By Joel van der Veen
KENASTON — It’s down to the wire for junior badminton players in the district, but regular play between local schools has given them a solid foundation leading up to the end of the season.
Juniors from Davidson, Loreburn and Outlook met at Kenaston School on Thursday afternoon to face off in the last exhibition match of the regular season.
The four schools will compete in pre-sectionals this Tuesday, followed by sectionals on Thursday.
The junior district championships will be held at Kindersley Composite School on Saturday, April 25, while Rosetown Central High School will host the senior districts the same day.
Over the past month and a half, the four schools have hosted each other’s junior players in exhibition matches, allowing them to make the most of the short season.
The schools in Kenaston, Davidson, Loreburn and Outlook take turns serving as host, allowing students time on the court to take part in boys and girls singles, and boys, girls and mixed doubles competition.
Grant Abbott, a retired teacher who coaches the six junior badminton players from Loreburn School, said the program has been beneficial for them.
“The juniors are getting lots of games because of the exhibition program,” he said. “The whole process is to develop their skills . . . then they can put those skills into practice.”
Dodge Long, a Grade 9 student who plays in the singles division, had to miss the exhibition games last week as he got ready to compete with the Zone 5 bantam hockey team at the Sask First Bantam Tournament in Regina.
Abbott highlighted him and Grade 7 student Alyssa Glubis, also a singles player, as two of his most promising competitors.
As the coach of the Prairie Central district badminton team that took home gold from the 2014 Saskatchewan Winter Games in Prince Albert, Abbott said he’s also keeping an eye out for young players who could develop their skills and possibly join the team in 2018.
Evan Pasternak and Brian Johnston coach the junior badminton players from Kenaston School, with a total of 18 students taking part, an impressive number given the school’s smaller size.
Pasternak said that group represents a significant portion of the school’s students in grades 7 through 9, but added that the program didn’t get underway until mid-March.
“It’s been a bit of a learning process due to us starting a little bit later,” he said, adding, “We haven’t reached our potential . . . (but) the kids are improving and they’re having a lot of fun.”
Despite the group’s struggles, Pasternak said he can envision some of their players reaching the district level if they can maintain a high standard of play this coming week.
Ian Osmond coaches the Davidson junior badminton players, a group of 11 students. In addition to the weekly exhibition matches, they have also competed against players from Craik.
“For those who have shown up consistently, there’s definitely been progress,” said Osmond, adding that he has worked to build consistent teams but also switches up the partners sometimes.