Badminton Teams Come Runners-up in Regional Contest

28th April 2008 2:34pm - Return to press releases

A joint badminton team formed by East Riding College and Bridlington School Sports College came runner-up in a regional competition this week.

The East Riding Badminton Team?s mixed team lost out to Ilkley Grammar School seven games to two in the final of the Yorkshire Badminton Association?s under-18s school team competition in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, on Monday.

More than 20 schools entered the competition, with tournaments held throughout Yorkshire to determine the finalists.
The mixed team was made up of pairings Jan Dyl and Chloe Smyrk, Liam Smith and Charlotte Allen, and Liam Moore and Laura Wilson, with reserves Jamie Fulton and Rebekah McCarthy. All the players are aged 17 or 18.
In the first round held at Bridlington School Sports College the mixed team won by beating Scarborough Sixth Form College and Market Weighton School, Chloe Smyrk and Jan Dyl playing outstanding games. The team then travelled to Ilkley Grammar School for the final round. Laura Wilson and Liam Moore played constantly well despite tough competition from the highly skilled Ilkley team.

Charlotte Allen and Liam Smith fought hard, taking their second of three matches to three games, 20-22, 21-18, 20-21, narrowly missing out on a win.

Coach Abigail Fearn, a sports lecturer at East Riding College, said: ?The team did really well to get through to the final and can count themselves among the best school or college teams in Yorkshire.

?Many of the games were really close and we were unlucky to not improve on the 7-2 scoreline,?
Coach Hayley Cherry, a PE teacher at Bridlington School Sports College, said: ?Both the boys and the mixed teams played outstandingly well and they should be proud of their achievements.

?All the students have worked extremely hard and deserve to be among the best in Yorkshire.?
The success in the mixed competition came one week after the under-18s boys team of Jan Dyl, Liam Moore, Liam Smith, David Revell and Jamie Fulton were the runners-up in the boys competition, again competing against twenty other Yorkshire schools and colleges to get to the final, at Ossett Sports College, West Yorkshire. The boys team fought hard against Ossett School, beating them 4-3 in games with Jan Dyl and Liam Moore playing an outstanding game to beat Ossett 26-24 in the final match.

However, they lost to the tournament?s winners, an exceptionally strong Ilkley Grammar School, 6-1 in games.
Captain Jan Dyl said ?We started this competition wanting to win and making it all the way to final was our goal but the competition in the final was exceptional and there was nothing more we could do. Well done to everyone.?
The under 18?s girls team of Laura Wilson, Chloe Smyrk, Charlotte Allen and Rebekah McCarthy played extremely well in the first round but were knocked out of the competition by the strong Scarborough Sixth Form College team.
East Riding College and Bridlington School Sports College?s sport teams for students aged 16 and over have joined together, creating a number of ?East Riding? teams.

It was decided a merger between the School and College would give the students better opportunities to play a wider variety of sports, to compete at a higher level and to make better use of the facilities available.

They now operate joint teams in football, netball, badminton, rounders, cricket and squash, and hope to introduce rugby and ladies football teams.

For more information, call Alex Bell at East Riding College on 0845 120 0037 or Hayley Cherry at Bridlington School Sports College (01262 672593).