After three years of competitive badminton, Olds High School student Sara Odersky is off to the provincial championships Friday and Saturday in Strathmore.
The Grade 11 student beat out 15 other girls to claim the singles title in the intermediate division at the zone tournament April 21 in Okotoks. Although she competed at the zone tournament last year, she ended up third, missing a qualification spot by one.
Odersky qualified for the tournament by competing at the Mountain View County championships against seven other players.
Odersky gives a lot of credit for her improvement to her coach, Mary Person, who she said was a tremendous help in her development. Other badminton players at the school are coached by staff member Ron Miller.
“I don't think I would have made it to zones if it wasn't for my coach,” she said.
Odersky said she has always enjoyed playing several different sports and was drawn to badminton by the technique. She counts basketball as her favourite sport.
“I've always been a multi-sport kind of person and badminton I've loved ever since I started playing it. It's just the technique of the game. Watching other people play it, I thought I'd like it, so I tried it out and ended up doing really well,” she said.
Odersky will be competing against the top two players from each zone this weekend. She expects some tough competition.
“Half of them are provincially ranked. And they play year-round club badminton so it's gonna be way harder competition,” she said.
This is Odersky's first year at OHS. Previously, she attended Olds Koinonia Christian School.
"I've always been a multi-sport kind of person and badminton I've loved ever since I started playing it."Sara Odersky, South Central Zone singles badminton champion
