On Thursday the first of February, 12 of the sixth class children travelled to Baldoyle to compete in a badminton competition against other schools. Abie, Kangyuan, Cionnaodh, Archie, Harrison & Evan were on the boy’s team while Eve, Amy, Grace, Laylarose, Maria & Moya were the members of the girl’s team.

We left at 8:30 on a bus and travelled to Baldoyle. When we arrived we saw lots of Badminton and numerous other schools from different counties there. It was difficult to get a court to rally on as there were a lot more people than there were courts. Mr Whitely managed to pull through so we were well warmed up and ready to compete.  

After several rallies the compiler announced that he would be starting games soon and he wanted us to take a photo with all the schools. After that it was game time! Then we found that all the games were up to 21. First to play was Archie and Cionnaodh. They were playing a school named St Brigids Cortown who were very good. It was an amazing game to watch and there were lots of great shots. 

Unfortunately, St Brigids Cortown won but it was about the points so we were still in with a shot of qualifying. Shortly after Grace and myself played an unbelievable school named Windgap NS. They hit loads of really strong smashes that were hard to get to. We lost but it was only our first match and we were just getting into it. Next to play was Abie and Conlon against the other team of St Brigids Cortown.

Although they lost that game, they had amazing rallies. Then Eve and Amy played against the other team of Windgap NS. Even though they didn't win, it was a very close game. Then it came back around to Cionnaodh and Archie. They played against St Pius Boys NS. Although they lost it was a cracking game. Next, Grace and I played against Mayo NS. We got off to a good start but they stole the win from us by giving us cheeky drop shots that were hard to get to.

Abie and Conlon then played against the other St Pius Boys NS team. They made loads of great shots and ended up bagging us a win. Eve and Amy played against the second Mayo NS team. It was a very close game but in the end, Mayo NS won. Archie and Cionnaodh played against St Joseph’s NS Halverstown and they won which was why we were all elated! It was myself and Grace's last match so we really wanted to win. We were playing a school named St Brigids. When we were warming up I had a good feeling about the game but I didn't want to get my hopes up. We ended up winning the match which made us very happy. Conlon and Abie played against two very strong opponents from Halverstown. Even though they did lose, they played great. For Eve and Amy's last game they played against the other team of St Brigids. They played amazing and no surprise they won. Harry and Evan then had a tight game vs a team from Kildare which they narrowly lost. Maria and Moya also had a very competitive game against the same school in which they narrowly lost but did the school proud in how they played. 

The girls only got three games because a team in our group dropped out but the boys still had one more game left. Although they lost at least we all still won a game. Unfortunately, none of us got through but we still had a great time and we had an amazing experience.

By Laylarose