By Bruce Campbell
Sports Editor
An Edison School student’s unique way of handling Grade 12 pressure paid dividends at the Foothills Divisional badminton tournament last week.
“Badminton has been my stress reliever this year for my final year of high school,” said Edison School Eagle Darius Kamal. “Whenever I am feeling stressed out, I go down and work on my badminton.”
Kamal won the Senior boys singles badminton championship at the divisional tournament at the Edison Badminton Centre on April 16. He beat Chase Van Sant in the final.
Kamal is on a mission this year. After being on the podium as a Grade 10 student with a bronze medal at the provincial championships, he came home with no hardware last year.
“I am definitely wanting to medal and I am going for gold (at provincials),” Kamal said. “I think the Senior boys single is the toughest situation, so it is going to be difficult.”
Kamal lost the first game to Van Sant 21-19 at divisionals. However, he rebounded to win the final two games 21-10, 21-5.
Kamal is also a member of the Edison Badminton Club. He said he is having a strong season on the club circuit, ranking as high as third provincially.
He will join six other Eagles who advanced to the South Central Zone championship this weekend in Cochrane. The top two singles players in both boys and girls for each of the three divisions (Junior, Intermediate and Senior) at divisionals advanced to zones.
Also joining Kamal from Edison School is Emma Finnegan, who won the Junior girls singles at divisionals.
“There is always going to be pressure when you go into something like divisionals,” Finnegan said. “I make sure I stretch, make sure I’m ready and try not to crack under pressure.”
She got a quick wake-up call when she lost her opening match to teammate Sara Grisdale. Finnegan was able to battle back and earn a spot in the semifinals against another Eagle Laura Spengler.
“Everyone thought I was going to lose — I had a mindset that I was going to lose,” Finnegan said. “But I was able to pull it together in the final.”
Her goal is finish in the top two at zones in order to qualify for the provincial championship in Calgary.
The Eagles are the two-time provincial badminton champions among 1A schools.
A good match
A pair of Holy Trinity Academy (HTA) Knights’ somewhat last-minute decision to play as a doubles team has them booking a trip to the South Central Zone championships on the weekend.
Knights’ Tara Endersby and Chantelle Reeh got knocked out of the singles tournament on April 16.
Yet, an earlier decision to try their luck at doubles has them going to zones.
Endersby/Reeh won the Junior girls doubles title by beating HTA’s Megan Lloyd and Katie Gray at divisionals on April 17.
After they both were eliminated from singles, they focused on doubles.
“We just started working on our strategy,” Reeh said. “We told each other let’s just do our best and see how it goes.’”
Endersby and Reeh aren’t strangers on the court. They played together and against each other with the Edison Recreation Badminton Club.
Now they are focusing on zones.
“I think we can do pretty well,” Endersby said. “We will be working all this week on our strategy.”
The following are the results of the Foothills Divisionals badminton tournament last week:
Junior
Girls singles: 1. Emma Finnegan, Edison; 2. Sarah Grisdale, Edison.
Girls doubles: 1. Tara Endersby/Chantelle Reeh, HTA; 2. Megan Lloyd/Katie Gray, HTA.
Boys singles: 1. Mark Lisoway, Edison; 2. Austin MacEachern, HTA.
Boys doubles: 1. Cole Canevero/Jonah Nicholajsen, HTA; 2. Macauley Scott/Ryan Whittrock, HTA.
Mixed doubles: 1. Brandon Piercey/Laura Spengler, Edison; 2. Erniel Van der Poel/Katie Duval, HTA.
Intermediate
Girls singles: 1. Kaitlynn Martyna, HTA; 2. Jessica Hawrysh, Foothills.
Girls doubles: 1. Tamala Whiteside/Winnie Steetz, Oilfields; 2. Karter Duke/Grace Mountain, Edison.
Boys singles: 1. Tyler Glen, Edison; 2. Daniel Livergrant, STS
Boys doubles: 1. Ryan St. Jean/Sean McMaster, HTA; 2. Brady Stuart/Josh Younker, Oilfields.
Mixed doubles: 1. Liam Spengler/Sara Grisdale, Edison; 2. Jessica Hawrysh/Kirkland Schmaltz, Foothills.
Senior
Girls singles: 1. Kate MacFarlane, STS; 2. Lauren Scantlebury, Edison.
Girls doubles: 1. Aspyn Lane/Victoria Armstrong, Edison; 2. Victoria Clark/ Kim Hornaday, STS.
Boys singles: 1. Darius Kamal, Edison; 2. Chase Van Sant, STS.
Boys doubles: 1. Taylor Chase/Riley Waterous, STS; 2. Arnaud Nimenya/ Andrew Tai, Notre Dame.
Mixed doubles: 1. Kate MacFarlane/Daniel Livergrant, STS; 2. Justeena Zanoni/Hayden Oberg, HTA.
“
