AT the beginning of May, a team of girls from Queen Elizabeth’s School in Crediton attended the National School Badminton Championship at the National Badminton Centre in Milton Keynes.

The girls, Eleanor O’Callaghan, Emilia Partridge, Amy Housley and Grace Lee, were accompanied by their PE teachers, Mrs Williams and Miss Rowe, former QE badminton students; Alex Moir and Jamie Dawe, their coach Nick Masson, and family members, Hannah and Adrian Partridge, who all went along to support them.

The girls were lucky enough to meet former Badminton Olympian, Antony Clark in the meet and greet area. Here they played a quick questions reflex game – whoever asked the best question won a £5 Amazon voucher, and QE’s team member, Eleanor, won!

Before the matches commenced, the teams warmed up and got ready to compete. All the players lined up in the centre of the hall, where the crowd cheered and applauded them.

The competition was tough, but QE won their box against Oakwood Valley and Hummersknott Academy, putting them through to the final.

During the half-time lunch break, Eleanor played a quick head-to-head game with Antony Clark. Antony took no prisoners and Eleanor was defeated by the former Olympic champion, but it was an experience to remember none-the-less.

During the final, the QE girls played against last year’s winners, Chelmsford Academy and Arden Academy, both of which have some extremely talented players.

First up, for the singles round was Amy, who had already taken on some challenging matches throughout the tournament, including playing against a student who plays for England.

Amy did the team proud in winning two out of the four rounds against Arden.

Next up representing QE were Emilia and Eleanor. The girls played a close game but unfortunately lost to some seriously competitive Arden players.

In the second singles round, Grace Lee once again had a close round, beaten by a narrow margin of 21-19. A great effort, the girls did QE proud and it was a close call but Arden’s team pipped them to the post.

The girls final match of the day was against Chelmsford, another strong team to beat! The girls played some great rallies but the other team had the slight advantage of being older, bigger and stronger.

The QE girls gave it their best shot and although they didn’t win this round, they did win bronze overall out of the 8,000 schools across the country!

What an amazing achievement!

The girls ended the day being congratulated by Antony Clark and receiving their medals before heading back home.

The girls congratulate each other on their achievement and thank everyone who went to support them, especially to Miss Rowe and Mrs Williams who kindly took them there.