the SISS Junior Badminton tournament in Christchurch.

As there is not much opportunity for our badminton players to have competition against other schools, this was a good chance for them to pit their skills against others their own age.

Over the two days the girls played 4 singles and 4 doubles matches spending 8.5 hours at the badminton hall on the first day and 6 hours on the second day so there were a few sore bodies afterwards! Everyone had moments of brilliance, winning their matches against much more experienced players and learnt a lot about match play which is difficult to experience in the Aoraki region. It was great to see the girls being competitive against regional representatives.

On the last day our two teams were involved in play-offs for the gold and bronze medals. The number 2 team of Casey Kinns, Abby Rowland, Brooke Warden, Leah Morrow and Anikah Webb gave it everything but came up short against an experienced Riccarton HS team and so finished 4th.

The number 1 team of Renee Stenning, Georgia Hawkins, Jorja Belt, Alysha McCabe and Heather Watt had a real battle with Burnside HS for the gold medal with all matches being very tough and the girls playing themselves into the ground! The final score was 3 matches all, 7 sets all and a countback on points. We didn’t know the winner until the medal presentation and when they announced Burnside as the silver medalists we knew that Waitaki had won the South Island title for the first time!

Well done girls – you finished 1st and 4th in the South Island!!! You always gave your best, you improved so much, showed great respect and resilience and represented the school so well. It was a great two days and I was very proud of you.

Hopefully this has helped you realise the potential you possess as a young person – that after being competitive at this level in Badminton without much experience, you can achieve success in anything you want to do.

I’d also like to thank Jeanette Aker, our manager. She worked tirelessly throughout the tournament supporting the girls both on and off the court.