We entered four teams into the Oxfordshire Badminton League for the 2016-17 season. An enjoyable season for all 4 teams concluded with promotion for our 3D team led by Alexandra Park. In the words of Alex:

One word to sum up the 3D 16/17 season: Awesome. After a difficult 15/16 season that saw the team relegated, we fielded a new line up this year. We came out fighting and quickly got a couple of good wins under our belt. There were a few closely fought games in the middle that could have gone either way, but (buoyed by some super-subs) the team quickly gelled and we had a good strong finish to end the season top of the table. Along the way there were many jokes and laughs, which made my job as captain much more enjoyable. League Champions and a well-earned promotion. Awesome effort guys, I hope the rousing chorus of Queen and celebratory champagne truffles made it all worthwhile.

Meanwhile, our Mixed team finished 4th in Division 4. A couple of forfeits due to unavailability cost Nick Abitabile’s team a push for promotion but our Mixed skipper is confident that:

A little strengthening of the team in the summer should see us pushing for promotion next season.

Our Ladies Doubles team, led by Frances Down, had to adapt to life in Division 3 after being relegated in 2015/16. This they did with some aplomb, finishing 4th with 6 wins, 4 draws and only 4 losses from their stamina-sapping 14 match campaign.

Finally, our Mens Doubles team, led by David Newman, were boosted by new recruits Joe Zeng and Tom Patissier, and finished a very creditable 3rd in Division 4. This included an opening match win, 6-3 away to Abingdon C, who then went on to win all 11 of their remaining fixtures.

We now look forward to the 2017/18 season…