Schull Community College

2010
Lunchtime badminton has been going for just over two years now and is as popular as ever. This year we are playing on Mondays and Thursdays, and on both days we usually have at least sixteen and sometimes up to twenty-five players. This year we moved up to Level II in the County Championships, but were unlucky enough to meet last year's winners of Level 1 in the first round. Apparently there were not enough teams to make up a Level 1 competition this year! Still, it provided very good experience for our players, who put up a good fight. Transition Year players from Mercy Heights came over to Schull just before Christmas, and we had a very successful morning of fairly intensive playing.
, we decided to use a ladder system to provide a little challenge to our playing. Before Easter we will play our usual in-house tournament to round off the year.
involved in supervision and coaching badminton: Lara Kelly, Jean Johnston and Martha Hayes


2009
A lunchtime badminton club for first and second year girls was started in January 2008. Girls were the focus, as many boys were already playing soccer or basketball at that time, but girls were not taking part in any similiar daily activity.

We were taken by surprise by the level of interest - over thirty girls took part on the first Wednesday. We expected some fall-off in interest as time went by, but this did not happen and because it was not possible for everyone to get a game during one lunchtime, we decided to play on Mondays at lunchtime as well. However many boys expressed interest in playing and when they joined in, the numbers rose to about sixty. During March a third lunchtime, Friday, was introduced to cope with the numbers.

We decided in late April to hold singles tournaments, one for girls and one for boys. An entry fee of €2 per player was collected in aid of the new Resource Room. Including some individual contributions, we collected about €180. Games were played at lunchtimes during late April and early May. Tadhg O'Mahony won the boys' singles and Josh Lenz Lipitch was the runner up. Annette Cotter was the winner of the girls' singles and Anya Curran was the runner-up.



In November the girls played against Mercy Heights in Skibbereen. It was a great experience for all the girls and, although we were not overall winners on the day, we did very well, winning a number of games. We’re looking forward to the return match!
On 10 December, forty-five players travelled to Dunmanway to take part in Division 3 of the County Cork Championships. It was a very successful day. Everyone enjoyed the tournament, which was extremely well-organised by our hosts, Maria Immaculata. Eight of our players won medals: Tadhg O’Mahoney, Josh Lenz-Lipitch, Tony Shanahan, Annette Cotter, Joshua Pickett, Czareenah Magday, Cathal Newman and Kodie Healy. Well done to all the players who took part and who helped to make the day so successful.
We hope to end the term with an in-house doubles tournament before Christmas.




Organisers:
Martha Hayes
Jean Johnson
Karen Sheehan