THE National Schools Badminton Championships area finals were held at Saltash School on December 11.

A number of teams from Launceston College participated, including:

Junior Boys — Kris Jasper, Chris Grout, Todd Brumwell, Mark Abesemis and Jordan Evans;

Junior Girls — Natalie Stevenson, Beth Chapman, Kate Crowells Hodge and Chloe Robyns Landricombe;

Senior Boys — Arlond Gabia, Christian Jasper, Josh Sparks, Darren Webber and Felix Smith;

Senior Girls — Rosie Ellesmore, Kelly Ellesmore, Hannah Gribble, Ellie Isaac, and Charlotte Clogg.

There were over 100 participants in this event from Saltash, Callington, Liskeard, Launceston, Budehaven and Wadebridge Schools with Launceston fielding a team in each age group.

College teams got off to a flying start with all teams winning their first, second and third matches.

In the U-16 girls event Ellie played particularly well in doubles matches with Charlotte, Kelly, Hannah and Rosie.

In the U-14 boys event Chris Grout partnering Mark Abesemis was outstanding with his winning smashes.

In U-14 girls event Chloe and Kate, playing in their first major badminton event, looked a very strong pairing.

In the U-16 boys event Arlond, Josh and Felix showed a really competitive spirit.

All teams played brilliantly supporting each other especially when the going got tough against Callington! Eventually we finished as runners-up to Callington in three age groups.

Darren and Kris won a superb final game 21-17 in the U-16 boys competition. Kate, Chloe, Beth and Natalie won their doubles to beat county opposition in the U-14 girls event but lost narrowly overall in the match 3-2.

U-16 girls Charlotte, (Rosie), Kelly, Hannah and Ellie did lose to Callington but again did really well against county standard players.

This left the U-14 boys team of Chris, Kris, Jordan and Todd playing Wadebridge to see who would go through to the next stage. They continued to exhibit outstanding skills to win out 5-0 and in doing so became our Sports Partnership Champions for 2008 (not forgetting Mark). All five boys will play in the County Finals on February 5 at Carn Brae, Camborne.

Thanks to Ms Unwin who coaches the teams in school and accompanied the teams on the day and also Jenny Worth and Tom Lyle who coach the players at Monday and Friday clubs each week.

Carol Unwin