2010 Junior Pennants - Autumn Series - Week 5 of 5

The fifth and final week of the Junior Pennants Semester 1 saw the players on all the teams lift their games to another level and surprised each other with displays of skill and hard hitting.

There was some very well played badminton by the enthusiastic juniors in both the championship title play-off, between the Falcons & the Hawks, and the 3rd place play-off, between the Hawks & the Eagles.

The Hawks, without a win all season, came into the finals playing their very best. They took on the Eagles, the semester 1 early pace setters, and showed their improved form by taking 5 of the 8 singles matches. In the Doubles, they continued their fine form and won 8 doubles matches to the Eagle's 4. The stand out players for the Hawks were Silvi Botha and Brendan Murray, who won all their games on the day to help their team win the over-all tie (and with it 3rd spot) with a final score of 13-7.

The big title showdown was an amazing finale, with both the Falcons and the Crows giving it their very best. It was nip and tuck all the way. The Crow's captain, Ella Whyte, led the team very well and was the standout player winning all her matches for her team! Both teams took 4 singles matches each and followed that up by sharing the doubles matches 6 a piece to leave the tie all level at 10 all!

It went down to the points difference and it was the CROWS who just sneaked the tie and with it the title of Semester 1 Junior Pennants Champions by just 16 pts.

The conclusion of the competition was followed by the presentation of the awards and prizes by Mr. Kim Rodgers and Himanshu Thakker, Junior Development Committee members and coaches.

Awards were also presented to the Falcons who finished Runners-Up in Semester 1.

2 Sports Encouragement Awards (racquets) were presented to the one boy and girl deemed by the organisers to have shown the most improvement over the season. The recipients of these awards were Brendan Murray and Silve Botha, both from the Hawks.

Most Valuable Players (MVP) trophies were also given out to the player from each team that won the most games for their team over the season. The MVPs for the 4 teams were as follows:

Crows - Ella Whyte, Falcons - Matthew Teo, Hawks - Brendan Murray, Eagles - Leonard Yau

The players who won the 2nd highest number of games for their teams were also awarded with Best Supporting Player prizes (drink bottles and bags kindly donated by Bank West).

Kind thanks and great appreciation to the sponsorship and support from Healthway for the 'Be Active' Badminton Junior Pennants.

The Organisers trust that all the players had a great time participating in the 2010 Season 1 Junior Pennants. To register your interest for Season 2 (which begins around the 3rd week of June), please contact one of the organisers, Himanshu Thakker or Stephen Teo.

Final Team Standings After Week 5 - Finals Results:

Crows (1st) beat Falcons (2nd) on pts : match score - 10 to 10, points difference - 16pts

Hawks (3rd) beat Eagles (4th) : match score - 13 to 7

2010 Junior Pennants Semester 1 Teams:

CROWS: Julian Ng, Heer Gudka, Nicole Yau, Mark Grant, Edward Win, Ella Whyte (Captain), Brendan Burns, Gareth Evans

EAGLES: Herman Chan, Alvin Khuu, Lizzy Leroy, Cavan Yau, Daniel Tie, Alana Shaylor, Lim Eih Bin (Captain), Leonard Yau

FALCONS: Titus Tan (Captain), Dylan Wong, Ade Bambang, Matthew Teo, James Cooper, Alice Hon, Adi Bambang, Cameron Smith

HAWKS: Tam Ho/Marcus Tan, Owen Chan, Silvi Botha, Jeremy Tie, Tsuyoshi Takashima, Samantha Kendall (Captain), Brendan Murray, Ziao Veneziani

Information and photos provided by: Stephen Teo, Badminton WA, Junior Development.