INNISFAIL - Students from across Central Alberta competed in the Innisfail Middle-High Badminton Invitational Tournament April 7 and 8 at Innisfail High School.
Students in grades 7, 8 and 9 took part in the event and included those from Spruce View, Stettler, Penhold, Innisfail, Bowden and Red Deer.
"This is the first time that Innisfail High School has hosted (the badminton invitational)," said Lisa Weiss, a badminton coach at Innisfail Middle School.
Organizers had a little help with the tournament from Badminton Alberta and the organization's software.
"Dean Woroniuk registered the kids and (used) the software to schedule the matches and keep track of scores," she said, noting the event ran April 7 from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. and on April 8 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Close to 200 students participated in 150 matches during the tournament said Weiss, adding that it included a variety of matches.
The event included singles on Friday and doubles on Saturday as well as mixed doubles games, she said, noting the success of the two-day tournament.
"It's a fantastic opportunity outside of (school) tournaments for kids to get some badminton experience and to meet and play against some people they might see in future tournaments," she added. "It also gives them some tournament experience."
Kids were divided into pools and played a round-robin style tournament for each pool before the playoffs, semifinals and finals.
Bob Klatt is a badminton coach along with Dean Woroniuk at Innisfail High School, and was pleased to see Innisfail host such a regional tournament.
"We needed another venue for our kids to play more games. There's only so many tournaments around the region for kids to play badminton," said Klatt. "We decided to put one on for a change and so far it's going great.
"Students are from all over Central Alberta, from Eckville, Stettler and there's club kids from Red Deer as well," he said. "They get to compete while they've having fun."
Badminton season began in mid-March noted Weiss, adding that there is an upcoming Chinook's Edge North Athletic Association regional badminton tournament in Sylvan Lake on May 5.
This may have been the first regional badminton tournament for Innisfail, but it may not be the last.
"It would be great if this was an annual tournament," Weiss concluded.
