Shuttles and showdowns

Stepping onto the courts with Year 9’s badminton teams… Student Reporters Aimee Desai 10.6, Tanay Bhardwaj 10.7 and Emaan Abbas 8.3 report

Year 9 students recently took to the courts for a series of intense badminton matches held in the school sports hall on 2nd and 23rd February 2026. Organised by Mr Peace and Ms Whitmore, the matches gave the students the chance to demonstrate skill, determination and strong teamwork throughout the games as they faced many different opponents.

Mr Peace kindly answered our questions about what it was like organising these fast-paced battles: ‘It’s exciting to see which pupils emerge from their groups as the strongest players and progress to the quarter-finals. It’s also interesting to see, from a college perspective, which colleges have the advantage. At the moment, it looks as though most of the students in the quarter-finals are from Scarlet!’

He was pleased to see ‘pupils giving up their free time (lunch) to take part in a sport which is not mainstream’, adding: ‘They seem to really enjoy the competition, whilst maintaining respect for their opponents.’

Mr Peace explained that, logistically, the competition is a challenge to organise: ‘It takes a lot of time to make sure the tournament runs smoothly over the course of a whole term, but it’s definitely worth it! I don't want anyone missing out as we have a lot of students wanting to take part.’

We talked to pupil Asher Bent about his experience: ‘Badminton is a lot of fun! I felt ready for my matches and was very pleased with the outcome as I won all of them. I’m looking forward to the final because it’s very intense.’ He also offered some advice to fellow players: ‘If I could give one tip, it would be to go for accuracy in shots, not power.’

We’re sure the badminton teams will take this on board as they limber up for their next round.