On April 12th, Thornhill Junior Secondary School once again became the venue for the Terrace Badminton Club’s Open Tournament that saw 60 junior and 40 adult participants from all over the northwest compete for the club trophies.
“It was great, we had a significant turnout,” said club president Norm Parry. “Everyone went away happy.”
The tournament happened the week after Terrace players bussed to Prince George for the Prince George tournament, as is the yearly tradition.
While Prince George players took the top spots in the adult league, which marked the 47th year for the trophies, Terrace’s junior players held their own.
In the Junior Girls U12 Doubles category, with a Leah Julseth victory. Julseth also teamed up with Sarah Kroeker to win the Junior Girls U12 Doubles.
Bronwen Juergensen and Hannah Resch came out on top in the Junior Girls U16 Doubles category, and Joshua Brown and Logan Clunas took the Junior Boys U12 Doubles category.
Liam Clunas had the win in the Junior Boys U14 Singles, and aided Joel Kroeker to win the Junior Boys U14 Doubles.
In the Junior Boys U19 Singles, Jake Blix took the top spot, and became the third Terrace player with a double win with his Junior Boys U19 Doubles win alongside Graham Peters.
This marked the end of the season for Terrace’s badminton league.
The league has been one of the community groups making use of the Thornhill Junior Secondary gym since its closure last year.
The club is just one of a number of groups using the gym, in cooperation with the City of Terrace and the Coast Mountains School District.
“It went really well,” said Parry. “We had good cooperation between the clubs in making it work.”
Parry says the program has been a success.
The gym was in full use, he said, and everyone did their part keeping the space clean. It also gave the badminton club the opportunity to branch out and offer senior badminton clinics one day a week.
But it did mean the club had to raise fees in order to cover operating costs, although expenses at the gym this year probably weren’t as expensive as they might be in future years because of low snow removal costs.
Twenty-five to 30 kids were turning out for the junior nights, he said, and that wouldn’t have happened without the coordination between different community groups to keep the space in use.
“It was touch and go whether we could even have a club,” he said.
Now, club members take a break from badminton to enjoy outdoor spring and summer sports, but they’ll be back on the court in the fall.