In the first of a double header of re-arranged fixtures against Bristol Medics, Academy’s Ladies played out a tight 3-3 draw on Wednesday night (25 March). The match was very even throughout and was finely poised at 2-3 with the last game going to a decider. The pressure was on, with Academy’s ladies battling to avoid a home loss, and hopefully preserve their place in Division 3 for next season.

However, it seems fate was smiling on our ladies. With the scores at 10-11, one of the visitors got her feet caught up attempting retrieve a clear and went over on her ankle. After a prolonged wait and the application of cold spray she decided she wasn’t fit to play on, so forfeiting the game to Academy and completing a 3-3 draw.

The teams next meet on Friday night (27 March) for the return fixture with the Medics more than likely needing a replacement. If only they had access too some expert knowledge on the treatment of sprained ankles…

Mixed 1 backed up their emphatic 6-0 win over Bishop Road on Wednesday night with an equally impressive 5-1 away win at Broadlands tonight (22 February). Although it will need to be confirmed by the Avon Badminton League, these results should see Academy win division 4a and with it, promotion to Division 3. Assuming that is the case, it would mean that Mixed 1 have won promotion two seasons on the trot. Congratulations to Matt and the team.

Academy’s Mixed 2 continued their rollercoaster start to life in the Bristol Leagues with a 5-1 loss away at Nailsea and Yatton Optimists last week (8 Jan). Having gained their first win of the season with a solid 5-1 win over Avon Jets the week before, they would have been hoping for better but as Sanjay put it ‘they got thoroughly spanked’. However, considering the margin of some of the losses (21-10 in at least one game) to have come away with a point has to be seen as a positive and who knows how important that point might turn out to be come the end of the season.

Mixed 1 were also in action on Wednesday (14 Jan) and were held to a 3-3 draw by a strong Portishead side who showed considerable improvement on the side that lost 1-5 to Academy in the opening match of the season. The games were all pretty close, with a number of them going to deciders. So, although the team were a bit disappointed not to have won, the general feeling was that it was a fair result.

Wednesday night (7 Jan) saw a battle of the sexes between Academy Badminton and DL Reds with honors just about even. Our men faced them away at their place and went down 4-2, while the ladies welcomed them to The Park and went one better than last season’s 5-1 win, handing out a 6-0 thrashing. In fact, while the men’s matches were mostly close run affairs, the women only narrowly missed out on a whitewash with five of the six sets over in two games.

The ladies got off to a strong start quickly taking the first two sets before some complacency invited the first threat of the evening. The visitors seemed to have saved their strongest pairings for the second round which caught Jo and Bridget off guard. As Jo admitted, they expected the second pairings to be weaker than the first, who’d they’d beaten fairly easily, so ‘expected to win’, which saw them drop the only game of the evening. On the other court, things had briefly threatened to boil over when a minor mix up over the score prompted a few raised voices from the visiting players but with things calmed, normal service was resumed and Academy went on to wrap up the match pretty comfortably.

The men on the other hand had a much tougher time of things and weren’t helped by a slightly hobbled Paul and an under the weather Al. The majority of the games were pretty tight and a couple of the sets required a decider so on another night might have seen a different scoreline. However, it was not to be and while the boys are clearly disappointed not to have at least shared the points, 4-2 was a fair result. They will be hoping to turn the tables when DL Reds visit the park in a months time.

Academy Badminton Mixed 2 recorded their first win of the season on Tuesday (16 Dec) with an impressive away win at Avon Jets. The result builds on the home draw against Highbury earlier in the month and should now firmly establish them in the league following their opening 6-0 loss and the postponement of their second fixture. Next up for Mixed 2 is a tricky away fixture at the current division leaders, Nailsea and Yatton Optimists, so let’s hope we catch them cold after some seasonal over-indulgence.

The last month has seen a few ups and downs in the fortunes of Academy Badminton’s league teams.

Having been promoted as runners up last season our ladies team are beginning to find life in Division 3 tough going. Having started encouragingly and shared the points with the University of Bristol over their first two fixtures, their next two matches have seen them slump to consecutive 5-1 losses away at Wyvern and St Ursulas. We’re only four fixtures in but there’s already some pressure on next months home match to DL Reds.

The men, having started poorly with two losses, have found some form of late and backed up their 6-0 thrashing of Broadlands with a good away draw at Keynsham. They followed that result with a commanding 6-0 demolition of Nailsea and Backwell, which Al, as captain was understandably pleased with. He was quick to point out what an all round team performance it was, with everyone focused on taking maximum points. It’s a result that should see the men’s season well and truly back on track after a sluggish start.

The best start to the season has been by Mixed 1, who recorded their third straight win on Wednesday (10 December) with an excellent performance at home to Broadlands. They ran out eventual 4-2 winners in a match that could easily have seen that scoreline reversed on another day. Broadlands came with a strong team that challenged in all the pairings, and will probably feel disappointed not to have taken a share of the points, having pushed a number of the games to deciders. However, it was not to be and in fact it could have been far worse for them. At the end of the mixed pairings Academy were 3-1 up thanks to Paul and Bridget having taken both their matches and Matt and Jo halving theirs. The men then won their match fairly comfortably to take an unassailable 4-1 lead, with the final ladies pairing going to a decider. Broadlands eventually edged it 18-21 but only after a determined fightback from the Academy ladies. At 14-20 the point for Broadlands looked a formality but some inspired serving from Bridget combined with some excellent all round team play saw the girls win four points in double quick time to put some pressure on before Jo narrowly missed with an attempted drop shot to concede the game. Mixed 1 have now taken 13 points from a possible 18 so far this season and must already be feeling quite a home in this division following promotion last term.

And finally, Mixed 2 also saw an upturn in form after their heavy loss to the University of Bristol back in October. Having had one fixture postponed since then the team were clearly keen to get some points on the board, which they duly did with a battling 3-3 draw at home to Highbury. Whilst not the win they would have hoped for, it gets them off the mark for the season and should provide a platform to build from when the meet Nailsea and Yatton Optimists in early January.