Vale Badminton Club

The ladies kicked 2008 off in style with an emphatic 8-1 victory over Cardiff Nomads B.

With only one recognised pair it was a great result (the fact that opposition only had two pairs had no impact on the final result I’m sure)!!

With Jordan making her debut for the Ladies team - great things were expected.  She and super sub Helen C took all their games as did the newly formed pair of Sal and Suz.  Jayne and Kath having done their bit and taken their one game decided to have some sympathy for the opposition and let them win one game.

Well done girls - team seems to be doing well - competition for places for a change!

Thanks to Jordan and Helen C for standing in and double thanks to Jordan for bringing the average age down considerably in the process!!  :)

Grant Williams Cup match is on Sunday 3rd Feb.

Handicaps: Vale Mixed B -2, Reardon Smith +4

Vale C 8 David Lloyd Centre 1

Sixty lashes for Simon and Danny, dropping the one rubber in an otherwise emphatic - and quick victory, see how we think about other club members!

Many thanks to young master Rob who partnered Matt at short notice and bouquets for Sam and Jordan (the one with male bits) for three straight wins. All in all a good night.

SF

After a 9–0 defeat away at Llantwit Fadre, the return match at home last night was filled with dread. With Emma and Danny missing, our SUPER SUPER SUBS were drafted in again, and feeling a little better with our stars playing, our spirits were lifted.

However, this was to be almost as bad a night as at the away venue, with Vale losing 8–1. A surprise game won by Jack and Jayne was very welcome and for a time gave us some hope, however this was not to be. Although losing, all our pairings played brilliantly against a strong Llantwit Fadre side and some very close score lines were produced.

Thanks again to Rob and Helen for stepping in to help.

AlanD

Having beaten Heath 9-0 the week before an unchanged team with Sam and Jordan returning as 3rd pair travelled to the return fixture in confident mood.

Maybe a little too over confident as an improved Heath 1st pair took all 3 of their games.  Fortunately Vale managed to do rather better against the Heath’s 2nd and 3rd pairs to record a 5-4 win but a number of close games could have gone either way.

So banana skins avoided and only one home game before our return match to Llantwit Fadre which is shaping up as the decider for the league and promotion.

Handicaps for Grant Williams Cup: Vale Mixed B -2, Reardon Smith +4

Alison is trying to arrange this for Sunday 3rd Feb.

Hi Secretaries,

just a few dates for the diary (postal reminder and entry forms for the moderates tournament on their way):

1. CDBL Quiz - Saturday 26th January 7:15PM - Heath Hospital - FREE ENTRY!
2. Cup Finals - Sunday 6th April 1:00PM - Tal-Y-Bont Sports Centre
3. Moderates Tournament - Saturday 12th April 9:00AM - Sophia Gardens.
4. End of season Presentation Dance - Saturday 10th May 7:15PM - Heath Hospital.

We are aware that there a many matches yet to find dates! It would appear that all clubs this year have struggled somewhat to “fit in” all their matches. Could we all make every effort to get dates decided long before the end of the season.

Also, and I take full responsibility for omitting this fact from the score sheets, but CUP MATCHES are played straight through - there is NO SETTING in these games, apologies.

And finally can we all make the effort (where applicable) to nominate people on the score sheets for the Stuart Dickson fair play award.

Thanks
Matthew Locke
CDBL Secretary

Before I report on our victory last night over Cardiff Nomads, I just want to wish Kinsey all the best from his mates in the Mixed A. He really didn’t have to go to hospital just to get out of playing mixed - that’s a bit drastic.

Anyway, another success with myself & Chris taking 3 games and I have to say not a bead of perspiration was shed from my brow. Helen and Glyn played absolutely brilliantly taking their 3 games, with Helen covering all the court and Glyn expertly filling the gaps with some really great shots.

Not to be out done Sarah and Byron (secret weapon, [about as useful as a chocolate teapot - Ed.]) had a close first match but probably didn’t take it because a clash of racquets put the end to Byron’s £££ ‘fave’ racquet not to mention Sarah’s finger! After replacing the racquet all rubbers were extremely close but unfortunately all games were lost. [Yup- racquet definitely to blame, and the bloke on the end of it :-/ - Ed.]

Final score 6-3. Once again thanks to all.

Sal

Mixed B loss against PD at home in October last year was turned around on Thursday, with an excellent 5–4 win, AlanD and Kath took 2 games losing their last game 21–19, 22–20.

Our 3rd pairing of Danny and Jayne had some really good games but was unable to capitalise and lost all 3 of their games. Our normal pairing of Jack and Emma were unavailable for this match, so we had to rely on our… wait for it… SUPER SUBS of Helen Creed and Rob Calcaterra!

They took their first 2 games with reasonable ease although they did go to 3 in one of the games, the crunch came in their last game. At 4 all for the teams it went down to the wire with the last game of the night going to 3. With a score line of 21-16 to PD and 21-19 to Vale B, it became fingernail biting time.

Rob and Helen seemed to enjoy the fact that we were all biting nails, but decided enough was enough and finished in style with the final set score of 22-24 in favour of the Vale B! Both Rob and Helen have been promoted to SUPER SUPER SUBS! Of course most of us had difficulty driving home having bitten our nails down to the knuckles!

Thanks to our SUPER SUPER SUBS for bringing home a great win.

Men’s B started their New Year with a comfortable 9-0 win against Heath Hospital C team.

Special thanks to Jordan & Sam for coming in at short notice after having only played the night before.

Return match at the Heath next Thursday (17th).

Mention must be made of Rob being excluded from the ‘mens club night’ later in the evening – this resulted him having to leave in a ‘sulk’! Alan E who earlier in the evening was trying to leave as he ‘was not up to par’ (might have had something to do with having to play mixed all night) had a miraculous recovery which enabled him to play with the men and make it to the pub for a drink!