National Schools Badminton Championships

The Thorpe St. Andrew Under 14 girls badminton team represented the Eastern Region at the National Schools Badminton finals held at Center Parcs, Nottingham. Over 22,000 competitors had participated in the earlier rounds so it was a magnificent achievement for the Thorpe girls to represent the Eastern Region in the final stage of the competition. Their first match in round one was against Higham School (Warwickshire). The team played very well but could not match the strength of their opponents, losing 3-2. Their second match was against Bournemouth High School (Dorset) Although they lost 5-0, the score does not reflect how hard fought each game was. The girls were determined to go out on a high in round two. They beat the Royal Grammar School, (Northumberland) 4-1 and then had a 3-2 victory over the King Edward VII School (Yorkshire). They were delighted to finish in seventh place out of the nine competing schools in their age group. Playing for the Thorpe team were Kylie Amos, Lauren Mortimer , Kate Sawyer and Beth Underwood and all the girls played well, supporting each other throughout the event.

Finally, they very much enjoyed the experience of meeting with and talking to Gail Emms MBE, Olympic Silver Medallist and 2006 World Champion and Sarah Milne, a member of Team England.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"57","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-860","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"640","height":"480","title":"Thorpe St. Andrew Under 14 Team","alt":"Thorpe St. Andrew Under 14 Team"}}]]

Thorpe St. Andrew Under 14 Team

* Norfolk were well represented at the 96th All England Senior Open Championships. Ian Murphy, partnered by Carl Jennings from Leicestershire, won the Over 35 mens doubles. Louise Culyer teamed up with Sang Tu from Essex to win the Over 35s mixed doubles and Eric Plane and Debbie Rigby (Lancashire) were the Over 50s mixed doubles champions.

* Norfolk's junior star, Devon Minnis is still shining right through to the end of an incredible season. Devon and her mixed partner, Matthew Clare (Yorkshire) won the Aros U15 mixed doubles event in Denmark last weekend.They had some really tough matches but came through against a Danish pair, 17-21,21-10,21-19 in the final. She has also been selected to represent England at the UK Schools Games which is being held at the Olympic Park in early May. She will be staying in the athletes village and will be involved in the opening and closing ceremonies. She is looking forward to playing in such a large arena and watching other young athletes competing in other sports Looking back over the season her highlight must have been her selection to play for England, both at home and abroad, and the experience of playing for Norfolk in the Premier B weekends, all at the age of 14.