Posted: 19/03/08

SMP Partners Limited Handicap Tournament

The last senior tournament of the season took place at the NSC with play commencing with the Mens Doubles on Saturday night. Mens Doubles A was played in two groups with Chris Gregory & Peter Hadfield of Darnills Abbey winning group 1 with 123 points just one point ahead of Steve Allen & Dominic Hobdell of Vikings. The winners of group 2 were Sean Doyle & Neil Harding of Marlow Marown who again were just one point ahead of Jannik Jonsson & Duncan Mackay of Absolute Scaffolding Fencibles. In the final Gregory & Hadfield +4 defeated Doyle & Harding -4 21/20 21/10. Mens Doubles B was played in 1 group of 5 couples with Rheuben Thomas & Jason Chatwood +4 of Marlow Marown finishing with 167 points – 3 ahead of George Li of Sulby and Matthew Nicholson of Vikings +8.

The Womens Doubles started off play on Sunday and had only 1 section with two groups. Group 1 was won by Roberta Cannell & Georgina Li (+ 10) of Absolute Scaffolding Fencibles who finished on 120 points and went through to the final where they met the winners of group 2 Leanne Brew & Sarah Gardner of Nationwide Michael playing off +4 who completed their group with 167 points. In the final Brew & Gardner came out on top winning by 42 points to 34.

Mixed Doubles A section consisted of 2 groups of 5 couples. Group 1 was won by Simon Clarke of Sulby Glen Sulby & Sarah Corlett of Absolute Scaffolding Fencibles (+6) who finished with 164 points and met in the final the group 2 winners Jannik Jonsson of Absolute Scaffolding Fencibles & Cara Kerwin of St Ninians (-15). Jonsson & Kerwin came out winners 21/18 21/14. B section had 5 couples in group 1 and 4 in group 2. Group 1 was won by Baillie Watterson & Laura Beggs of PDMS Castletown +2 with 163 points while group 2 saw Matthew Cannell & Roberta Cannell of Absolute Scaffolding Fencibles +4 coming out on top with 117 points. The final was a very close affair with Watterson & Beggs coming out winners 21/17 21/20 making it a win in this section two years in a row for Baillie Watterson.

Section C had 1 group of 5 couples and after some very close games in these matches we finished up with two couples on the same number of points (159) however as the father and daughter combination of Mike Gardner & Sarah Gardner +7 of Nationwide Michael had come out winners over the other couple Paul Flanders & Marghaid Howie +2 of Absolute Scaffolding Fencibles in the group match 35 points to 33 they were the winners of this section.

At the conclusion of play, the awards were presented to the winners & runners-up by Rachel Chapman of SMP Partners Ltd. My sincere thanks to the efforts of our umpires and workers for their hard work on the two days – we would not be able to get through all the competitions without their dedicated support.

Congratulations to our only “double” winner Sarah Gardner and how nice it was to see so many combinations of youth and experience playing together.

Womens Doubles :
Winners Leanne Brew & Sarah Gardner of Nationwide Michael
Runners-up Roberta Cannell & Georgina Li of Absolute Scaffolding Fencibles

Mens Doubles A Section:
Winners Chris Gregory & Peter Hadfield of Darnills Abbey
Runners-up Sean Doyle & Neil Harding of Marlow Marown

Mens Doubles B Section:
Winners Rheuben Thomas & Jason Chatwood of Marlow Marlow
Runners-up George Li of Sulby & Matthew Nicholson of Vikings

Mixed Doubles A Section:
Winners Janik Jonsson of Absolute Scaffolding Fencibles & Cara Kerwin of St.Ninians

Runners-up Simon Clarke of Sulby Glen Sulby & Sarah Corlett of Absolute Scaffolding Fencibles

Mixed Doubles B Section:
Winners Baillie Watterson & Laura Beggs of PDM Castletown
Runners-up Matthew Cannell & Roberta Cannell of Absolute Scaffolding Fencibles

Mixed Doubles C Section:
Winners Mike & Sarah Gardner of Nationwide Michael
Runners-up Paul Flanders & Marghaid Howie of Absolute Scaffolding Fencibles

Pat Anderson

Posted 15/01/08

Fencibles achieve Club Mark

Fencibles recently became the first Island badminton club to achieve Club Mark Status.
Club Mark is a high quality stamp for any sports club, indicating it is safe, fair, implements
good coaching and management. Badminton’s own version of this is Club Future, where
clubs can achieve Foundation or Premier Club status. The Badminton England Development
Officer for the North West of England, Vicky Foster-Lloyd visited the Island to present Fencibles
with their 2 certificates; one from Sport England for achieving Club Mark status, and the other
from Badminton England for becoming a Premier Club.

In order to achieve this Fencibles had to show they operated to high standard in 4 areas;
Playing Programme, Duty of Care and child protection, Sports Equity and ethics and a sound
Club Management. Vicky commented that the portfolio submitted to Badminton England was
of an extremely high standard and required no further action at all for the club to achieve
Premier status. Assistance had been given to the club by Dominic Hobdell, Development
Officer on the Isle of Man for Badminton. At the presentation Dominic said; “This is a fantastic
achievement by Fencibles. As parents are now being told to specifically look for sports clubs
with the Club Mark logo, Fencibles are leading the way as far as badminton is concerned.
Thanks should also go to Heritage Homes and Sports Council for their continued support in
my role, which results in great steps forward such as this. I hope this inspires other clubs into
realising it is important to provide a high quality service to its members, especially in terms
of child protection and safety for their juniors.”

After achieving Premier status, Fencibles can now benefit from some special offers, available
only to accredited badminton clubs! These include some free shuttles, free places on coach
education workshops to ensure they remain a Premier club, reduced CRB checks and a £15
voucher for the Badminton England’s online shop!

The club meets on Saturday afternoons at St Ninians High School Sports Hall from 1pm to 4pm
and also on Thursday evenings at Ballakermeen Sports Hall from 7pm to 10pm and further
details can be obtained from the Secretary, Roberta Cannell on 432041. The junior club has
players aged 5 to 15 yrs and the senior club has all standards from Beginner to county players.

The club wishes to thank all the coaches, parents, children, players and our 2 sponsors,
Absolute Scaffolding Ltd and Newsons on the Quay, without whom they would not have been
able to achieve this status.

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Isle of Man V Derbyshire 2 at Ribby Hall, Saturday 8th December, 2007.

Splendid performance all round from the Manx team which comprised Matthew Wilkinson, Neil Harding,

Jonny Callow, Chris Cannell, Nick Ardern, Cara Kerwin, Cristen Callow, Nicola Wilkinson and Kim Clague.

The Island got off to a confident start in this, their first match of the season, winning all the singles

– Chris had a difficult second rubber, finally winning 26-24. Matthew, Cristen and Kim won all their

matches, barely allowing their opposition to get into double figures.

Matt and Neil played well in their doubles, winning relatively easily 21-15, 21-12 against the number 1

pairing and 21-13 in both rubbers against Derbyshire’s number 2.

Jonny and Nick played well in their opening game, losing in three in their second game where

they were outplayed by a very good partnership.

Cara and Kim had to work hard in their game against Derbyshire’s number 1 ladies pair losing

their opening rubber but coming back and winning both the following rubbers 21-17.

Nicola and Cristen almost won both of their opening rubbers against both Derbyshire’s number 1 and 2

ladies pair but just lost out 20-22 and 19-21.

In the mixed, Neil and Cara, Chris and Nicola won their games to ensure the Island went home with

all 3 points. An excellent start for the newly promoted team in their new division (3).

Thanks to the team’s sponsors TOTAL – and to Euromanx Airlines and Holiday Rentacar for their

help in travel arrangements to and from Blackpool.

BEST EVER GAMES FOR BADMINTON

As Badminton was excluded from the Rhodes Games this summer the Islands decided
to have their own Games in Greenland this October 2007. An expensive trip but a great
experience for all concerned. The Badminton Squad took 2 days to reach their destination
of Nuuk, the capital of Greenland and on the next day the Team Event commenced.


Six teams were in this event and the Isle of Man Team reached the play off position, after
being runners -up in their section behind the Faroes. So far all players had participated in
the Team Event including the two new youngsters, Christopher Cannell and Nick Ardern who
played very well in their first venture at an Island Games event.. The first two teams from
each section were then involved in a playoff and the Island had to play Greenland. A very
tough team who we just lost out to 3-2, with many matches and games being very close.
This meant we were now playing for the Bronze Medal position and it was against Gotland,
a very experienced team. Again Matthew Wilkinson won his Singles but then unfortunately
we lost the Ladies Singles and Men’s Doubles in very close and exciting matches. The Island
were now 2-1 down and it was essential we did not lose another match. The Ladies Doubles
was a walkover so all rested on the Mixed Doubles. We knew we were up against this pair,
who had only lost one match in the Team Event. Earnest discussions took place with Coach Peter
Short, on how to tackle this pair. Cara Kerwin and Neil Harding settled quickly to the game plan,
winning an exciting and nerve racking match to give the Isle of Man a 3-2 win to take Bronze
in the Team Event, behind Faroes the Silver Medalists and Greenland the Gold.

The next few days saw the Individual Events. The players were firstly in pools and the winner
from each pool went on to the play off rounds. This meant a very hard and intense period of
high level badminton, playing non stop for two days. Here the Isle of Man had great success.

Matthew Wilkinson lost to the eventual Mens Singles Champion in the last eight, and Christopher
Cannell also went out in the last eight. Ladies Singles fared better with both Kim Clague and
Cristen Callow gaining Bronze Medals. Jonathan Callow and Nick Ardern failed to come through
their group where they had extremely hard and difficult matches. However, Neil Harding and
Matthew Wilkinson had hard and testing matches against Gotland, Faroes and Greenland to
hold a Bronze medal position as did Cristen Callow and Nicola Wilkinson in the Ladies Doubles
for their Bronze Medal against Gibraltar, Faroes and Greenland. The last event of the tournament
was the Mixed Doubles. Three pairs got through to the last eight, Cristen Callow and Nick Ardern,
Matthew Wilkinson and Kim Clague and Cara Kerwin and Neil Harding. Unfortunately, only
Matthew Wilkinson and Kim Clague made it through the groups to the last four, beating a
Faroes pair and then met very the strong Greenland pair in the final but lost after a well fought
match, in three games. However a great effort to achieve the Silver Medal for the Mixed
Doubles Event.

This has been a fantastic Games for the Isle of Man Badminton Team and the best set of results
so far achieved at any Games, a Team Event Bronze Medal, plus 4 Individual Bronze Medals and
One Individual Silver Medal. The Team were focused throughout the week determined to gain medals.

Their performances were tremendous, with players producing excellent play throughout the tournament.
A great prospect for the next Games in Aland 2009. Finally a big thank you to the Sports Council,
Lottery Trust, Isle of Man Badminton Association and Players and all other organisations who
donated or raised money to make this trip possible and so successful.

The Team was;- Cara Kerwin, Kim Clague, Nicola Wilkinson, Cristen Callow, Matthew Wilkinson,
Neil Harding, Jonathan Callow, Christopher Cannell and Nick Ardern. Coach: Peter Short

Team Manager
Margaret Kelly

________________________________________________________________________________

Posted 24/09/07

Posted 24.09.07

County match fixtures as follows:

Isle of Man V Derbyshire 2: Ribby Hall on Saturday 8^th December, 2007 at 1pm

Staffordshire 2 V Isle of Man: Staffordshire on Saturday 12^th January, 2008

Derbyshire 2 V Isle of Man: Derbyshire on Sunday 13^th January, 2008

Durham 2 V Isle of Man: Durham on 9^th February 2008

Isle of Man V Durham 2: Durham on 10^th February, 2008

Isle of Man V Lancashire 3: Isle of Man NSC on 16^th February, 2008

Lancashire 3 V Isle of Man: Isle of Man NSC on 17^th February, 2008

Isle of Man V Staffordshire 2: Isle of Man NSC on Sunday 2nd March, 2008