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Shield racqueteers gain experience at qualifier

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It was a young Cambrian Golden Shield crew that travelled this past weekend to George Brown College, site of the OCAA East Regional Badminton championships.

With five of the seven Cambrian athletes making their first appearance at the qualifying event toward provincials, experience would be the key takeaway for the local racqueteers.

Eighteen year-old Cambrian freshman Jackie Robichaud, a graduate of Kirkland Lake District Composite School enrolled in her first year of the Chemical Engineering Technology - Lab & Process Control program, acknowledged that she was still playing catch-up in making the jump from her high school team to the Golden Shield varsity crew, before leaving for the GTA last week.

"Players here are a lot faster," she said. "I haven't really sped up, but everyone else is a lot faster. It's about moving around the court to get to the bird. You hit a perfect shot to the other side of the court, and you don't think they will get to it, but they do."

A volleyball player in her youth, Robichaud was first bitten by the badminton bug in Grade 9, quickly developing a passion for the sport. "One of my favourite teachers was the coach, and they also had community badminton that I would go to," said Robichaud.

"I liked the freedom of playing badminton. You're your own team." Competing in singles play, Robichaud was able to get to 14-21 against the first-place finisher from St Lawrence (Jessica Fong), and a little closer still (17-21) to second seed Tiffany Yeung from the host school.

Though Alex Beaton is in his second year at Cambrian, this was his first as a full-fledged member of the varsity team, having started the 2014-2015 campaign, but falling back in order to focus on his academics last year.

Like Robichaud, Beaton stepped into the sport in earnest as he graduated from the elementary ranks on to Iroquois Falls Secondary School. "I played a little bit throughout public school, but mostly in Grade 9," noted the 20-year-old Heavy Duty Equipment Mechanic major.

"It started a little spark, and then I've been going ever since." And though he was first introduced to badminton as part of a men's doubles team with a buddy at IFSS, it's now singles play or bust for Beaton.

"I would rather play singles the whole weekend, to be honest with you," he said. Still, Beaton understands the gap he is trying to close to compete with the OCAA elite. "It's mostly just the speed of your movement around the court," he explained.

"You've got to get there. If you don't get there, you're not making the shot." Beaton finished fifth in his pool, hitting double digits on six occasions. The Cambrian mixed doubles tandem of Curtis Gallinger and Alanna Lahay, both of whom can draw on experience from last year, came closest to mounting a charge at provincials.

The tandem beat St Lawrence, and dropped games by four points or less to Georgian, Centennial and Seneca. The men's doubles team of J.J. Gaudin and Mike Kauffman remained competitive, but did not advance, while Milo Gaudin racked up one win over local rival, Josh Vallee, from Boreal.

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