St Giles Badminton Club

After recent performances from the 1st mixed and 1st men’s the pressure was on our 2nd mixed team to maintain winning performances and acheive the wholly grail of a 9-0.

The first part was achieved with a solid and gritty effort displayed by all three pairs, I can honestly say it wasn’t for the faint hearted and I don’t make a good spectator! The evening started well with Jon & Doreen and Alex & Sam taking their first rubbers with tight score lines demonstrating how close the evening was going to be(the final points total favouring the opposition). Our third pair of Steve W & Denise went into their first rubber with high expectation but were eventually thwarted by dogged determination from the opposition and a controversial call in the penultimate point. With Steve tweaking a back muscle and Den feeling frustrated they ensured the evening wasn’t going to continue in the same fashion, some excellent runs of serve from Den and aggressive finishing from Steve dealt with the other two pairs. Another fine serving performance was delivered by Sam who collected the serve being five points down to handing it back six ahead, Alex dancing around the court with efficiency that was to be his undoing as in the final rubber of their night he went over on his ankle with painful repercussions, fortunately the game was secured in the previous rubber by Den & Steve enabling a retirement for a hopeful return in two weeks time(fingers crossed). A solid performance by Jon & Doreen in what turned out to be the final rubber of night rounded the evening of with a 6-3 victory, leaving the home team wondering how the visitors third pair took all three of their rubbers each of which were dispatched with much vocal hilarity from the smashing gent!

All the best for a speedy recovery for Steve and Alex with a full calendar looming large over the next few weeks for both players.

The 3rd Mens got their first win of the season with a 6-3 victory over Redhill 2. On the Friday before the match things didn’t look good, Alan had warned me during the week his shoulder was playing him up and he would test it on club night. On Thursday he said it still wasn’t right, but would play anyway because we were starting to struggle to get a team and this was a match we needed to win. On Friday afternoon John Walters rang me to say he would have to drop out, as playing 3 times in 10 days had proved too much for his back and had brought on an old injury, though even in this state he would play if I could not find a replacement for him! So it was on the phone to find someone who didn’t have the flu and wasn’t injured. To the rescue came John Lawton who played the part of supersub to perfection helping me take two rubbers as third pair, he’s not played for a few weeks so perhaps the rest has done him good. Alan and Kevin, Sean and Dave also took two rubbers, they had one pair none of us could beat. Its nice to get some points on the board, and looking at the fixture list there should be at least one more match we are capable of winning, provided we can get a team!!

This is the first season for the Forest 3 team, their other 2 teams playing in the Premier and Div 1. I was told when the fixture was made, that they recently had some younger players join and wanted to give then some league experience. It was perhaps the thought of being given the runaround by a team of youngsters that we could only field two pairs, other engagements being remembered! On the night they had four players aged 14 to 16 and a couple of older experienced players who partnered a younger player.That afternoon I’d been to watch Forest play Southampton, and Forest were outclassed, this time it was the Forest Team doing the outclassing! The final score was 9 – 0 (3 games being conceded ) and with 10 points the highest score we could muster it wasn’t a long evening. At the end of the match John W said he was looking forward to some refreshments, we looked around and there wasn’t any. So we came away with a Moral victory, we might have been beaten on court, but they will never beat the mighty St. Giles in the provision of after match refreshments.

Five days later but the same result! Can you guess the score line? Not to be out done the men’s 1st team join the 8-1 party with an away trip to Carlton which for one team member nearly resulted in a trip to the QMC, well not quite!

On an evening where an arresting night was put on hold for super sub Steve P (our resident jet setter once again leaving these shores for more exotic locations)with this seasons additions to the men’s team enhancing our increasing reputation as a force to be recon with! Both team Steve (B&W) and Alex & Gray registering unbeaten performances with the well established pairing of Steve P & Jon doing there best to entertain the spectators with their compulsory opening of a three game rubber, deciding immediately afterwards to conclude the remaining games in quicker fashion of a loss then a resounding victory to anchor this superb result.

The previously mentioned casualty of the night was myself with recent cardiovascular training! proving unsettling to his partners game with several attempts to invade his personal space resulting in a racket to the face! which Alex duly released and inadvertently catapulted it straight into the middle of a rally on the next court. Fortunately for me no damage done other than to stay away for the remainder of the night! and not even a scar to improve my looks! 

And finally, a special mention to the speed of which our team disappeared on the night, Steve B laying claim to a social life and departing immediately after his final rubber with his partner on taxi duty and Steve P delaying his service to the community to defend St G’s honour having to make a not so quick change (at least twenty minutes in the changing rooms) before departing to enjoy the not so nice elements of Nottingham’s night life.

Next up are Notts students at home on the 5th February.

St Giles mixed 1 team continued their unerringly consistent season with a fourth straight 8-1 win last Sunday, beating Beeston Fields at Chilwell in what may prove to be the title decider in Div 3A come the end of the season. At this rate Agent’s Mulder and Scully will be turning out with the St Giles tifosi to investigate these suspicious scorelines.

This week it was the turn of Ellie & Neil (AKA “Club 18-30″ for this season) to slip up and drop their first games (and rubber) of the season. The pressure of going 1st pair, and Ellie knowing one of the opposing team members, seeming to knock them off their stride. Fortunately, imperious showings from Gray & Steffi and Steve B & Doreen (stepping into the breach for Janice, whose ankle we hope is improving with some rest) meant the team’s excellent winning run continued.

Special mentions go to both those pairs for overcoming some super slow-mo serving antics (Stuart Barber managed to peel and eat his ritual matchday orange, as well as groom the ‘tache back to perfection in between two points!), loud self-directed shouting, racket throwing, and requests for divine intervention, all from the passionate opposition.

With two games to go the team are red hot favourites to get promoted as league champions, so fingers crossed the good run continues on 10th Feb. I’ll leave you with this interesting fact I was fortunate (!) to overhear from the St Giles benches on the sidelines… Stuart is a ‘Fat 5′ and Charlie (Mr Steff) is a ‘Super 6′. Answers on a postcard please!

St Giles’ mixed 3 team narrowly missed out on sealing their second win of the season against a competitive Rushcliffe Arena team on Sunday 15th January. David and Brenda set the standard by maintaining the dazzling form they had shown in previous games by taking all 3 of their rubbers. James and Katie’s emerging partnership continued to come on leaps and bounds, and they took the team’s other rubber – being unlucky to lose out in the decisive games at the end of the night. Unfortunately it didn’t happen on the night for Sean and Ally, who were close to taking several of their rubbers, and unfortunate to come away empty handed.

Highlights from the sidelines were Ally’s very complimentary remarks about Katie’s flick serve (best ask Ally about that, because I can’t possibly repeat what she said on a public website!), and James introducing some Parkour to proceedings by running up a wall after sashaying across court to kill a teasing net shot just the wrong side of the tramline.

The strength of the team’s performance is best demonstrated by the fact we won the same number of games as the opposition (11) and marginally more points, but just failed to convert them into that extra rubber needed to seal the match. Better luck next time out against Phoenixwood 5 on Feb 26th.

Its been a while since we collected these trophies at the Notts BA presentation night and a little while since we took these photos, better late than never!

Our successfull mens & mixed teams of 2011 with a couple of abcentees in Janice & Doreen who both contributed during the season.

A fun night was had by all on our last club night for 2011, thanks to everyone who was able to come along and enjoy the novelty games of blind net, one racket doubles, balloon badminton and statues. Santa hats were a plenty, I was particularly jealous of Steve B’s offering which featured a Noddy bell! There was even an appearance of Jess from the toy story, apparently adopting the ‘yours’ policy of you know who! and Mr Delmonty with added tinsel apparently taking a break from eating his compulsory orange.

Well its been a magnificent year for the mighty St G, four promotions secured in the first quarter with two first places for mixed & mens 1, the second & third saw the introduction of a new chairman with grand plans and a change to the club night format (thanks to all for embracing these changes). The final quarter has started where our teams left of in the Notts leagues, with a minimum of two further promotions looking possible at this stage of the season, with my personal favourite of the ladies first team destroying all before them with only one match remaining, you really have proved how good you are this season with some excellent results, well done.

An early Christmas present courtesy of Marshall Storey, writing on the Notts BA website of an expected third promotion in three years for our first mixed team, another excellent performance from all who have taken part so far.

In leaves me with only one final thing to say, I wish you all a Merry Christmas & happy new year, looking forward to what promises to be an awesome 2012.

After 2 postponements the 3rd Mens finally got to play their 1st match against East Leake 4. Now last season East Leake played in Division 5A and beat our 2nd Mens 5-4, finished second in the league, and instead of being promoted had the honour of moving across to Division 5B to play our 3rd Mens! This time they won 7-2, Sean and Dave taking our 2 rubbers and going to 3 games in the third. Myself and Kevin, John W and John L came close, but not close enough, though John W did confuse them with his serving from wide positions.With the benefit of hindsight it might of been a good tactical move to have played a weaker team on the Wednesday night against WE/LE, and saved Alan to play on the Sunday.If we had I think the result would have been 5-4, but I can’t say who would have won!!
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Our second men’s team once again took to the court with optimism against the might of West Bridgeford & Long Eaton and were rewarded with an emphatic defeat, 9-0 to the visitors. The visitors 3rd team, boasting two teams in the premier division, took little time dispatching our gallant men, providing an opportunity for us to practise without getting close to being kicked out of the Olympia!

Each of our pairs battled hard and showed plenty of spirit, the visitors captain confiding to our team that in the four 9-0 victories they have secured this season they have only dropped one game! Sadly we weren’t the team to inflict this consolation prize.

One to forget for the mighty St G! Bring on the rest!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.