It’s that time of year again and with the league season coming to an end it’s time for the AGM.
Tuesday April 12 at 7.30 in The Windmill
As always please make the effort to come it’s an opportunity to impact how the club is run, elect officers and discuss any issues relating to the club.
So with just a few matches left to be rescheduled, the league season almost over for another year. Once again, our teams have all put in some great performances and maintained or improved their results as the season has gone on. With the few matches still to be played there is still room for one or two final league positions to change but unofficially three of Academy’s five teams will be promoted next season as division winners.
Mens 2 have taken the North Somerset league by storm, romping to the top of Division 2 with a match to spare. That will see them playing in Division 1 next season where the competition will presumably get a bit tougher.
In the Bristol Leagues, Mixed 2 have shown some amazing consistency and run out winners of Division 5a which should see them playing in Division 4a next season. This puts them hot on the heels of Mixed 1 who should continue to do battle in Division 3 having turned their early season form around to sit mid table with a couple of results to come in.
Academy’s ladies would also appear to have been victorious in Division 3, although currently the tables on the Avon Badminton League website shows them in second place (albeit with more points that Kingsdown in first). We will have to wait for this to be resolved as the final scores come in but either way they will be promoted to Division 2 for 2016-17.
Finally, Mens 1 have been edged out of a ding-dong battle for Division 4b which has seem them narrowly lose out to Bishop Road 1 and St Ursulas 1, both of whom are still in contention for the title.
Well done to everyone who’s played and congratulations to all three promoted teams. For everyone else, celebrate the return to a full four court set up for the summer. Enjoy!
Those of you who were there on Wednesday night (27 Jan) will have noticed the rather conspicuous man wandering around with a camera and filming a number of our games. If you want to see yourself in action or hear what Alice and Sanjay had to say when they were interviewed about the club you’ll need to tune in to Subs Bench on Made in Bristol TV this Friday (29 Jan) at 7pm with a repeat at 10pm.
It’s possible that Academy won’t be featured until Monday’s show (1 March) but you can check the details here!
After a slow start to this season Academy Badminton’s Mixed 1 seem to have turned things around and established themselves in Division 3. Their season started with two 5-1 thumpings and things were looking decidedly gloomy but following a break created by a postponement of the match against Beaufort Park the team have regrouped and the results have been on an upward trajectory ever since. The improvement was kick-started with a sound 6-0 thrashing of RWP in late November and has been backed up by a draw and two 4-2 wins in the next three games. There are still four fixtures to come, including away at league leading Frys tonight (Friday 15 January), which could yet see the team pulled back into a relegation battle but they have certainly put themselves in a position to stay in the Division which looked unlikely in early November.
The Park will be closed on Wednesday 20 January so there will be no club night. Mixed 1’s match against Bishop Road that was scheduled for that night will now take place the week before on 13 January.
Dates for your diary:
The Park is closed from 24 December to 4 January so the last Badminton Club night before Christmas will be on 23 December.
The first session back is Wednesday 6 January when the Ladies are also due to play their home fixture against RWP.
Ok, enough of this healthy sporting activity, lets drink and eat pizza!
The Academy Badminton Club Christmas Social is taking place on Friday 11 December 2015 at 7.30pm
We have a table (or four) booked at Pizza Express (Berkeley square – at the top of Park Street) for some Italian style Christmas dinner.
We have to pre-order our food so have a look at the menus:
Regular menu
or
Christmas set menu
and let Alice, Jenny or Aoife know what you’d like by Monday 7 December. Or, you can post your orders here.
A very closely contested fixture last night saw Mens 1 slip to their second successive defeat. In a match that could have gone either way it came down to the odd point here or there and in those moments Bishop Road had the edge. Academy started promisingly, taking a 2-0 lead at the first change over. However, that scoreline didn’t reflect how close the games had been and, despite a couple of the following match ups going to deciders, the visitors took all four of the remaining games to win the tie 2-4.
While the men were disappointed with the result and felt that they should probably have at least managed a draw, the narrow margin of defeat should give them hope they can reverse the result in the return fixture in February. At the half way stage in their season Academy lie third in their division with 19 points from a possible 30. The win for Bishop Road should send them top with 23 points, one more than St Ursulas who drop to second. But with only four points currently separating the top three this division is far from settled. Academy get a chance to get back to winning ways this Sunday when they face UWE away.
With the league season two months old most of Academy’s teams are well into their fixtures now and we’re starting to get a picture of where they might stand in their respective divisions.
The most dramatic improvement has come from our ladies who started with a solid 4-2 away win at RWP and have gone on to only drop one game in their following three matches. With 21 points from a possible 24 so far Jo’s team could be on a promotion push. Mens 1 also started strongly with three wins on the bounce but blotted their copy book with a narrow away loss to St Ursulas last time out. Still, 17 points from a possible 24 is a good foundation and we’re yet to reach the half way point of the season.
It’s fair to say Academy’s Mixed teams haven’t had the starts they might have hoped for this term. A couple of seasons ago, following their first promotion, Matt commented that he thought Mixed 1’s true level was Division 3. Having made that step, with a second promotion last season, that theory is being put to the test. And after two firm 5-1 thrashings it was looking as though it might be a case of; intercept the envelope; hide the result from your parents and come back the following year for a retake. However, a 6-0 away win at RWP last night has improved things somewhat and if that upturn can be maintained, who knows, Matt might be proved right. In Division 5a, Mixed 2 got away well enough with a decent 4-2 away win at Avon Jets but followed it with a 4-2 loss at home to UWE. However, a quick look at the tables shows no one is currently running away with the division and if it remains tight, that 50% start could be better than it initially appears.
Moving over to North Somerset, Mens 2 have made the most of their newcomer status and stormed to two impressive 6-0 wins. Being new to the NSBL and having never played any of the other teams in the division before it’s hard to gauge how strong the competition is but 12 points out of 12 isn’t to be argued with in any league so watch this space.
With Autumn here Academy’s league teams have started to get their campaigns up and running. The ladies have made an especially strong start, taking 16 points from a possible 18 in their first three matches, while there have been mixed results for our mixed teams. Mixed 1 were disappointed to lose a closely fought match at home to Frys on their Division 3 debut while Mixed 2 registered a good 4-2 away win at Avon Jets. It’s the turn of the men next week (28 Oct) with Mens 1 taking on UWE at home and Mens 2 away to Mark A in the Somerset league.
Jo was full of praise for her ladies team following their second 6-0 win in three matches. Their demolition of the UWE team was even more notable for the fact that they won every match up in two games. It goes to show the current strength in the ladies squad that despite missing Alice and Bridget from their line up, Jenny and Aoife could step in and keep up the teams’ momentum.
Academy Badminton Club is affiliated to Badminton England, the UK governing body for badminton.
