THE ALLEYNIAN 708 | OUT OF THE ORDINARY
THE ALLEYNIAN 708 | OUT OF THE ORDINARY
Special mention in these year groups should go to Felix Wright (Year 10) who, in addition to representing the school for the U16s and U18s, has had considerable success in national tournaments as a singles player. His level of ability and dedication inspires the whole team to improve. Also deserving of particular praise are Ben Hornby and Shrey Rao (Year 11) whose effective doubles partnership earned them a place in the U18A squad on a number of occasions. At U14 level, we started our season with a victory in the younger category of the National Schools Championship, beating Compass School, Charter North Dulwich, City of London Academy and Harris East Dulwich to go through to the second round. That round, in January, proved to be more of a struggle, but we did manage to secure a victory against Bonus Pastor. In February and March there were losses against Wilson’s School and Whitgift, with the boys not yet fully working together in their pairings. There is talent in the younger year groups, but it needs refinement.
SPORT
BADMINTON JULIAN SUDDABY
A new venture this academic year was the very first OA vs Boys badminton match, which was held in September. Old Alleynians Liam Vicari, Elvis Law, James Li and Jonathan Pratt returned to the College, and were joined by Mr Suddaby and Mr Wong in taking on the boys. Gaius Ip (Year 12) and Felix Wright (Year 10) proved a formidable pairing, taking all three games. Jensen Tong and Luke Cunningham (Year 13) played below their usual standard, and were unlucky not to secure at least one of their games. Taiga Chawatama and Shrey Rao (Year 11) learnt a great deal from playing the much more experienced OA pairs. OAs won 6 games to 3. The competition was friendly but serious, and as soon as it was over, the boys immediately began planning a rematch (unfortunately postponed because of COVID-19). We look forward to next year’s event. Finally, a very sad note this year for the badminton team was the untimely passing of Coach Phi Dung Nguyen (pictured on the left), who had coached many of our older players in previous years. He was instrumental in the development of badminton at the College and will be sorely missed. It has been agreed that the cup awarded to the winners of the annual OA vs Boys match will be named the Nguyen cup in Phi’s memory.
I t has been an excellent year for badminton at the College. The teams have benefitted greatly from the increased training time with Rob Kettle, our coach, and the overall quality of play has greatly improved. In addition, the larger number of players participating in matches has made a positive difference. The U18 team began the season with a thrilling match against Whitgift that came down to the final game, which we managed to win 22–20. The next match, against KCS Wimbledon, was even more impressive, with U18A and B teams playing very well across all the pairings and winning 13 of the 18 games played. The match against Epsom College in December provided more encouragement, with our teams winning 13 games to Epsom’s three. More disappointing was February’s match against Wilson’s School, which we lost three games to six. While our first pair won their games, the opposition’s depth of squad meant our second and third pairs struggled. Nevertheless, there were many close games, displaying a high level of play, and showing just how far we have come as a force within school badminton. The team says farewell this year to co-captains Jean-Luc Zhu and Jensen Tong, long-time member Luke Cunningham, and more recent additions Kevin Wang and Chary Li. Their enthusiasm and team participation have been superb. The U16 team began the year well with a 15–3 victory over KCS Wimbledon. The fact that we could find three strong pairs from both Year 11 and Year 10 is a testament to the popularity of the sport in these year groups. November saw the first round of the National Schools Championships, and we beat Charter North Dulwich and Harris East Dulwich to progress to the next round. In that next round, in January, we were placed an excellent third out of eight, beating teams from St Olave’s Grammar School, Hampton and Whitgift. We lost narrowly to Rutlish and the eventual round winners, Wilson’s. A week later, however, we played the latter again, and this time managed to secure a 6–3 win. It is very promising that we have finally broken our long run of losses against Wilson’s.
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