Preseason checkup: The Badminton team is in for a good year!

The Senior Badminton Team is already prepared to take the school all the way to the top this year at the ROPSSAA Championship, the biggest tournament of the year. The event has 2 stages: a qualifier tournament between regional school districts and the main tournament where glory will be achieved. Our inspired team also has some other tournaments to play in the following few months. Here are the locations and dates:

Friday March 27 - Jean Augustine Secondary School (JASS) tournament

Wednesday April 1 - Heart Lake Tournament

ROPSSAA qualifier - April 15 or 16 to be confirmed

ROPSSAA (if we qualify) - April 22 or 23 to be confirmed.

Our team showed true promise after the fiercely competitive tryouts, where over 100 students signed up across all divisions and grades. Only 18 students made the team. When asked about the current state of the team, renowned gym teacher and head coach Mr. Croft said, “Lots of dedicated players train hard and work hard and want to win!" That dedication will be necessary to make it through ROPSSAA qualifiers, which each player/doubles pair on the team must individually fight through to make it to the main ROPSSAA tournament. A fair estimate is that more than 50% of our team will qualify for the main tournament.

During practices, Mr. Croft has been focusing on building the players’ consistency and endurance through 100 shot rallies without smashes. He also had the team work on collaboration in doubles for quick and significant results given our short timeframe. Last year, the biggest issue for the team was movement and lack of tournament experience. However, we have an extra tournament to play this year (Heart Lake), offering the current team an extra chance to practice under stressful conditions.

When questioned on the main playstyle, Mr. Croft explained that every player should have a tailor-made playstyle to suit their needs. Some players may prefer attack while others may prefer endurance, allowing every player to reach their maximum potential.

Ultimately, it would seem that the team has high potential, great dedication, and a drive to win several divisions in the JASS tournament, which the team has been solely focusing on. Let’s go Thunder!