Cobram’s Friday Night Badminton at the Cobram Sports Stadium wound up the season on a high, celebrating the achievements of their young stars.
Year 12 students, Cadence Pang, Natasha Smith and Martin Kong were recognised for their loyalty, dedication and leadership to junior badminton, having joined the club at a young age.
All three achieved at the highest level and were presented with trophies signifying their achievement, sportsmanship and leadership qualities.
The club wished them well in their tertiary studies and badminton future.
Trophies identifying promising talent for 2023 were won by Jordan Talbot, Fletcher Davies, Melody Su, Leah Willis and Jessica and Vanessa Voeurn.
These players have shown significant improvement in their game and no doubt will be keen to reach success at the highest level in the years to come.
Encouragement Awards were presented to Herbie Euston, Harry Thompson, Qisha Adbullah and Ally Stillard who have worked hard to improve their game throughout the year.
It was exciting to see the huge steps they have made.
The Su Family were rewarded for their regular attendance throughout the season with Melody, Bosco and Jordan taking home the Attendance Award for Junior, Intermediate and Senior Age Groups respectively.
The 2023 Serving Award was won by talented youngster Maddix Kong.
Following in his brother Martin’s footsteps, he is shaping up to be one of the stars of the future.
The final night for 2023 saw the End of Season Singles Championships contested.
The open winners were Martin Kong and Caitlin Welch.
Caitlin was in fine form after having recently competed at the State Schools Badminton Teams Event at Albert Park with her CAGS Senior Girls teammates, Cadence Pang, Natasha Smith and Emily Orsida as the number one in the team which covered themselves in glory to be ranked fourth in the state.
Certainly a magnificent achievement for a small country town.
Martin is an exceptional talent and throughout the year has been a class above the adult players. Martin has also been a fantastic support to his peers in the CAGS Senior Girls badminton team.
The A-grade boys’ competition was won by Aden Modderkolk in a thrilling final against Nathan Gossayn 15-13. His natural talent and his achievement in the older age group is to be commended.
Melissa Voeurn snatched the A-grade Girls’ title from Leah Willis. Both girls are developing their game quickly and will be a force to be reckoned with in the Regional Schools competitions in 2024.
B-grade Boys was won by Bosco Su with a perfect score in a hard-fought competition with Maddix Kong and Coen Pang, whilst Jessica Voeurn stole the honours from her sister Vanessa in the B-grade Girls.
It was exciting to see Ben Dean, a newcomer to the sport in the second half of the season, take out the B-reserve Boys’ comp. Ben has come along in ‘leaps and bounds’ and certainly has a future in badminton.
C-grade Girls saw Melody Su complete a fine season, taking home the title whilst Coen Pang was in a class of his own, taking home the C-grade Boys’ title. Coen who is in Year 5 competes regularly with the Year 7 boys and shows exceptional talent for his years.
A great season was wound up with supper and presentation of trophies with happy youngsters keen to return in 2024.