The Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) Elecs senior badminton team captured three of a possible five gold medals at their home tournament on Saturday.
The Elecs boy’s doubles team of Jarrett Daoust and Ryland Daoust, the girl’s doubles team with Madison Daoust and Alyssa Cunningham and boy’s singles player Sage Dayman each earned the top position in the tournament. The mixed doubles team of John Sasi and Jean Rose Be also earned a silver medal at the competition.
“It went really good,” said Dayman, a Grade 11 student at ECS and second-year member of the senior badminton team. “We got to play on home court, so it was a little bit of an advantage towards the other opponents.”
Sheena Summers, head coach of the Elecs badminton team, said the tournament was their second of the season following a challenge in Midale before the Easter break. She said the Elecs also earned a couple of gold medals at that tournament, making for a promising start to their season.
“We have some really strong players right now,” said Summers, noting the boy’s doubles team of Jarrett and Ryland Daoust are back for another season after placing fifth at provincials last year. “I am hoping that we have a couple groups that actually go to provincials. We’re strong enough, that’s for sure, as long as we do well when we compete.”
The Elecs badminton season began shortly after basketball ended in mid-February and will come to a close with the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association (SHSAA) provincial championships at Humboldt Collegiate Institute on May 14. In the meantime, the Elecs will practise after school every Tuesday and Thursday in preparation for regular Saturday tournaments.
Summers said ECS will host the pre-district badminton tournament on April 26, which will bring together the top players from schools in southeast Saskatchewan for a competition to determine who will advance to the district tournament in Oxbow. She said select players will then compete at regionals in Kipling before the last standing group of athletes move on to provincials in Humboldt.
Dayman said the workload involved with playing badminton is pretty heavy considering they continually have to play their hardest in practice in order to get ready for an opposition-filled weekend each Saturday. These weekend tournaments feature the various school teams continually facing off against one another on the court in an effort to gain enough points to earn a spot in the late-April and May competitions.
“It teaches you determination,” said Dayman. “No matter how much you can get down on yourself, you just have to get back up and keep trying your best.”
