Lochaber inter-schools badminton competition 2010
The annual Lochaber Primary Schools Badminton Competition was recently held at the Nevis Centre on Monday 13 December. The event has become a popular part of the Active Schools/PE calendar.
Since the October holidays, pupils have been taking badminton lessons during their PE classes at school, and a competition has been held at each school to select the best 2 girls and 2 boys to compete against other local schools. This year 9 Primary schools sent teams to the event.
After a round robin tournament in the group stages, when each pupil got to play 5 opponents, the winning players went through to the final rounds of the competition where only a win would secure their place in the next round. Many of the matches were hard fought, with a very high standard of play and close finishes.
As the children are competing as individuals, the event is a good opportunity for pupils from the smaller rural schools, which can find it hard to be competitive in bigger team competitions.
This year pupils from Ballachulish and Invergarry reached the semi finals, with Cameron Sutherland from Ballachulish just beaten into 4th place by Finlay MacDonald from Spean, while Taylor Rogers from Invergarry came 3rd just squeezing Kira MacDonald from Caol into 4th place. In the boys final Padrig NcNeil from Fort William RC beat Kyle Michie, with both boys playing some great shots. The girl’s final was an all-Banavie affair, with Sarah Davie taking first place from her cousin Erin Davie.
Highland Council’s Active schools co-ordinator Bridget Thomas said: “Once again the standard of play was really high and it was inspiring to see some great badminton and fiercely contested matches. I was also pleased by the standard of behaviour on the day with really good sportsmanship being shown and pupils actively supporting their school mates. Our thanks go to the Nevis Centre for sponsoring the event, and to Jean Kennedy and senior pupils, Esher Nassaris, Katie Dougan, Sophie Duncan, Scott MacEachan and Neil Donald who did an excellent job of the refereeing the tournament.”
The final results were: