Port Royal Primary held off Francis Patton and Harrington Sound Primary schools to win the Bermuda Badminton Association (BBA) Spring Term Phase One after school programme badminton tournament

Easter week was a busy one for youth badminton in Bermuda as the culmination of the Spring Term Phase One after school programme finished with the competition on April 1.

The programme, which is sponsored by the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Recreation and supported by the BBA, aims to teach the basic skills of badminton to young primary school pupils.

It was contested by a record number (seven) of primary schools and clubs that managed to field nine teams between them including Northlands A and B, West Pembroke A and B, Harrington Sound, Victor Scott, Francis Patton, Port Royal and The Centre.

The competition was comprised of five badminton skills tests and was hotly contested by the teams.

The first test was shuttle control, followed by doubles control, then a test of power followed by an accuracy test and finished off with the team pursuit.

Promising individuals at the event were Brianna Simmons from Harrington Hundreds, who won the girls control, and Najee Lambert (Port Royal) and Malachi Trott (Francis Patton), who tied for the boys control.

Also amongst the winners was Tre McCallum from Francis Patton who won a trophy and prize for the accuracy test.

The overall team event was finally won by Port Royal with a grand total of 950 points, closely followed by Francis Patton in second place with Harrington Sound not far behind in third.

The most promising young players from the programme will be invited to try out for the Phase Two programme, an initiative that takes promising eight to 16-year-olds from the Phase One programme and gives the future badminton stars of Bermuda a chance to be coached by BBA coaches to hone their talents and skills.

Phase Two players finished their Spring coaching this week, demonstrating their skills to an Open House of parents and friends, with the parents invited to play against their young badminton protégées afterwards, with the youngsters getting the upper hand.