Conwy County badminton team is in the first
division of the Welsh national county championships.
I took over as team captain last year, and
tried to introduce a more sustainable team, by introducing the
top junior players when appropriate. This was to try to
create a feeling of achievement when selected for the county, and
to give the other young players something to aim for.
The squad of players for this season is as
follows:
Neil Cottrill (GOBC)
Nik Cottrill (GOBC)
Anthony Mason (GOBC)
Karen Roberts (GOBC)
Steve Danzi (GOBC)
Rhian Jones (GOBC)
Carl Crossfield (GOBC)
Nicky Ridgers (GOBC)
Nic Strange (GOBC)
Christine Allen (Vardre)
Gert Kunka (GOBC)
Meryl Goulding (Llanfairfechan)
Andy Goulding (Llanfaifechan)
Janet Jones (Llanfairfechan)
The vast majority of the county squad is
made up of GOBC players, who have all been selected on merit and
in the case of the juniors, their potential.
Anthony Mason made his senior ICC debut last
season, playing 2nd singles in all the matches. He coped
with the situation extremely well and has competed in all
disciplines in the first match of this season.
This season should see the debut of another
promising junior from the National High Performance Centre, Nic
Strange. It is hoped that this experience, gained now, will
stand these young players in good stead for the future.
The season should also see the return to
senior ICC competition of Carl Crossfield, who has shown an
impressive start to the season in club games.
Another new addition to the club and county
set up, is Nicky Ridgers. Nicky is a Sports Psychologist
and badminton coach, who is working with the National High
Performance Centre players. She hails from the Wirral and
was captain of the Bangor University Badminton club.
Unfortunately, we have lost the services of
our Estonian "import", Gert Kunka, as he is continuing
his studies and badminton training at Birmingham University. We
are hopeful that he may be available for some of the county
fixtures, but with all the events Gert plays in the UK and around
Europe, his free time is at a premium.
The first senior ICC fixtures of the season
were played at Plas Coch leisure centre, Wrexham on Sunday
October 13th.
Conwy were up against the two newly promoted
teams in Carmarthen and North East Wales. The team
consisted of: (GOBC unless stated) Neil Cottrill, Anthony Mason,
Steve Danzi, Andy Goulding (Llanfairfechan), Nik Cottrill, Karen
Roberts, Christine Allen (Vardre) and Meryl Goulding (Llanfairfechan)
The first match was against Carmarthen,
resulting in a convincing 12-0 victory. The second game
against North East Wales was a little more competitive, with a 9-3
winning margin. The only defeats being Anthony losing a
tight, competitive 2nd men's singles, Anthony and Meryl losing a
hard fought 4th mixed and Meryl and Christine at 2nd ladies
doubles
Steve Danzi was his usual combative self in
his mens and mixed doubles, dominating his potentially tricky
opposition, partnered by Llanfaifechan's Andy Goulding. In
the ladies events, the GOBC girls were a class above their North
East rivals, with our star singles players, Karen Roberts and Nik
Cottrill again remaining unbeatable, likewise when they teamed up
for the first ladies doubles.
In the other men's events, I won 1st singles
fairly comfortably, as with the 1st men's doubles, partnered by
Anthony Mason.
The next games are at Cwmbran stadium on
Sunday 10th November and will see the return of GOBC's Carl
Crossfield to the senior county team, for the return fixture
against North East Wales and a difficult tie against the early
league leaders, Gwent.