Lucas Punkari
Only a scant two points separated the Muskie badminton pair of Robert Stevens and Spencer Pearce from earning a berth at last year’s OFSAA championship.
So with a new season set to get underway tomorrow with exhibition play at Fort High, the Grade 12 tandem are setting their sights on making it to all-Ontarios in Aurora in May.
“Getting a bronze [medal] at NWOSSAA last year was pretty good for our first year working as a team,” Stevens said following a practice at Robert Moore School earlier this week.
“That wasn’t a bad result, of course, but now we’re really shooting on making it this year,” he stressed.
Last spring’s bronze-medal showing at NWOSSAA was thought by many to be a surprise result—even for Muskie senior badminton coach Manami Alexander, who was impressed by the pair’s efforts.
“Not many people expected a lot from them but they turned in a great showing,” she lauded.
“We were shooting on making provincials, but it was kind of an unrealistic goal so I know that we were both surprised on how well we did,” Pearce admitted.
This season sees Pearce and Stevens as being the only two members of the Muskie senior squad because many of the eligible members will be heading to Edmonton for a band trip in mid-April, which is around the same time that the regional qualifiers would be taking place.
“I know I was going back and forth on that myself for the entire year, but in the end I decided to come back with the team,” said Pearce, who also is involved with the band.
But while the senior ranks may be low this year, a fair number of junior participants are making their way to practices, with as many 16 coming out on some nights.
Many of these players not only will be involved in tomorrow’s exhibition matches, which get underway at 10 a.m. in the Fort High gym, they also will be taking part in the annual Fort Frances Badminton Club Invitational tournament this weekend, which gets underway Friday night at Fort High.
For players like Stevens and Pearce, who will be competing in the men’s ‘A’ level this weekend, they’ll be using the tournament to gain experience for the upcoming high school season by facing tough competition from Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario.
“There are guys that will be here this weekend that have been playing for years, and that’ll help the younger players gain some more experience,” Pearce reasoned.
“Playing at that higher level will help us a lot for the players we could face at something like OFSAA, as opposed to playing at a lower level where you could end up dominating and not learning a whole lot,” echoed Stevens.
