Badminton doesn’t always rank high on the list of peoples’ sports priorities, but for Clyde resident Karmen Ward, his efforts in the sport earned him some impressive hardware.
The Grade 12 R.F. Staples student earned a bronze medal from the badminton provincials in Strathmore last weekend.
“The best part was the experience of playing good guys,” he said. “It was a good experience, pretty much.”
He earned his medal in Category 2. The way the tournament is set up, the first match determines which category the players enter. Similar to the consolation side in many tournaments, players who lose the first match go into Category 2.
With several dozen players competing, however, a third-place finish in the category is an impressive feat.
Ward played a total of six games over the weekend, winning four of them to earn his medal. The highlight, he said, was the bronze-medal game.
“It was definitely the final game, that last match,” he said. “It was pretty close.”
He said he was surprised with his success at zones that earned him a spot at provincials, and was even more surprised by his provincials finish.
That provincial tournament, however, will likely mean the end of Ward’s seven-year badminton career.
He picked up the sport in Grade 5 because of influence from his teachers.
“We played it in gym and I started to enjoy it, so I just picked it up,” he said.
As he will be graduating this year, he won’t have as much opportunity to be involved in the sport. He would be interested in playing for a university if he could make it, but isn’t necessarily banking on that possibility.
“If I could make it, yeah definitely,” he said.
He has his hands full, however, with other sports. In addition to badminton, Ward plays hockey in the winter and is currently in the early part of the lacrosse season with his team, the junior-level Westlock Rock.
