Upcoming Cambridgeshire Junior Tournaments

A number of competitive opportunities are available for junior players in and around Cambridgeshire in the New Year.

6 February sees the Suffolk U15 Bronze, which is a national circuit tournament for strong County players.  The Luton U15 Bronze follows closely behind on 13 February.

For U13s, the Essex U13 Bronze is on 21 February

On 21st February the U15 County Restricted will be held at Burwell Sports Centre from 1pm.  This is a tournament to determine the strongest County players in a specific age category.

On 27th February another Fun Tournament for U11, U13 and U15 age groups will be held at the One Leisure indoor centre in St Ives, from 9am.  The Fun Tournaments are aimed at ensuring enjoyment for players of any standard to get an experience of competitive play.

Entry forms for the local tournaments are available to download from the Tournament Entry Forms page.

Colchester Junior Level 1 Tournament 23 January

Often children are concerned about playing tournaments - getting started in can be tricky if they are worried that the don't have the experience to go straight into a Circuit, or even a Forza tournament.

Colchester & East Essex Badminton Federation have had the excellent idea of running a 'Level 1' tournament.  Level 1 events are aimed at school or club players with limited competitive experience. Entries will not be accepted from previous winners or pool winners at 2* events or anyone that has played in national age group tournaments (Gold, Silver, Bronze).  Entries are based on school years instead of U13/U15/U17 so children are more likely to be competing with players their own age.

Entries close on Friday 15 January, so if this sounds like a good opportunity for your child to get a taste of competitive play, then please download the entry form.

Festival of Inclusive Badminton Championed by Paralympic Athletes

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On 12th December both Olympic and Paralympic athletes are swapping their world class opponents for disabled beginners and enthusiasts, in order to inspire a new generation to take part in all-inclusive badminton.

Power2Inspire and CADMuS are collaborating to bring the first Festival of Inclusive Badminton to Cambridge. The event – to be held at the University Sports Centre – will bring together disabled athletes of all body types and abilities, whether beginners or not, to try out inclusive badminton. There will be coaching for all standards and the opportunity for people from the community with disabilities to come along and have a go, even if they have never picked up a racket.

And there will be a number of special guests including recently crowned triple gold medallist at the Para-Badminton World Championships Rachel Choong. Members of England’s Para-Badminton squad will also be attending. England Para-Badminton player Daniel Lee is very enthusiastic about the day:

“It’s a great opportunity for disabled and non disabled players to mix together… I have been playing badminton for Team England for 5 years now… and I really encourage disabled people to join in. I have made so many friends through Para-Badminton and still am. Join in! The sport is a life changer.”

So, if you have a disability or impairment and you thought you would never play sport again, maybe watching these amazing stars play high level competitive sport will encourage you to take up the game!

So please feel free to contact Steve Morley – steve.morley@power2inspire.org.uk – if you are interested in attending, taking part, or even taking on one of the stars!

Match Report for Cambs Over 50's away v Herts, Sunday 22/11/15

Team: Martyn Clark, Martin Smith, Wilfried Janssen, Mark Talbot, Angela Sharman, Dianne Baker, Helen Taylor, Xin Cheng.

Mens doubles

Martyn Clark and Martn Smith, lost a close three ender against Herts 1st pair, 20-22, 21-18, 21-16, but beat their 2nd pair in two ends. 
Wilf and Mark won both of their games beating the 2nds in two ends and winning a tight three ender 23-25 to complete the double.

Ladies Doubles

Angela and Di and Helen and Xin had some good games with Angela and Di taking their 2nd pair to 3 ends. Unfortunately, despite battling hard were unable to convert any games to our advantage.

Mixed Doubles

Martyn and Di fought hard but lost in 2 ends.
Martin and Angela took a comfortable win in 2 ends.
Wilf and Xin had a tough fight with a 3 end win 23-21 14-21 18-21.
Mark and Helen were the last game on and a win from them would give us a draw. However, after a hard fight their scores were 15-21 21-17 25-23.

All in all a very good match in which any of our pairs could have taken us to a draw with 1 more win.

Final score 7-5 to Herts, 16-14 in games, but 548-552 on points.

Thank You and WELL PLAYED TEAM :-)

Martin Smith

Job Opportunity at Top Spin Tennis

Top Spin Tennis is looking for a new staff member to join their Cambridge team. 
 
Can you string? Do you play a racket sport? Are you friendly and hardworking?

Have a look at the advert for more information.

If you are interested, go along to Top Spin Tennis at Hills Road and have a chat with either Karen, Sarah or Daniel.

Over 50’s match reports: Norfolk & Suffolk

1/11/15 Away v Norfolk

Team – Martyn Clark, John Mallabar, Martin Smith, Wilfred Janssen, Angela Sharman, Helen Taylor, Carol Salmon, Xin Cheng.

A hard fought game against a strong Norfolk team resulted in a 10-2 home win to Norfolk.

Men’s doubles: Martyn and John, and Wilf and Martin put up a good fight against two strong Norfolk men’s pairs but were unable to convert some close games into a win.

Ladies doubles: Angela and Helen paired up to win one of their games, narrowly missing out 21-19 against the Norfolk 1st ladies pair. Carol and Xin had a similar game to the men’s pairs, putting up a good fight but were unable to gain an advantage.

Mixed Doubles: Three of the four draws went to 3 ends, but we were only able to convert one of these to a win, well done Wilf and Xin.

Final score was a 10-2 home win to Norfolk. All in all we had some good games but were outplayed on the day.

Well played team.

8/11/15 Home v Suffolk

Team – John Pickering, Wilfred Janssen, John Mallabar, Martin Smith, Angela Sharman, Dianne Baker, Helen Taylor, Xin Cheng.

Mens doubles: John P and Wilf had two 3 enders in their mens, beating the Suffolk 2nd pair and losing 21-17 in the 3rd against the 1st pair. John M and Martin had a close win against the Suffolk 2nds and lost to the 1st pair to 14 and 19.

Ladies Doubles: Both of our ladies pairs had close games against the Suffolk 2nd pair but were outplayed by the 1st pair. Angela and Di beat the 2nd pair and Helen and Xin lost a closely fought battle to 19 and 18.

Mixed Doubles: John P and Helen, John M and Di, Martin and Angela, Wilf and Xin. We all had some close games with Wilf and Xin being the only mixed pair to manage 3 ends.

Final Result was a 9-3 away win to Suffolk. Overall a good match played in good spirits, many thanks to all of the team.

Martin Smith
Captain

Cambs Junior Fun Tournament 14 November 2015

CRC was full of U11, U13 and U15 junior badminton players on Saturday for the Cambridgeshire Fun Tournament, held by Cambridgeshire Badminton Association with the generous support of Cambridgeshire Schools Badminton Association.

Congratulations to everyone who played, as there were many close games which were all played in excellent spirits.

The winners were:

U11

Boys Singles: Adam Wang (RU Achira Waduge) / Girls Singles: Carys Leung (RU Phoebe Meikle)

U13

Boys singles: Wing Lun Lim (RU Manula Dharmawardana) / Girls singles: Ruby Spencer (RU Olivia Chan)

U15

Boys singles: Cameron Foo (RU Harry Zhao) / Girls singles: Sophia Abbott (RU Rachel Owen)

U11

Boys doubles: Adam Wang & Achira Waduge (RU Zai & Oliver Winfield)/ Girls doubles: Sophie Biers & Carys Leung (RU Jasmine & Phoebe)

U13

Boys doubles: Wing Lun Lim & Lewis Edmund (RU Zichen He & Manula Dharmawardana)/ Girls doubles: Sophie Biers & Carys Leung (RU Jasmine & Pheobe Meikle)

U15

Boys doubles: Cameron Foo & Harry Zhao (RU Wing Lun Lim & Alec Davis) / Girls doubles: Rachel Owen & Alice Bates (RU Claudia Bazyk & Olivia Chan)

All the results sheets are available in the Gallery section.