Calday Grange and Birkdale High take the badminton crown!
Calday Grange Grammar School and Birkdale School have been crowned Merseyside county badminton champions after a competitive event on Thursday 26 January.
The Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 Boys Badminton Merseyside County Finals were held at Broadway Badminton Centre and were a culmination of intra-borough competitions which took place during 2016/17.
After competing in their respective heats, qualifiers from the six Merseyside boroughs of Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and the Wirral had progressed to contest the county finals.
Group winners in the Key Stage 3 competition were St Margaret’s (Liverpool), Calday Grange (Wirral), Fazakerley (Liverpool) and Birkdale (Sefton).
The semi-finals were a lot closer than the scorelines suggest, with Calday Grange beating St Margaret’s 5-0 and Birkdale overcoming Fazakerley by the same score. In the final, Calday Grange ran out 4-1 victors against Birkdale.
In the Key Stage 4 competition, Birkdale (Sefton) and Fazakerley (Liverpool) were again represented in the semi-finals and were joined by Cardinal Heenan (Liverpool) and Wirral Grammar School for Boys (Wirral).
Birkdale overcame Wirral Grammar School for Boys 5-0 with Cardinal Heenan triumphing 5-0 against Fazakerley in the all-Liverpool clash to progress to the final.
Birkdale’s Key Stage 4 team managed to go one better than their Key Stage 3 counterparts, triumphing 5-0 in the final although the scoreline did not reflect the standard of play which was extremely high throughout.
Danny Bacon, St Helens school games organiser, said: “It was fantastic to have representatives from the six boroughs coming together to compete in the county finals. The standard of competition was extremely high and the results of the matches didn’t fully represent the closeness of them.
“Congratulations to both Calday Grange and Birkdale on their victories and good luck in the next round of competition.”
Both Calday Grange and Birkdale will progress to compete in the North West regional finals to be held in Manchester on 1 March 2017.
- The action was fast and furious
- The brilliant helpers from Edge Hill University
- A Cardinal Heenan player prepares to serve
- One of the day’s top performers in action
- Spirt of the Games KS4 winners Kirkby High School
- Doubles action from the group stages
- Action close to the net as Cardinal Heenan play Fazakerly
- Calday Grange Grammar School KS3 winners
- Action shot!
- A return is made
- Cardinal Heenan KS4 runners-up
- A serve is made
- All smiles between points
- Lunging to make the shot
- I’m ready
- Action from the badminton county finals for KS3 & KS4 boys
- Doubles action
- Action from the badminton county finals for KS3 & KS4 boys
- Action from the badminton county finals for KS3 & KS4 boys
- Birkdale High School KS4 winners
- Great power is shown by this young player
- A big stretch to make the return
- Action from the badminton county finals for KS3 & KS4 boys
- Spirit of the Games KS3 winners Calday Grange Grammar School
- Oops!
- Birkdale School had a number of top players in their squad
- The sportsmanship shown was excellent throughout the competition
- The county were held at Broadway Badminton Centre in St Helens
- Great concentration is shown here
- A smash is made
- Edge Hill University students refereed the matches
- The boys competed against each other in both singles and doubles matches
- Birkdale High School, KS3 runners-up
- Nearly!
- Eyes on the prize
- Action from the badminton county finals for KS3 & KS4 boys
- “My shot!”
- Action from the badminton county finals for KS3 & KS4 boys