The under 14-age group was played in Wick Academy Games Hall. There was a massive entry in the Under 14 age group with 60 boys competing and 40 girls. Shetland had 3 boys & 3 girls entered in this age group.
The tournament started off with the boy’s doubles.
Shetland had one pairing of Stuart Sineath & Roy Wood. The other Shetland boy was Robert Smith, who had an open entry and was paired with a boy from Culloden. Robert & Ross won there games comfortably against opposition from Caithness and Fortrose. In the ¼ finals they met two giants of boys from wick. Robert was right up for this game and scrambled everything back. Roberts inexperienced partner served well and then let Robert get on with it. They won 15 –14 after some superb rallies.
Roy & Stuart had progressed thru with good decisive wins against opposition from Badenoch & Forres. The pair from Forres very strong and it was a fast and furious game. Roy & Stuart kept up the pressure and won 15-9
This meant they now faced Robert & Ross in the semi finals. Roy & Stuart won this comfortably by keeping the Shuttle away from Robert and maintaining there attacking play.
In the final they faced Jamie Henderson & Peter Sangster. These two are the son’s of current Caithness Senior County players (James (Birdie) Henderson) & Casey Sangster. The Caithness pair are both very good players, but could not contain the constant attacking Badminton that Roy & Stuart threw at them.
The Shetland duo won very comfortably, 15 –3 to take the title.
In the girls Doubles Shetland had a pairing of Mairi Coutts and Kelly Smith, both from Yell. The other girl Megan Burns from Unst was partnered up with Molly Mackay from Culloden.
Mairi & Kelly progressed through their opening matches very comfortably not dropping a point in their first 2 matches. In the semi-finals they had a very hard battle against a Thurso pair. In the other half of the draw Megan and Molly proved to be a strong partnership winning their first two games comfortably 15-1, 15-1 against opposition from Wick and Forres. In the semi finals they met another couple from Forres. Although not saying much to each other they both played good attacking badminton and eventually won 15 –11.
This put 3 of the 4 girls in the final from Shetland. Megan & partner started strongly and raced of to a 10 –0 lead before the Yell pair settled. They began their fight back and clawed the score beck to 13-13 all. Serving at 13 all they had a couple of good opportunities the reach 14, but they didn’t take them and Molly & Megan pressed there attack and won service back and then took the match15-13.
The boy’s singles began after this with 56 games to be played to reach the final there was a lot of shuttles to be struck. The three Shetland boys progressed through the early rounds comfortably without losing to many points and no one reaching double figures. Roy had a reasonably hard game in the ¼ finals against a boy from Badenoch but came through that with some good singles play, his jump smash coming into good effect. In the semis Roy met Jamie Henderson from Caithness who Roy beat comfortably after some exciting rallies 15-5. In the other Semi final Stuart & Robert had to face each other. This was a tremendous game with both players playing very
aggressive singles with both players scrambling on the floor to retrieve the Shuttle.
Robert eventually won 15-13 to put him into the final against Roy.
The final proved even better with Robert's superior power against Roy’s varying shots.
This match was point for point all the way to 12 all. Serve went back and fore many times with some brilliant play from both players before. Robert tried to pin Roy to the back of the court but Roy’s accuracy and equal determination came through. After some excellent rallies Roy eventually won 15-12 to take the title.
In the girls singles there was another huge entry with 40 girls. Mairi & Kelly were both in the bottom half of the draw. Both progressed through there early round to the ¼ final stages comfortably. Mairi then faced an Inverness girl, who she fought hard but her opponent’s superior power proved too much and she lost 15-11.
In the other ¼ final, Kelly won easily 15 – 6. Kelly then had to face the girl who had just beaten Mairi. Kelly battled hard but was tiring & was comfortably beaten in the end.
In the top half of the draw Megan again progressed comfortably to the ¼ finals where she faced a girl from Forres. This was a very hard game with Megan fighting hard all along. Unfortunately the Forres girl just pipped Megan 15-13.
The mixed doubles had another massive entry which a total of 36 games having to be played to reach the final.
Stuart & Mairi progressed through their first round easily but had a hard 2nd round. They played well to win this, and then followed this performance to comfortably win their ¼ final.
Also in their half of the draw Roy and Kelly progressed comfortably through their early round to reach the Semis. This meant another all Shetland semi. It was and excellent game with all the players playing well but Roy’s accuracy making the difference between the pairs. Roy & Kelly won 15-11 to put them in the final.
In the bottom half of the draw Robert & Megan were playing well & progressed through there early rounds with ease. In the ¼ finals they had a real tussle with the number 2 seeded. With some great scrambling play from Robert it looked as if they might win, but unfortunately they were just beaten 15 –13.
The home pairing of Jamie Henderson & Lauren Gunn won through against the pair who beat Robert and Megan.
The final was and absolute cracker. The standard of play was excellent for the young age of the players in what is a very tactical game. It went point for point throughout the early part of the game. As the game progressed it became clear to all watching the Kelly was exhausted and struggling to move. With Roy tearing about behind her picking up everything it was very exciting stuff. Jamie from Caithness was equally as determined and was trying to play to the net as much as possible and was playing some lovely accurate shots.
The Shetland pair reached 14 –13 only to have the serve broken back and Jamie and partner to reach 14 all with two serves. With no setting allowed the Shetland pair fought and got service back. More hard rallies ensued with the Caithness pair scrambling everything and a missed chance from Shetland, the Caithness pair got service back again, only to have it broken again, Jamie and Laura broke the serve back again and finally got the point to deny Roy & Kelly the title and Roy the chance of the Treble.
The tournament was a great success and praise must be given to the Caithness Badminton Association for their excellent organisation of the tournament. All the Shetland players played exceptionally well and should all be proud of their performances.
