Three Dollar pupils competed in the Scottish National Finals at Bell’s Sports Centre in Perth, having qualified for this event by winning their category in the regional event in December.
Siobhan Moore (Form I) competed in the Junior Girls Singles and Matthew McGarva (Form V) and Angus McLeod (Form VI) competed in the Senior Boys Doubles event. Although they did not progress to the semi-finals, the Dollar pupils ‘played at the highest level against the best badminton players in the country,’ said Mr Johnson (Chemistry teacher, Head of Form I and Badminton coach).
Players have enjoyed some of their best results
‘They thoroughly enjoyed the experience,’ he added, ‘and Siobhan particularly distinguished herself as she was playing against pupils from S2 and S3 and played some fantastically competitive matches.
Then, on 18 March, three Dollar pupils competed in the Perth Open Event – Sunny Qiu in Form I, Alex Turlik in Form II and Angus McLeod in Form VI. They all competed in singles events. Although they did not progress through to the semi-finals, Angus and Sunny both won their consolation events. ‘Alex played some fantastic badminton,’ said Mr Johnson, ‘against opponents who ultimately won the event and should be congratulated for his competition in some really close matches.’
In further news, after qualifying for the National Event, the Dollar Junior Quaich Team enjoyed their best result ever in a very competitive event. After progressing to the semi-finals, having taken second spot in their group table, the Dollar team narrowly lost to the eventual winners but gained a medal position by beating Glasgow High School for third spot. This is the best result that the Junior team has obtained in decades and, considering that most of the team were in Form I or II and were competing against players who were often in S3, they did terrifically well. We are looking forward to next year’s qualifying competition.
On Friday 23 March, the termly Dollar Staff v Pupil Match took place. Despite some fantastic efforts by the pupils and some great, competitive matches, the Staff team retained the trophy by a very narrow margin. Staff teams were Dr Johnson / Miss McLean, Mrs Caine / Mr Turlik, Mr Johns / Mr Smith and Mr Gallagher / Miss Hudd. The staff were no doubt given an edge when Miss Hudd (actually a pupil player from Form III who was press-ganged into the staff team!) joined forces with the teachers.
