Last Saturday saw Northumberland run its U17 Silver and U13 Bronze tournaments in the BE junior circuit.  The stand-out local star for the day was Lucy Dodd, who has only just turned 13: she battled brilliantly to take the winner’s gold medal in the U17 girls singles.  Looking a lot fitter and more resilient than earlier in the season, she was clearly benefiting from recent practice sessions with Jamie Tinnion.  Lucy won her group and scored an excellent win over Yorkshire’s Angie Zhu in the semi before going on to face Emily Harper, also Yorkshire in the final.  The first end was close all the way and was taken 15-13 by Lucy.  Harper, more than two years the senior and an experienced campaigner, stormed back to take the second to 8, before going 11-8 up in the decider.  Lucy came back to make it 12-all but Harper had match points at 14-12.  Lucy made it 14-all before finally taking the honours at 19-17.  A great win!

The U17 event also brought silver medals for Tim Bodani and James Dodd in the boys singles and bronze medals for Tim in the singles and for Ellen Davison and Sonny Ho in the mixed.

In the U13 event, bronze medals were won by Ollie Heron, Matthew Jefferson, Jude Wisby and Reema Rajeev, while Chalida Prapunwong took the gold in the Consolidation girls singles.

Well done to all of our players for a really good weekend.

On 8^th and 9^th February, our Under 14 team braved Storm Ciara and travelled down to the Midlands to play three Shires League matches in a single weekend. The team was Chalida Prapunwong, Jasmine Osborn, Reema Rajeev, Sophie Cockett, Matthew Jefferson, Oliver Heron, Ryan Cockett and Thomas Vicente. 

The team was managed by Gillian Cockett and this is her report. Continue reading →

Our Under 14 Shires League team have just braved the stormy weather to spend the weekend playing a triple-header against East Midland counties.  Managed by Gillian Cockett and supported by a great team of parents, the players were

Chalida Prapunwong, Jasmine Osborn, Reema Rajeev, Sophie Cockett, Matthew Jefferson, Oliver Heron, Ryan Cockett and Thomas Vicente.

A more detailed report may follow, as and when Gillian has caught up on a lost few days, but in summary they lost 1-19 to a very strong Leicestershire team, produced an encouraging 5-15 against Nottingham and then travelled home in great spirits having beaten Derby 16-4.  All the players scored wins in the various disciplines over the weekend and, although we had asked a lot of this very young team, they all showed great resilience and will have learnt a great deal.

We have never done a Shires weekend like this one but it seems to have gone really well and the players all want to repeat it.  Very many thanks to them – and to the whole support team.

Over the last weekend of January, the Northumberland U13 team took part in the annual U13 Anglo Scottish badminton tournament at the Tyneside Badminton Centre. In all, five English and Scottish counties played over the course of two days.  The Northumberland team consisted of Matthew Jefferson, Adam Secker, Tom Jurowski (Saturday only), Ben Gilroy (Sunday only), Ollie Beale, Stephen Glennie, Reema Rajeev, Cookie Prapunwong, Sophie Cockett, Jasmine Osborn, Fay Prapunwong and Sara Haddi. 

They were managed by Gillian Cockett and this is her report. Continue reading →

A group of our stronger juniors travelled down to Thornaby last weekend and several of them came back with medals.

Tim Bodani won his group and played a great semi, only losing 21-20, 14-16, 18-20 to Scottish junior Finlay Jack taking a bronze medal.  James Dodd won three of his four group games and there were wins for Jack Tilbury and Sonny Ho.  In the girls singles, Charlotte Graham, Amy Ward and Ellen Davison each scored one group win.

Tim and Charlotte have a successful doubles pairing in the mixed and built on this again to reach the final, losing to the top seeds 12-15, 15-8, 5-15 but taking the silver medals.  Ellen and Sonny had one group win.  In the level doubles, Charlotte and Amy won two of their three group games to take bronze medals and Tim partnered James, taking bronze again after winning three of their four group games.  Jack and Ollie Edmondson scored one win.

An early start was necessary last Sunday for our U18 team and the parents travelling down to Pontefract to play Yorkshire 1st.  Managed by Karen Daison and Daniel Tinnion, the team was:
Tim Bodani, Finlay Smith, Sonny Ho, Matty Grant, Charlotte Graham, Lucy Dodd, Ellen Davison and Natalie Ho 

This is Karen’s report on the match

Continue reading →

Our Under 16s scored an excellent 14-6 Shires League victory over Lancashire2 this weekend.  Fielding a team designed to broaden the base at this age group, we brought in a number of younger players to join two of the more regular boys.  The team, managed by Richard Taylor and Daniel Tinnion, was –

Ava Doyle, Eve Beechinor-Collins, Katrina Ho, Naomi Silva, Hugh Twelves, Jamie Grant, Ryan Cockett and Xuehan Zhang. 

Continue reading →

The annual Under 17 round in the Anglo-Scottish team tournaments took place just before Christmas.   The team was:

Tim Bodani, James Dodd, Sonny Ho, Matty Short, Ollie Edmundson, Jack Tilbury, Lucy Dodd, Ellen Davison, Charlotte Graham, Amy Ward, Teeda Prapunwong, Katrina Ho, Anna Kroon (guesting from Durham) 

Read on for Team Manager Karen Davison’s report. Continue reading →