St Clements Badminton Club was well-represented at a really enjoyable end-of-season presentation evening organised by the Oxfordshire Badminton League. Led by club secretary David Newman, we enjoyed food, drinks and a high-octane evening of ceilidh dancing and even survived the ‘sausage machine’ (don’t ask!).

We were also able to reflect on a successful season for our Mens A team who finished top of Division 4 in a closely fought campaign (see final table below).

The team was expertly led by captain Paul Johnson. Other squad members were David Newman and Stephen Hurt (pictured below collecting the trophy), Tom Patissier, Nick Abitabile, Dan Floris, Tony Zhou, Martin Mullender and Jonathan Treadgold.

David Newman gets his hands on the silverware.

Champions 2018/19

The 2018-19 Oxfordshire League season also saw our Ladies A finish a solid 4th in Division 3. Meanwhile our 3D team will be looking to bounce back after being relegated from a highly competitive season in Division 2.

We are always looking for new players to further strengthen these 3 teams for the forthcoming 2019-20 season. Our summer club starts on Wednesday 5 June and is open to visitors. Details of all the dates and locations can be found here.

November saw the re-scheduled Women’s Singles held over from the summer. A round-robin format between the four players resulted in a win for Alexandra Park. The battle for second place was hard fought with Xiaofei Gao edging out Rosanna Walton 21-19.

Full results were as follows: Alex 21-7 Xiaofei, Alex 21-5 Amelia White, Alex 21-12 Rosanna, Xiaofei 21-19 Rosanna, Xiaofei 21-6 Amelia and Rosanna 21-12 Amelia.

It is with regret that we had to wish Alex ‘bon voyage’ as she starts a new life up in Edinburgh. Everyone at St Clements wishes you well!

On 7 July, in temperatures touching 30 degrees, St Clements newly formed 6-a-side football team took part in a charity tournament organised by New Marston Primary School. Matches were played at Marsh Lane, home of Oxford City FC, and despite the hot weather a great time was had by all.

Missing from photo Paul Fisk!

With two of the teams who had entered thinking better of playing football on such a hot morning, there were 6 teams in total. St Clements were drawn against Mansfield Road and Brazil (?) in their group. The first match saw us up against a proper football team who seemed to know what they were doing and unsurprisingly a 5-1 defeat ensued. This was followed by an entertaining 2-2 draw against Brazil. With only one point from two games things looked bleak but with Mansfield Road putting 7 past Brazil we qualified for the semi-final on goal difference.

This saw us face Old Man Athletic, who had proper matching kit and had topped their group with two wins. However, by this point we were starting to find our feet and with Martin Mullender leading the line in a style reminiscent of Lukaku for Belgium, we held our own for a very creditable 1-1 draw. This meant penalties and suddenly we had to have the awkward group huddle to decide who was going to take one. Unlike England under Gareth Southgate we had not even contemplated such a scenario. Arms were twisted and Steve Hurt and Martin both slotted home from the spot, as did the opposition. So, 2-2 with one spot kick left each. Step up Nick Abitabile, who pulled off a save to give our French midfield dynamo, Tom Patissier, a chance to secure a place in the final. Tom showed no fear (does he ever?!) and calmy placed the ball in the corner.

This meant we were in the final despite having not won a single game in normal time. That was the good news. The bad news was that we were due a re-match against Mansfield Road and despite battling bravely we eventually fell to a 6-0 defeat.

Thanks to everyone who took part, especially Martin for roping in our team ringer!

Before we broke for our two month summer break there was time for the annual summer singles tournament on a hot night in late June. The Ladies competition, due to player unavailability, will be organised at the start of the new season in September.

A straight knock-out system saw all four seeded players (based on the 2017 tournament) make it through to the semi-finals. Jonathan Treadgold did push Paul Johnson all the way, losing 21-18 and Steve Hurt took 17 points off Nick Abitabile. 2017 winner Tom Patissier met David Newman in the semi-final and won through in a hard fought contest 21-14. A re-match of the 2017 final was on the cards but Paul went one better than last season, winning 21-16 again Nick.

First-round losers played the Plate competition, which was won by Steve. David and Nick then played out an epic 3rd place match, with the latter winning in 3 games (21-15, 16-21, 21-8). The final saw Tom retain his title in an intense battle against Paul. In a tight first game, Tom edged ahead winning 21-18 and this turned out to be vital with the second game a much more comfortable 21-6.

Thanks to everyone who took part. Watch out Ladies, it is your turn in September!

From left to right: Paul Johnson (runner-up), Tom Patissier (winner), Nick Abitabile (3rd place)

Please note due to the unavailability of the sports hall we will not be resuming club nights until Wednesday 24th January 2018.

During May and June many of our summer club members battled it out again in our annual singles competition.

With a number of newcomers this year we had eleven players in total who were randomly organised into two qualifying groups with the top two going through to the semi-finals.

Group A saw Tom Patissier and 2016 winner Nick Abitabile qualify for the semi-finals. In Group B David Newman came top with 4 wins out of 4 after his narrow 21-19 victory over Paul Johnson.

In the semi-finals, a titanic battle between Nick and David went to 3 games with Nick eventually coming out on top 21-19 in the final game. Tom overcame Paul in two games to set up a showdown with Nick. The final was preceded by the battle for 3rd place with Paul reversing the result of their group game by beating David 21-14, 21-18.

And so to the final. Could Nick retain his title against the ‘French wizard’ Tom in his first season at St Clements? A tense occasion eventually saw Tom come out victorious by two straight games (21-10, 21-17).

Thanks to everyone for taking part, especially our 3 ladies (you know who you are!). Roll on Summer 2018…

From left to right: Nick Abitabile, Tom Patissier, Paul Johnson

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…

St Clements will be moving from Cheney School to Matthew Arnold School, Arnold’s Way, Oxford, OX2 9JE for the forthcoming 2016-17 season.

We are always looking for new members and new players are welcome to come along as visitors to try us out. Our first club night of the new season will be on Wednesday 7th September 2016 from 7.30pm-9.30pm.

During our very popular summer club in May and June this year we held our annual summer singles tournament open to all summer club members.

The ten players were organised into two qualifying groups with the top two going through to the semi-finals.

Group A saw Nick go through as top of the group after 4 wins out of 4. Dan went through in second place after a vital 21-16 win over Alexandra. In Group B, Steve secured a narrow 22-20 over David in his first game before going through as undefeated group winner. The battle for second came down to a tight game between David and Jonathan, which was unfortunately marred by a nasty ankle injury to Jonathan. David eventually winning 21-16.

In the semi-finals Steve ran out a 21-12 winner over Dan and Nick secured a place in the final for the third time after a tight 21-18 win over David. David then secured a deserved third place with a 21-13 win over Dan.

The final was played as a best of 3 games. It was a very closely fought contest throughout. Eventually youth was victorious over experience(!) with Nick winning his first summer singles final, beating Steve 21-18, 22-20.

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Many thanks to everyone who took part.

We are running 4 teams in the Oxfordshire Badminton League this season. New players who are interested in playing competitive badminton are always welcome. Matches start in October so just come along to our club nights during September. There are lots of opportunities to get involved.

In particular, we would welcome new players for our Ladies Doubles team. After remaining unbeaten throughout 2014-15 they are now in Division 2 and would welcome new players to add to their squad.

We will be holding our AGM on Wednesday 16th September at Cheney School at 845pm. Club night will run as normal but we will have to pack up a little early.

The Oxfordshire Badminton League recently published the league structures for the forthcoming 2015-16 season. St Clements Ladies Doubles team enjoyed an unbeaten season during 2014-15 in Division 3, securing 9 wins and a draw in their 10 fixtures. They have been rewarded with promotion to Division 2.

Our Mens Doubles team remain in Division 3 of their competition, the Mixed Doubles stay in Division 4, whilst our 3D team drop down to Division 3.

During our popular Summer Club we again held a fun singles tournament open to any summer club members. Entrants were organised into two qualifying groups with the top two players in each going through to the semi-finals.

Summer Singles winner David Doan (right) with runner-up Nick Abitabile (left)

Group A saw David Doan and Jonathan Treadgold qualify, whilst Group B was won by Nick Abitabile with Matt Bramall finishing second. The semi-finals saw David beat Matt 21-10 and then Nick won a hard fought encounter against Jonathan 21-16.

The final was best of 3 games and despite putting up a brave fight in the second game, Nick was no match for the youthful David who came through 21-7, 21-17.

Thanks to everyone who took part.