Top-Drawer Teamwork on Display at Inspiration Trust Badminton Tournament

UEA Sportspark hosted over 150 Inspiration Trust Secondary students for our annual Badminton tournament on Friday 23rd May. Students in year 7-10 had the opportunity to compete in doubles badminton matches, meaning teamwork was the key to success! Students played in a round-robin style tournament, with each team playing a match against all 8 other schools. This resulted in a total of 288 fast-paced matches across the day. 

Doubles pairs from each school immediately showed great chemistry on the court, working together to produce fantastic badminton matches. Matches were first team to 11 points, and teams could score 3 points for a win, 2 points for a tie-break loss or 1 point for scoring 5+ points, so players always had something to play for regardless of the strength of their opponent. Multiple tournaments came down to the wire, so every point was valuable, and teams always fought to the end! 

Every student gave the tournament their all, and each school should be extremely proud of effort, teamwork and sportsmanship on display. Students competed with intensity but were gracious in victory and defeat. Players were often fast to congratulate opponents on amazing shots and fierce rallies within their matches regardless of if they won or lost the point. This competitive spirit and maturity is a credit to our amazing PE staff around the trust for distilling these values into their students. 

The event was supported by student leaders from Sir Isaac Newton and Cromer Academy, who stepped up when called upon and helped organise fixtures, officiate matches, collect scores and calculate results. With so many fixtures to play and scores to collect, the organisational skills of these students were put to the test, but they flourished under the pressure to keep the tournament running smoothly. 

Inspiration Trust Sports Coordinator, Paul Wayman said:  

“This year’s Trust badminton tournament was a sight to behold, with students from across our Secondary Schools coming together to put on an incredible tournament. Students embraced our sporting value of integrity throughout the day, helping officials keep games running smoothly by admitting when shots were in/out and competing to the very end of every game. 

 

A massive shout-out goes to our volunteer student leaders from Sir Isaac Newton and Cromer Academy, who really stepped up and made this amazing tournament possible. They helped officiate all 288 matches, collect scores, organise student movement to games and identify players of the tournament. It was great to have numerous students return as leaders who have previously competed in this tournament in the past, and even a few past players of the tournament winners! Thanks also goes to our Trust PE staff, who organised their schools, made sure players knew where their matches were and handled any first aid during the day.” 

The results of the tournament were as follows: 

Year 7 Boys:

Year 7 Girls:

Year 8 Boys:

Year 8 Girls:

Year 9 Boys:

Year 9 Girls:

Year 10 Boys:

Year 10 Girls:

Player of the tournament awards went to: 

We now look ahead to the conclusion of the 2024/25 Inspiration Trust Secondary Sport Tournaments with Champions Day on Friday 27th June, which will be a special day as always!