Queenswood enjoyed a great day at the National Badminton Centre in Milton Keynes on Saturday in the U16 National finals.  

It was the first time in the history of Q sport that a team had qualified to take part. This is not surprising when, in the Opening Ceremony, we heard that 44.000 pupils had taken part from more than 8,000 schools! The National Schools Badminton Tournament is the biggest school sport competition in the UK. On hearing this the girls and parents were able to fully appreciate the magnitude of their outstanding achievement and be rightfully proud.

Before the first match the team  marched on for the opening ceremony looking very smart – but nervous! With a large crowd in the stadium, an umpire and their names in lights on an electric score board it was quite an occasion.

For the Queenswood team, adapting from the atmosphere of our own palaestra to playing at the National Centre was hard. The warmth meant the shuttles flew much quicker and it took all morning for us to stop over hitting!

The girls won one of their four matches but came close in all other three and there were moments of excellent play. On our best day a medal would have been a possibility but it was not to be.

The team finished an incredible 8^th place; they were proud to be able to compete at such a high level and to represent Queenwood so well both on and off the court.

We hope to return again in the future,