INNISFAIL – Sometimes in sports a team just clicks.
That was the case for badminton duo Madison Towle,16, and Laura Abraham, 17, who came together earlier this spring to compete as a doubles badminton team.
Towle has played badminton for five years, while Abraham just finished her sixth year in the sport.
Both girls played as part of the badminton team at Innisfail High School this year and were coached by Dean Woroniuk and Bob Klatt.
“Our coaches thought (they) could put us together and we’d play well as a team,” said Towle.
“We really meshed together,” added Abraham.
That chemistry contributed to a slew of medals this season, including several gold at regional tournaments this spring.
“Our first medal was at a tournament in Red Deer in (mid) April. We had one practice together before we played at that tournament and we ended up winning gold,” said Abraham, adding they competed in girls' doubles badminton at the intermediate level.
“At the start of the tournament we were a little bit shaky because we hadn’t played very much together,” she added. “We got a couple of wins under our belt and then it really clicked.”
Towle said they stayed focused on the task and remained optimistic.
“Going into the games we really buckled down and worked hard at it,” said Towle. “We had a really positive attitude no matter what.”
From there they moved on to the areas competition on April 24 in Red Deer. Following that, the girls competed in the zones badminton tournament in Lacombe on April 27 and 28.
Once again, the girls excelled.
“At both areas and zones we won gold,” said Abraham, noting that in order to move on to the next tournament, teams had to finish in the top two.
Both the areas and zones tournaments qualified the girls for provincials.
The provincials tournament was held in Grimshaw from May 3 to 5.
“We were so excited to go to provincials,” said Towle, adding it was both her and Abraham’s first time competing at provincials at the high school level.
“The first day we started out, we got first in our pool so we won all of our round robin games,” explained Abraham. “Then the next morning in the quarter-final we lost a really close game. We ended up placing sixth overall.”
Despite not coming home with a medal from provincials, the girls were pleased with their efforts and their experience as a team at the provincial level, finishing sixth out of 16 teams.
“Our overall finish was amazing. I was not upset with not getting a medal,” said Towle. “Provincials is a big thing and placing sixth at provincials is pretty good.”
