Masters Over 50's Match Reports

Sunday 24/1/16, Home v Norfolk.

Team - Martin Smith, Martyn Clark, John Harvey, Wilf Janssen, Angela Sharman, Dianne Baker, Helen Taylor and Carol Salmon.

Mens

Cambs won 3 out of 4 mens rubbers, with Martin and Martyn teaming up to beat the first Norfolk pair in a 3 setter 22-24, 21-14 and 21-16 and a comfortable win against their second pair.   Wilf and John had two close games, beating the firsts 21-18 and 23-21, and lost to the seconds 17 and 19.

Ladies

Angela and Di lost to the first pair but beat the seconds to 12 and 7. 
Helen and Carol couldn't quite convert a three setter but lost 16-21, 21-19, 16-21, could have gone either way!!

Mixed

Martyn Clark and Di Baker played as first mixed and won their gmae to 19 and 15.

Wilf and Helen played second and after a good first end winning 21-19 couldn't quite manage to win losing to 14 and 13 in the second and third ends.

Martin Smith and Angela Sharman went in as thirds winning another three setter 21-16 19-21, 21-17.

This left John Harvey and Carol Salmon with the responsibility of bringing home the win or making it a draw. They came up against a strong third pair and found it hard to get into their stride finally losing to 7 and 15.

This made it a 6-6 draw, with 14 games each. We finally lost out by 2 points 504-506.

It was a very good game played in good spirits which all pairings felt they could/should have won it for us.

An excellent result and turnaround from a 10-2 loss at their end.

Well Played Team.

Sunday 31/1/16, Away v Suffolk

Team - Martin Smith, Martyn Clark, John Harvey, Wilf Janssen, Angela Sharman, Dianne Baker, Helen Taylor, and Xin Cheng.

Mens

Martin and Martyn lost a close game 17 and 18 to the first pair, but felt it could have gone either way, and beat the seconds to 19 and 18.

Wilf and John narrowly lost to the seconds, 16 and 18. But managed to take an end of the firsts eventually losing 16-21 21-15 15-21.

Ladies

Pairings were Angela and Di  and Helen and Xin. Both pairs suffered a heavy defeat to a strong first ladies pair. And both had a better game against their second pair with Angela and Di managing to take an end off them.

Mixed

We didn't manage to win any mixed rubbers, with only Wilf and Helen as second mixed managing to take an end.

All in all a somewhat disappointing outing where we all feel we could/should have done better. Most if not all of the games played were closer than the scorelines suggest.

Many Thanks Team, especially Wilf for standing in for John Pickering who had to pull out due to illness on Saturday.

Martin Smith
Captain.

U13s Victorious in First Friendly Match

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Cambs' new U13 team

A new Cambs U13 team travelled to Northamptonshire on Sunday to play a friendly match against the Northants juniors.

With no Cambs U13 team in the Shires County League this season, or for the last few years, it was a momentous occasion for this group of players to get on the road and experience inter-County badminton.

In a superb result, the Cambs juniors secured a 12-8 victory.  With several players in the squad who still qualify as U11s, it was a very promising result from the team.

A team photograph, and the full match results sheet, is available in the Gallery section.

Thanks so much to new team managers Sue and Anil, and to the Northants squad for such a warm welcome.

Congratulations players!!  Hopefully this is the first taste of success leading to many future wins!

O50 Match report and ICC weekend roundup

Over 50's Away v Essex, Sunday 17th January

Team - Martin Smith, Martyn Clark, John Harvey, Peter Coleman, Angela Sharman, Dianne Baker, Carol Salmon, Xin Cheng.

We put up a spirited fight against a strong Essex team, but despite some close games were unable to convert any into a win.The final score of a 12-0 home win does not do justice to the games played on the day.

Well done and thanks to the team for their commitment and support. And a special thanks to our "super sub" Peter Coleman.

Round up of the ICC masters weekend for the over 50's team

Team - Martin Smith, Martyn Clark, John Harvey, John Pickering, Angela Sharman, Dianne Baker, Helen Taylor, Xin Cheng.

Following a late alteration we were pitted against Derbyshire, Notts, Norfolk and Shropshire, playing each team twice over the weekend and each rubber consisting of 2 games thus enabling a draw.

On Saturday we drew 2-2 with Shropshire, lost 3-1 to Norfolk, lost 2-0 to Notts with the other 2 games being a 1-1 draw and lost 3-0 to Derby, again with 1 match drawn.

After some fine food and entertainment on Saturday evening we were back on court "bright" and early, 9.00am on Sunday. We managed another 2-2 draw with Shropshire, bettered our score against Norfolk with a 2-2 draw, equalled our score of a 2-0 loss to Notts, and lost 4-0 to Derby.

Sadly we ended the weekend a close 5th with 3 points. Shropshire pipped us to 4th with 4 points, however we out performed them on rubbers, games and points, but their 1 win gave them the extra point.

All in all a good weekend with some good badminton and entertainment.

Many thanks to the team for their support.

Martin Smith, Captain

Upcoming Cambridgeshire Junior Tournaments

A number of competitive opportunities are available for junior players in and around Cambridgeshire in the New Year.

6 February sees the Suffolk U15 Bronze, which is a national circuit tournament for strong County players.  The Luton U15 Bronze follows closely behind on 13 February.

For U13s, the Essex U13 Bronze is on 21 February

On 21st February the U15 County Restricted will be held at Burwell Sports Centre from 1pm.  This is a tournament to determine the strongest County players in a specific age category.

On 27th February another Fun Tournament for U11, U13 and U15 age groups will be held at the One Leisure indoor centre in St Ives, from 9am.  The Fun Tournaments are aimed at ensuring enjoyment for players of any standard to get an experience of competitive play.

Entry forms for the local tournaments are available to download from the Tournament Entry Forms page.

Colchester Junior Level 1 Tournament 23 January

Often children are concerned about playing tournaments - getting started in can be tricky if they are worried that the don't have the experience to go straight into a Circuit, or even a Forza tournament.

Colchester & East Essex Badminton Federation have had the excellent idea of running a 'Level 1' tournament.  Level 1 events are aimed at school or club players with limited competitive experience. Entries will not be accepted from previous winners or pool winners at 2* events or anyone that has played in national age group tournaments (Gold, Silver, Bronze).  Entries are based on school years instead of U13/U15/U17 so children are more likely to be competing with players their own age.

Entries close on Friday 15 January, so if this sounds like a good opportunity for your child to get a taste of competitive play, then please download the entry form.

Festival of Inclusive Badminton Championed by Paralympic Athletes

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On 12th December both Olympic and Paralympic athletes are swapping their world class opponents for disabled beginners and enthusiasts, in order to inspire a new generation to take part in all-inclusive badminton.

Power2Inspire and CADMuS are collaborating to bring the first Festival of Inclusive Badminton to Cambridge. The event – to be held at the University Sports Centre – will bring together disabled athletes of all body types and abilities, whether beginners or not, to try out inclusive badminton. There will be coaching for all standards and the opportunity for people from the community with disabilities to come along and have a go, even if they have never picked up a racket.

And there will be a number of special guests including recently crowned triple gold medallist at the Para-Badminton World Championships Rachel Choong. Members of England’s Para-Badminton squad will also be attending. England Para-Badminton player Daniel Lee is very enthusiastic about the day:

“It’s a great opportunity for disabled and non disabled players to mix together… I have been playing badminton for Team England for 5 years now… and I really encourage disabled people to join in. I have made so many friends through Para-Badminton and still am. Join in! The sport is a life changer.”

So, if you have a disability or impairment and you thought you would never play sport again, maybe watching these amazing stars play high level competitive sport will encourage you to take up the game!

So please feel free to contact Steve Morley – steve.morley@power2inspire.org.uk – if you are interested in attending, taking part, or even taking on one of the stars!

Match Report for Cambs Over 50's away v Herts, Sunday 22/11/15

Team: Martyn Clark, Martin Smith, Wilfried Janssen, Mark Talbot, Angela Sharman, Dianne Baker, Helen Taylor, Xin Cheng.

Mens doubles

Martyn Clark and Martn Smith, lost a close three ender against Herts 1st pair, 20-22, 21-18, 21-16, but beat their 2nd pair in two ends. 
Wilf and Mark won both of their games beating the 2nds in two ends and winning a tight three ender 23-25 to complete the double.

Ladies Doubles

Angela and Di and Helen and Xin had some good games with Angela and Di taking their 2nd pair to 3 ends. Unfortunately, despite battling hard were unable to convert any games to our advantage.

Mixed Doubles

Martyn and Di fought hard but lost in 2 ends.
Martin and Angela took a comfortable win in 2 ends.
Wilf and Xin had a tough fight with a 3 end win 23-21 14-21 18-21.
Mark and Helen were the last game on and a win from them would give us a draw. However, after a hard fight their scores were 15-21 21-17 25-23.

All in all a very good match in which any of our pairs could have taken us to a draw with 1 more win.

Final score 7-5 to Herts, 16-14 in games, but 548-552 on points.

Thank You and WELL PLAYED TEAM :-)

Martin Smith