Around 5 months ago, just one of the eight badminton players for Shirley Intermediate at the Koru Games had ever played the sport.

After pestering their teacher Andrew Flanagan to play in the weekly CAIMS winter tournament “before they could even serve a shuttle,” the teams produced some solid results over the six weeks and were entered in the Koru Games due to their dedication.

The Shirley badminton teams were among the 2,800 Year 7/8 students from 62 schools across the South Island who took part in the multi-sport tournament in Selwyn.

Badminton, along with basketball, table tennis and boccia, were all played in the newly-opened Selwyn Sports Centre in Rolleston for the first time since the building opened last year.

With no expectation of placing, both teams from Shirley surprised themselves and ended up in their respective grand finals at the tournament last week. The girls took out the final, while the boys’ team settled for a well-deserved silver.

Shirley Intermediate Principal Brett Cooper says he can’t think of any time where the school has made the final in a major tournament, let alone make two and win one of them.

For player Imogen, she was glad for the opportunity to play at Koru Games, as she got to play with other teams similar to her team’s playing level.

“It was super fun having to verse teams at the same level because we got to see what we fail on, which we can reflect on from today, and the future.”

The Shirley teams were also lucky enough to have a grandparent (“Coach Em”) volunteer three, sometimes five times a week to train them.

For a lot of the Shirley students, playing badminton this year has encouraged them to try more new sports as well.

Kai Kai originally thought of badminton as “just a simple sport” to play throughout the year, but now wants to try other sports too. “Playing badminton this year made me realise other sports aren’t as scary as I thought, so I would also like to try other sports,” she says.

But for many of the school’s players, it may not be the last seen of them playing the sport, with several of them hoping to continue it from now on.

Lukas says he will “stick” to badminton after the experience of making the grand final at the Koru Games.

“I love playing the sport and hope to maybe, one day be one of the best in New Zealand.”

Article added: Thursday 13 October 2022
Written by: Jaime Cunningham