NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Madden Kelly from Eagle Butte High School swings to hit a return shot in his provincials junior singles bronze medal match Saturday afternoon.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Medicine Hat’s badminton athletes got to take on the best in the province this weekend.
With 382 of Alberta’s best high school badminton players, including 15 from the Hat, on display in the city there was a lot to be learned and experienced over the weekend. Round robin action went Friday with playoffs and medal matches running Saturday.
Eagle Butte badminton coach Sheldon Wihnan said he was proud of the five Talons that competed in provincials.
“That was the first time they made provincials and anytime you can make the provincials is a great experience for them,” Wihnan said. “Once you get to provincials, you see a different level of badminton and all of our athletes saw that next level.”
Eagle Butte’s Madden Kelly went the furthest in the tournament for Medicine Hat athletes, competing for a bronze in the junior boys singles division. Kelly took fourth place and Wihnan said the experience will only make the Grade 10 student better.
“Anytime you can make provincials in Grade 10 is a great feat,” Wihnan said. “To see the kind of competition that you’re going to come against and it’s just going to help him as he moves forward, knowing what he’s going to be facing in the future.”
The other four Talons in provincials action, Axton Ferguson, Justin Jager, Kian Simon and Kierra Zentner are all Grade 12 athletes who made it to the quarter-finals. Wihnan said those four are all ending their high school badminton experience on a high having competed at the highest level.
They were joined on the courts by McCoy’s Rylan and Oliia Bender, who competed in the junior mixed doubles division and made it to the quarter-finals. Benny Bergen from Cherry Coulee Christian also made it to the quarter-finals in the intermediate boys singles division.
Saturday’s medal matches were all hosted at Hat High, where the seniors played all of their games in the round robin. Crescent Heights hosted the juniors and the South Ridge YMCA/Notre Dame hosted intermediate round robin action.
Hat High badminton coach Kolton Krein, who had six athletes from his team in the tournament, said hosting provincials has further sparked the passion for badminton within the Hawks program.
“It’s motivated some kids more who maybe just dipped their toe into badminton because they wanted to be a part of a team and now got to see what high level badminton looks likeand see crazy players,” Krein said. “It’s motivated them to try and get better and dedicate extra time to it and it highlights the sport in a way to because I’ve had other students that didn’t try out this year but have gotten to see our own kids have success with badminton and see them play in provincials. Now, because there’s success there, they’re like, ‘I want to come try out next year, I want to play next year.'”
Krein is a second-year badminton coach with Hat High whose favourite part was on display this weekend, which has been seeing kids get to be a part of a team.
“It’s just cool to get kids out that aren’t used to playing sports, being a part of teams and getting them involved and having them succeeed – that’s been my favorite part of this whole thing,” Krein said.
Hat High had six athletes compete at provincials, Baylie Grunewald, Kathleen Lanctot, Nikoo Johandardoost, Kylee Schulr, Tyson Van Ham and Eddie Yang. Krein said he’s proud of how they played on the big stage and shared his excitement with the future of the team and badminton program.
“Roughly 70 per cent of my team is Grade 10 and they’re such a great group of kids and me and my assistant coach Garrett Frieden were sitting thinking, we’ve got an awesome three years ahead of us,” Krein said. “Next year we’re gonna start earlier probably, they’re just a fun group to coach and they’re respectful, they take feedback, they’re constantly trying to improve. When you’re putting your own time in as a coach, two hours every single day, you want to see that reciprocated in your students, you want to see them taking it seriously and putting in that effort and that’s exactly what they’re doing.”
