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Woodvale BC Juniors Review of 2008
31st March 2009

Woodvale's juniors had a very successful 2007-08 winning the three age group team cups and the U12, U14 and U16 Division 2 leagues. The club is indebted to Adam Taylor for the coaching support he has given the club - without him they could not offer the level of coaching they do. Woodvale also runs a youth club for those leaving the junior ranks but perhaps not quite breaking into the senior league - thanks to Julie Banham, Brenda Jones and Mike Grice for making this happen.

Coaching trip

At the end of August 24 youngsters and 10 adults went on a coaching weekend to the National Badminton Centre in Milton Keynes. This is the third time the club has been to the NBC with a group of juniors and, as always, it proved extremely popular. The group travelled on a National Express coach, much to the disappointment of the driver (obviously hoping for an effort free journey) and due to the failure of the railways. Players and adults bedded down in the living quarters of the England national squad (vacated at weekends) and the youngsters received twelve hours of excellent coaching from some great coaches, including current English national doubles champion, Suzanne Rayappan. The party survived smelly toilets on the coach, a ‘v' sign from a passing OAP, Charlotte and Rebecca's misuse of deep heat, Adam's hopeless effort at shuttle defending, and 5 great excuses for players wandering outside their bedrooms after curfew:

• "I was just coming out to do some stretches" (winner);
• "I've got someone's underpants" (runner-up);
• "What shall I do with this glass" (highly commended);
• "I thought I heard someone calling my name" (good effort);
• "I thought there was someone outside my door" (found out).

National Express	Coaching talk	Attentive	Coaching action	NBC courts
Feeding	Bowling (1)	Bowling (2)	Bowling (3)	Bowling (4)
Bowling (5)	The boys	Having a good time	Coaches	Group photo

The 2009 trip is already fully booked!

Awards

Each year Woodvale awards its juniors for performing well on court and contributing to the club as a whole. The 2008 awards were made at the fund-raising event for the Milton Keynes trip and top honours - Outstanding Achievement Male and Outstanding Achievement Female - went to Matty Tolman and Hannah Buckingham. Both are fantastic supporters of the club as well as being very talented on court. Hannah started playing, aged 8, when Woodvale ran coaching sessions at Farnborough Road Junior School - both Hannah and Matty work extremely hard at their game and are seeing the rewards at senior league and junior county levels. The full set of awards for 2007-08 season were:

Singles tournament

Woodvale's annual junior singles tournament was contested by over 40 players at Greenbank HS on 16 December 2008. The event is split into three age groups - under 11, 13 and 16 - for both boys and girls (age at 31 August 2008).

In the U11 boys, Matthew Johnston and Banedikt Thorburn reached the last match of their round-robin event unbeaten – the game was tied at 14-all (no setting) when Matthew narrowly missed a well timed smash. A good win for Benedikt – both players have another year at the age group and will look even stronger if they keep playing and stay keen. The girls were split into an A and B event, with Laura Swettenham winning the B. In the A, Rachel Softley made her tournament debut (aged 8) and will be a name to look out for in the next few years. Rachel Bebby has improved a great deal this season, though it was Katie Dixon-Turner and Lizzie Tolman that contested the final match, with Katie taking the spoils. Katie and Lizzie have since partnered each other in the U11 National Championships where they finished in the Bronze Medal position (losing semi-finalists) - very well done.

The U13s was won by Max Noble with Matthew Nuttall (playing his first season) coming runner-up. Robert Hansford came third. Max has made huge strides this season, already playing in the adult league and ranked nationally in the top 20 at U12. The girls saw a large entry of 12 with Emily Mawdesley emerging as the most improved player, making it through to the last three. In the end she lost out to the eventual finalists, Charlotte Grisedale and Katie Dixon-Turner, with Katie winning overall with some excellent play. Well done also to Abi Hansford, Lizzie Tolman and Naomi Jarvis on reaching the last six.

The U16 event was contested by 6 boys and 5 girls. In the boys, Ciaran Henders showed how much he has improved this season, coming third. But it was Max Noble, playing four years above his age, that gave Matty Tolman the closest match, though Matty's power proved too much for Max (for now!). The girls saw a rematch of last year's final, with Emma Karsten and Hannah Buckingham going to the wire before Emma took the trophy for the second time, winning the last match of the night 21-19.

None of the above happens without a lot of hard work, though thankfully there is a lot of fun on the way too.

Dave Miller
Woodvale BC Juniors Rep

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Woodvale Awards / Winners
31st December 2007

Each year the junior players of Woodvale BC receive awards for their playing achievements, and in September 2007 the awards were made at Dave & Belinda Miller's house.  Congratulations to the following:

Below - juniors, parents and coaches at the presentation evening:

Steph Hall, Emily Miller, Nicola Poole, Alex Byrne (representing brother Kristian)	Parents and coaches	Katie Dixon-Turner, Lauren Eyes, Alex Lam, Charlotte Lam, Michael Bebby	Emma Karsten, Charlotte Buckingham, Hannah Buckingham	Woodvale's juniors at the presentation evening

The club also holds an annual singles competition for its junior players, this year held the week before Christmas.  The U11 girls had 8 entrants, with newcomer Naomi Jarvis winning the second group - a name to look out for in the future.  In the top group four very talented young players battled it out for top spot, with Charlotte Lam playing very accomplished singles to win the event.  Katie Dixon-Turner came runner-up with Emma Hall third.  Lizzie Tolman, aged 8, pushed the others and is not afraid to take the older players on.  In the U11 boys many boys were understandably put off by the presence of Max Noble and Robert Hansford, simply because these two are already talented players and very hard to get points off.  Max and Robert were the only two entrants with Max winning the best of five event 3-0.

In the U13 girls Lauren Eyes and Beth Wadsworth won the initial two groups: Lauren then beat group runner up Charlotte Lam to progress to the final, whilst Beth lost a close game with Katie Dixon-Turner (though Beth did play the latter stages after going over on her ankle).  In the final Katie reversed her group game with Lauren, playing some very good badminton to win 15-10 and take the trophy.  The boys saw another large entry with 9 players starting in two groups.  The standard was very high, reflected by those missing semi-final places, including Alex Lam and Max Noble.  Matthew Tolman and Andrew Cardus played well beating Michael Bebby and Ciaran Henders in the semi-finals, before Matty got the better of Andrew in the final, winning 21-14.

The U16s, with an entry of 6 boys and 5 girls, was played in one boys and one girls group.  Heather Poole battled all the way and was so unlucky to lose two of her matches 17-19 and 14-16: despite not recording a win, she has lots of ability and will improve a lot if she keeps playing.  Charlotte Buckingham has improved this season, coming 4th, and Rebecca Mayers came 3rd, though Rebecca only missed out on being runner-up as a result of a 15-17 loss to Hannah Buckingham.  Hannah went into the final game of the evening against Emma Karsten with both players unbeaten, and it was Emma who surprised Hannah and a few others with the level of her improvement as she won the game 15-7 and with it the trophy.  Emma is starting to look very stylish on court, moving her feet well and using the four corners of the court with some accuracy.

In the boys Chris Bennett didn't quite record a win, but has the ability to be a good player with a little more court time.  Matthew Tomkins has improved in recent months and has the determination to go further, giving 3rd placed Joe Dodd a very good game.  Andrew Cardus (4th on the night) had mixed fortunes, though he did only lose 15-17 to the runner-up, Sam Clucas.  Well played to Joe Dodd, who admits that singles is not his chosen discipline, but his never-say-die attitude will always give him a chance in matches.  So to the final match of the event, which saw the two unbeaten players, Sam Clucas and Matty Tolman, on court together.  The early stages were close, but Matty, showing excellent technique, wore Sam down taking the game and the trophy.

Woodvale's U16 Singles Tournament entrants Back: Heather Poole, Hannah Buckingham, Joe Dodd, Charlotte Buckingham, Sam Clucas, Andrew Cardus Front: Matthew Tomkins, Chris Bennett, Rebecca Mayers, Emma Karsten, Matthew Tolman

Well played to all the entrants - it is great experience to enter your local tournaments - and congratulations to the winners.

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Junior Winners 2006-2007
1st May 2007

All the junior winners received their trophies at the annual dance on Saturday 28th April at the Royal Clifton Hotel - to see photos from the evening click here .

Team Tournament Winners

U/16        T.R Highton Cup  Winners:      Woodvale
                                      Runners-up: Southport
U/14        Wesley Cup        Winners:      Southport
                                      Runners-up: Woodvale
U/12        West End Cup     Winners:      Woodvale
                                      Runners-up: Churchtown

Woodvale's U12 West End Cup Winning Team Lauren Eyes, Katie Dixon-Turner, Andrew Cardus, Michael Bebby

League Winners

U/16        Derek Alderson Trophy         Winners:      Woodvale 1
              (Division 1)                         Runners-up: Southport 1
              Victoria Cup                        Winners:      West End Park 2
              (Division 2)                         Runners-up: Woodvale 2
U/14        SADBL Junior League Trophy  Winners:      Woodvale 1
                                                      Runners-up: Crosby
U/12        Southbank Road Trophy        Winners:      Woodvale 1
                                                      Runners-up: Southsands

Individual Trophy Winners

U/16 - OPEN

Girls Singles      Winner:       Lizzie Balmforth - Southport
                      Runner-up:  Steph Hall - Woodvale
Boys Singles     Winner:       Michael Johnston - Woodvale
                      Runner-up:  Danny Hart - Southsands
Girls Doubles     Winners:      Emily Miller - Woodvale
                                       Steph Hall - Woodvale
                      Runners-up: Lizzie Balmforth - Southport
                                       Emma Mosscrop - Southport
Boys Doubles    Winners:      Danny Hart - Southsands
                                       Aaron McNulty - Southsands
                      Runners-up: John-Gareth Phillips - Southport
                                       James Abdous - Southport
Mixed Doubles   Winners:      Michael Johnston - Woodvale
                                       Emily Miller - Woodvale
                      Runners-up: John-Gareth Phillips - Southport
                                       Steph Hall - Woodvale

U/13 - OPEN

Girls Singles     Winner:       Hannah Buckingham - Woodvale
                     Runner-up:  Rebecca Mayers - Woodvale
Boys Singles    Winner:       Matthew Tolman - Woodvale
                    Runner-up:   Lloyd Dean - Churchtown
Girls Doubles    Winners:      Hannah Buckingham - Woodvale
                                      Rachel Choong - Crosby
                     Runners-up: Rebecca Mayers - Woodvale
                                      Katie Londesborough - Woodvale
Boys Doubles   Winners:      Andrew Cardus - Woodvale
                                      Matthew Tolman - Woodvale
                     Runners-up: Lloyd Dean - Churchtown
                                      Matthew Tomkins - Woodvale
Mixed Doubles  Winners:      Matthew Tolman - Woodvale
                                      Rebecca Mayers - Woodvale
                     Runners-up: Lloyd Dean - Churchtown
                                      Elizabeth Jolly - Churchtown

U/16 - RESTRICTED

Girls Singles     Winner:       Naomi Baldwin - West End Park
                     Runner-up:  Emma Mosscrop - Southport
Boys Singles    Winner:       Simon Tomlinson - West End Park
                     Runner-up:  Danny Hirst - West End Park
Girls Doubles    Winners:      Jessica Moore - Southsands
                                      Naomi Baldwin - West End Park
                     Runners-up: Rachel Fenelon - Churchtown
                                      Jenny Girdler - Churchtown
Boys Doubles   Winners:      Simon Tomlinson - West End Park
                                      Danny Hart - Southsands
                     Runners-up: Robert Courtley - West End Park
                                      Danny Hirst - West End Park
Mixed Doubles  Winners:      Danny Hirst - West End Park
                                      Naomi Baldwin - West End Park
                     Runners-up: Danny Hart - Southsands
                                      Sarah Guppy - Southsands

U/14 - RESTRICTED         

Girls Singles     Winner:       Rebecca Mayers - Woodvale
                     Runner-up:  Rona Foot - Churchtown
Boys Singles    Winner:       Lloyd Dean - Churchtown
                     Runner-up:  Paul Ray - Crosby
Girls Doubles    Winners:      Rona Foot - Churchtown
                                      Jenny Girdler - Churchtown
                     Runners-up: Emma Rawsthorne - Crosby
                                      Jessica Moore - Southsands
Boys Doubles   Winners:      Lloyd Dean - Churchtown
                                      Matthew Tomkins - Woodvale
                     Runners-up: Paul Ray - Crosby
                                      Andrew Collins - Crosby
Mixed Doubles  Winners:      Lloyd Dean - Churchtown
                                      Rona Foot - Churchtown
                     Runners-up: Andrew Collins - Crosby
                                      Rebecca Mayers - Woodvale

U/12 - RESTRICTED

Girls Singles       Winner:      Rachael Mosscrop - Southport
                       Runner-up: Charlotte Lam - Woodvale
Boys Singles      Winner:      Michael Bebby - Woodvale
                       Runner-up: Andrew Williams - Southsands
Girls Doubles      Winners:     Katie Dixon Turner - Woodvale
                                       Lauren Eyes - Woodvale
                       Runners-up:Rachael Mosscrop - Southport
                                       Jade Spencer - Southport
Boys Doubles     Winners:     Michael Bebby - Woodvale
                                       Alex Lam - Woodvale
                       Runners-up:Andrew Williams - Southsands
                                       George Holdsworth - Southsands
Mixed Doubles    Winners:     Andrew Williams - Southsands
                                       Sarah James - Southsands
                       Runners-up:Michael Bebby - Woodvale
                                       Katie Dixon Turner - Woodvale

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