What a great showing by all the Falcons who participated!  Everyone played so well.  You all should be exceedingly proud of your growth this season.

In U13 Boys Singles we finished one, two, three with Om Patel, Desmond Gauthier and William Nunnemacher lining up.  Desmond’s match against Om was a real barn burner going a full 3 games with excellent rallies and two very tired players by the end.  To finish 3rd William had to defeat an opponent from Parry Sound – Cody Oldham.  Cody had defeated William in 3 games at their last meeting at Machi in March.  This time William prevailed in 3 games! Colton Courville, a very young first year player, displayed amazing tenacity taking some matches to 3 games and never giving up.  Not only does the opposition have to watch out for Colton next year but there are other young Falcons about to join the competitive team including brothers Tanish and Vasish.

Cameron Bird continues to show incredible skills by taking the U15 Singles despite still have a year of U13 left to play.  He was challenged early on by Evan Sia of Newmarket – a big, strong player.  Cameron had to make a lot of very accurate shots while under extreme pressure to win this 3-game match. The final against another Newmarket player, Alexis Chow, proved difficult but Cameron finished it in 2 games.

In Doubles, Cameron and Om teamed up to win the U15 Gold without much difficulty while William and Desmond teamed up to win the U13 Gold after fighting off a stiff challenge by the Parry Sound team.
Aiden Courville, also a first year player and older brother of Colton, teamed up with Alexis Chow of Newmarket in Doubles and they both played extremely well to end up in the finals against Cameron and Om.  Aiden’s choice of shots and placement of shots was surprisingly good for a first year player and left his partner very pleased and surprised.  In U15 Singles Aiden took the D Championship.

Shrey Patel, our only U19 player, had a very frustrating tournament for his last tournament as a Falcon.
Because the Junior Bs were held the same weekend many of the U19 players went to that tournament. His only real opponent, Cooper MacAdams from Alliston, suffered a concussion playing rugby this week and had to withdraw. Cooper’s absence also led to Shrey losing his double’s partner and then to add insult to injury his mixed double’s partner, also from Alliston, was ordered home early by her parents because of the bad weather.  Good luck at MPS and GBs Shrey!  And hope you keep playing at university!

Six Falcons participated in the last GBDBA tournament enjoying the badminton-only facilities of the Machi Training Center.  Black walls, high ceilings, indirect lighting and badminton lines only make playing at Machi a special event for our players.

In his rookie tournament Aiden Courville was D Finalist winning a true character match 22-20, 23-21. He showed a real ability to stay cool under pressure and to aim his shots.  As his technique improves these qualities will make him a formidable opponent.

His younger brother Colton won his first match in a tournament 21-19, 21-11 and lost some very close matches.

The Patel brothers, Shrey and Om, each won their respective age categories – Shrey winning U19 and Om U13. Each had to survive one very tight match to finish with the gold.  Om’s first match was won in 3 against an opponent from Machi.  The rallies where long and the game well played and kept the spectators on the edges of their seats right to the end.  Shrey’s second match against an opponent from Alliston also went 3 and was decided in the last few rallies.

William Nunnemacher won his first match moving to B where he played probably the hardest match of his young career losing in 3 to a Machi opponent.  He couldn’t have worked harder and never quit running until the final shot hit the floor.  His next match came very quickly and he just couldn’t recover both physically and emotionally quickly enough to play like he had in his marathon match.

Cameron Bird is U13 but played in the U15 event.  He came within a hair of taking the gold. His first match was against the eventual champion once again against a Machi opponent.  Cameron took him to 3 games and some smart strategy by his opponent made the difference in the third game.  Cameron had to work to win his remaining games but no one came as close to defeating the champion as Cameron.

Congratulations to our 6 Falcons.  It was great to watch everyone pushing so hard and playing so well!

Cameron Bird and Om Patel attended their first ever sanctioned Provincial B tournament in Bowmanville.  Both Falcons worked very hard and played up to the higher level of competition.

In Singles Cameron won his first match in 2 games and then faced the eventual champion.  He hung in very well in the first game and was ahead at 17 points but then his opponent made some very good shots and stole that game.  This rattled Cameron a little and the score wasn’t as close in the second game.  Om lost his first two matches but the second match was extremely close and both games not being decided until the last few points.

In Doubles the boys got a break when their first round opponents, the number one seed, withdrew.  The boys took advantage of this and squeezed by two very close matches to move into the finals.  There they played a very strong team who were very accurate with their shots as well as keeping our boys off balance.  Cameron and Om did come home with the Silver Medal – no trivial achievement for their first ranked Junior B tournament.

Playing this tournament gave Cameron and Om experience that only this level of competition can give you.  By the end of the day they were playing with more confidence and were reacting to strength in their opponents with strategy rather than panic.

William Nunnunmacher and Desmond Gauthier were the only Falcons competing in the third tournament of the GBDBA circuit. This was a doubles event and this young team has become one of the best GBDBA U13 teams.
As they were the only U13 boys teams entered in this event they were entered in GDU15. The girls gave them good games but couldn’t manage to win any matches against our young team. William and Desmond are beginning to play very good doubles with strong service and service return as well as looking for the holes in their opponents defense. Well done!