Hertfordshire U15’s Badminton Team are National Champions

Anna S (9Au) stars in the Hertfordshire U15 Badminton triumph

On Saturday 17th April, the Hertfordshire U15 Badminton team took part in the National Badminton finals at the impressive Derby Arena, Pride Park.

The event sees counties across England compete in regional groups during the season. Each match is the best of 20 games. The top 8 performing counties from the group stages then meet in the knockout finals. Herts had finished qualifying as number two seeds behind Berkshire, both teams having won all 6 of their regional qualifying matches, Berkshire having slightly better games difference.

The team train out of Herts Sports Village in Hatfield under the guidance of coaches Mike Newlove, Kelly Matthews and Graeme Clarke.

Herts drew Nottinghamshire in the first round of eight. The Herts team were focused and able to find a high playing level early, rolling out comfortable 18-2 winners. In the semi-finals Herts played Surrey who had finished 5th in the group stages and again Herts produced a first-class performance for a straightforward 18-2 win. The final was contested by the top two seeds. Herts had been magnificent all day and kept up their performance levels. After the boys and girls singles and mixed doubles games Herts had already secured the win by beating Berkshire in all to lead 12-0. The boys and girls doubles, although immaterial, were played in good spirit with Herts eventually taking the trophy with an extremely convincing 17-3 victory and therefore crowned as National County champions 2022.

Anna S (9Au), as the only Bishop’s pupil in this squad, performed incredibly well, playing the maximum 12 matches (3 singles, 3 mixed doubles and 6 girls doubles) against opponents from the 3 counties Herts beat on the day. Anna won 11 out of 12 of those, including beating a Nottingham girl in the doubles with her partner Saghana, who is graded the best U15 singles player in the country.

A fantastic achievement for Anna and the team! Congratulations!

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