Queens sweep the board in local league

Queens mixed team: Darren Frisby, Nick Masson, Ian Kirby, Gina Sawyer, Charlotte Hawkins and Jackie Soffe.

Queens mens team: Jim Feesey, Darren Frisby Ben Herbert, David Spencer Tim Goode, Ian Kirby. Missing from photo is Nick Masson.

Boys and girls: Olivia Marshall, Matthew Watkins, Owen Diment, Dominic Trewin, Nathan Scase, Charlotte Hawkins, Kirsty Staite, Jenny Maddison, Sophie Rowe, Simon Brassington, Mark Cheriton and Dominic Garside. Missing from the photo is Holly Langhorne.

WHEN Queens Badminton Club, Crediton, Mixed A team won the first division of the Exeter and District Badminton League, with it came the clubs fourth league title of the 2007-8 season.
The Mens’ B team were the first to win their league. Most impressively, this was done just after the second half of the season, where some teams had only played a handful of games and every game played, the team was represented by “junior” players, with an average age of 15.
This team was admirably led by 15 years old Matthew Watkins, who did a very mature job in organising his team on every occasion.
The team was made up of Owen Diment, James Bentley, Dominic Trewin, Nathan Scase, Craig Skinner, Nick Mingo, Simon Brassington, Matthew Brassington and Matthew himself. All of these boys have and are currently representing their County at various age groups.
The second team to replicate the Men’s B team were the Mixed B team. Again, this team was made up of juniors playing in an adult league with the exception of one of the founder members of Queens Badminton Club namely Ben Herbert.
This was a particularly pleasing result for the team as it gave then back-to-back titles having gained promotion in the previous season.
This team was made up of Kimberley Wills, Owen Diment, Kirsty Staite, Nathan Scase, Dominic Trewin, Sarah Preece, Ellis Marshall, Kate Anson, Hannah Preece and Ben himself.
The most recent title came to the Mixed A team, who finished top of the league, just a few points clear of their nearest rivals. It had not gone Queens’ way all season as the team were beaten by a very strong Cranford team mid-season, who incidentally fielded a former England international for only her second game of the season in that team.
However, consistently good results gave queens the edge and superiority in their league became evident with team captain Charlotte Hawkins able to field a regular team for most of the matches. This team was made-up of Nick Masson, Ian Kirby, Darren Frisby, Vernon Smeed, Gina Sawyer, Jo Brooks, Leanne Debenham, Sarah Preece, Kirsty Staite and Charlotte herself.
Perhaps the most remarkable league title of the season is bestowed to the Mens` A team. They set out in Division 3B five years ago, with a very, young, inexperienced team not knowing how they would fair in league competition.
They won that league and gained promotion to the higher league and this is where the trend continued until the present day where they have just won the First Division title.
They are the first club to have won back-to-back titles since the inauguration of the league some 72 years ago.
This team was captained by Ben Herbert and the secret to the success of the team was the consistency of team availability. Nick Masson, Ian Kirby, Jim Feesey, Darren Frisby, David Spencer, Tim Goode and Ben were the stalwarts of the team but on only two occasions when one of the regular team members were unavailable, two junior players, Owen Diment and Dominic Trewin proved more than able substitutes.
This unprecedented success of Queens Badminton players comes on the back of the news that the club has been chosen by their National Governing Body, Badminton England to become a Performance Centre - only the second club to be awarded this disignation in the country.
This will give the club the platform to develop players from a “raw” talent to the more advanced, international players.
Club Chairman, Nick Masson proudly says that the club is going from strength to strength, but the picture is still far from a finished article.
For further details of the club, view their web-site on www.queensbc.co.uk .

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