SATURDAY, May 4 saw Chulmleigh Community College’s KS4 Girls Badminton team (Learna Herkes, Eleanor O’Callaghan, Zoe Le Feuvre and Lauren Patmore) arrive at the National Badminton Centre in Milton Keynes to represent South West England at the National Schools Badminton Championship.

Teams from nine regions were drawn into three groups of three teams and played each other in a round robin format of matches made up of both singles and doubles games.

The winners of each group then proceeded into another round of matches to decide the medal places of first, second and third, whilst the second placed teams in each group contested positions four to six. Third placed teams then played off for positions seven to nine.

In each of their two group matches, the girls came out with the fantastic result of four wins and one loss. This meant that in the afternoon they were pitted against the other two group winners for a place in the top three teams in the country.

The first match was against Walthamstow Hall Independent Girls School in Sevenoaks, last year’s KS3 winners.

Learna started with an extremely tough game against a player ranked fourth in England, and despite playing at a very high standard and having opportunities to win, she eventually lost a tight contest 17-21.

Zoe and Lauren then lost 10-21, before Eleanor produced another fantastic singles performance and won another close game 21-19.

With the match score at 1-2, the remaining two doubles games would decide the tie; unfortunately, both were lost 11-21, resulting in a 1-4 defeat.

The final match of the day was against Chelmsford High School Grammar Academy and after a long day, energy levels were low.

Learna was pitted against a higher ranked player, and again she had opportunities to win, and the close loss (16-21) was difficult to take on a personal and team level.

Zoe and Lauren then lost 13-21, before Eleanor put up another sterling singles performance but eventually lost 18-21.

Learna and Zoe then produced an excellent doubles display, winning 21-16 and Eleanor and Lauren completed the day with a 16-21 loss.

A truly outstanding performance by the girls who finished third in England, out of an entry field of 6,800 teams across the four competitions.

KS3 BOYS

The following day, Chulmleigh CC’s KS3 Boys Badminton Team (Hayden Herkes, Ryan and Evan Dawson and Freddy Elson) also represented South West England in the competition.

The format mirrored that of the previous day, with Chulmleigh drawn in a group including two teams who competed last year: Silverdale (runners-up) and Bedford School (seventh).

The boys were pitted against older and higher ranked players and found the competition tough. With 0-5 and 1-4 game defeats in both group matches, the boys went into the afternoon competing for positions seven to nine.

The first match was against Wilson’s Boys Grammar School in London, and Hayden got the team off to a fantastic start winning 21-14.

Evan and Freddy were next on court but ended up losing a tight contest 20-21, before Ryan demolished Wilson’s number two singles player 21-11.

With the match score at 2-1 in Chulmleigh’s favour, going into the deciding doubles games the tension was high.

Hayden and Evan produced a brilliant doubles display to secure the match victory with a 21-14 win, and Ryan and Freddy wrapped up a 4-1 match score by winning 21-17.

In the final match of the day Hayden was once again pitted against a bigger, stronger and older opponent, but showed tremendous fighting spirt and determination to drag out a 21-20 win to get the team off to a great start.

Evan and Freddy followed in Hayden’s footsteps to produce an equally close 21-20 win, before Ryan suffered defeat with the same score, 20-21.

Hayden, who injured his hip in his singles win, struggled in his final doubles match with Evan and they lost 13-21 leaving the match score at 2-2.

With the match result and final position being dependant on the last doubles game, Ryan and Freddy produced their best badminton of the day, grinding out a 21-17 win and a 3-2 match victory.

This outstanding performance by the boys, particularly after a gruelling morning, showed incredible skill and resilience, and they finished a fantastic seventh in England, also out of an entry field of 6,800 teams across the four competitions.