Year 8 Girls State Badminton Finals

State Badminton in Melbourne, Year 8 Girls

Another State Final

5 of our Year 8 Girls (Milly O’Kane, Isabelle Christison, Casey Sheppard, Alanna Hepburn & Angela Keenan) competed in the State Badminton Finals last Friday at the Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Centre in Albert Park, after dominating both the Upper Hume (in Wodonga) and Hume Region (in Shepparton) tournaments recently.

Missing key player Lillian Hooper (holidaying in Europe), and hitting the highway at 5:30am, with four of them backing up after the Upper Hume Athletics Carnival in Albury the day prior, it was a giant effort to even get there.

In their first “rubber” they almost defeated Ballarat High School, with the 3rd and 4th ranked players in Casey Sheppard (21-16) and Alanna Hepburn (21-17) both winning their singles matches in pressure-cooker high-stakes contests, and then Alanna & Angela winning their doubles match (21-14). The end result was an even 3-3 matches each, however we lost by just 2 points on the Count Back, proving that every single point counts. 

The next two rubbers proved much tougher however, as the girls were overcome by very strong teams from Melbourne Girls College and Narre Warren South P-12, with the only win against those two powerhouses being Isabelle Christison’s in her singles match against Melbourne Girls College, triumphing in a close one 21-17.

To the girls, congratulations on making it to the State Finals for the 2nd time in a row. It’s a wonderful effort for a group of girls that don’t play the sport in competition. We’re all proud of you.

A massive thank you goes out to staff member and mum Kaye O’Kane for driving the girls to and from the city. A huge effort. It was also terrific to hear that Casey’s mum and Isabelle’s grandmother also went down to support the girls on what was by all reports a wonderful day.

• Jud Mullins