Keva Li
Editor '18
The Great Neck North Girls Badminton team competed in the semi-final playoffs at Jericho High school this past Thursday. The badminton team practices about two hours each day, six days a week. This year, there was no junior varsity team, so the varsity team had more court time to practice. “I always have high expectations of the team,” Coach Blackstone remarked, “we run a great program and we have wonderful athletes. And this year in particular I knew we would be a great team because we had so many players that we developed over the years have came back. And we only lost a couple of seniors last year, so we have a lot of upperclassmen leadership. And seeing them grow since they were freshmen and develop into wonderful players that they are now told me that we were going to be an excellent team.”
This year’s captains were Judy Zhang, Jackie Li, Winni Yao, and Shannon Nassi. They led the team stretches and gave encouraging words to cheer on each player. During the first pre-badminton season informational meeting, many girls were excited to start the season and went to badminton clubs to train. The beginning of the season was a success for the badminton team. The team won the first five consecutive matches. “And it became obvious early on the season how great we can be. We won the crossover match against Port Washington. We had a signature meet against South last week, even though they were third seed and we were sixth seed,” Coach Blackstone added, “So we have kids on our team who never give up, who fight, who care, who commit to team. And we are tremendous athletes and tremendous people.”
In addition, three groups were selected to participate in individual counties at Long Beach High School. This year, Keva Li, Chelsea Wong, Jackie Li, Judy Zhang, and Samantha Kramer participated in Counties. “Chelsea Wong, Keva Li, and Jackie Li received all county awards, which means [they were] top 8 in the county out of all the players in all the 36 team,” coach Blackstone, “and that did not surprise me at all. I knew that they could win all county awards. It didn't surprise me one bit. And I think that they showed a lot of courage, grace, and determination. It is obviously skill to become an all county player, which very very very few people achieve.”
“I thought we finished the season on a nice upswing. I thought we got hot at the right time, Coach Blackstone said, “I thought we played well all year long. The only matches we lost were in the regular season was by two points. There was really no reason to think that we could not keep going. The first match against Port Washington, which was a conference 1 team, we beat them by a lot: 5-2, which told our team that wow we can be really tremendously great.” With only two losses from the games with conference two teams, the badminton team played well against the conference one teams. “We matched up a tight Jericho team and we played them really tight. We had three 22-20 matches… and we matched up well there. So I knew that we will play well moving on to playoffs,” Coach Blackstone continued. During practices in preparation for playoffs, the team worked on clears, drops, and smashes. The first round of playoffs was with West Hempstead, who were undefeated before facing Great Neck North. “I knew we could beat them and we did,” coach Blackstone shared, “And in the next round I knew we could beat South too. Because we have such a tremendous team and we just need the players to believe that too. And they came out and play a lot of close matches, a lot of 3 setters. But we prevailed.”
Although the girls badminton lost against Jericho, a conference one team with a score of 14-1, the badminton team put up a tough fight and made the semi finals.
“Seeing how far we went this year, which is the farthest we have gone for at least 10 years is something to feel really proud of,” Coach Blackstone said, “no one can take that away from you.”
Editor '18
The Great Neck North Girls Badminton team competed in the semi-final playoffs at Jericho High school this past Thursday. The badminton team practices about two hours each day, six days a week. This year, there was no junior varsity team, so the varsity team had more court time to practice. “I always have high expectations of the team,” Coach Blackstone remarked, “we run a great program and we have wonderful athletes. And this year in particular I knew we would be a great team because we had so many players that we developed over the years have came back. And we only lost a couple of seniors last year, so we have a lot of upperclassmen leadership. And seeing them grow since they were freshmen and develop into wonderful players that they are now told me that we were going to be an excellent team.”
This year’s captains were Judy Zhang, Jackie Li, Winni Yao, and Shannon Nassi. They led the team stretches and gave encouraging words to cheer on each player. During the first pre-badminton season informational meeting, many girls were excited to start the season and went to badminton clubs to train. The beginning of the season was a success for the badminton team. The team won the first five consecutive matches. “And it became obvious early on the season how great we can be. We won the crossover match against Port Washington. We had a signature meet against South last week, even though they were third seed and we were sixth seed,” Coach Blackstone added, “So we have kids on our team who never give up, who fight, who care, who commit to team. And we are tremendous athletes and tremendous people.”
In addition, three groups were selected to participate in individual counties at Long Beach High School. This year, Keva Li, Chelsea Wong, Jackie Li, Judy Zhang, and Samantha Kramer participated in Counties. “Chelsea Wong, Keva Li, and Jackie Li received all county awards, which means [they were] top 8 in the county out of all the players in all the 36 team,” coach Blackstone, “and that did not surprise me at all. I knew that they could win all county awards. It didn't surprise me one bit. And I think that they showed a lot of courage, grace, and determination. It is obviously skill to become an all county player, which very very very few people achieve.”
“I thought we finished the season on a nice upswing. I thought we got hot at the right time, Coach Blackstone said, “I thought we played well all year long. The only matches we lost were in the regular season was by two points. There was really no reason to think that we could not keep going. The first match against Port Washington, which was a conference 1 team, we beat them by a lot: 5-2, which told our team that wow we can be really tremendously great.” With only two losses from the games with conference two teams, the badminton team played well against the conference one teams. “We matched up a tight Jericho team and we played them really tight. We had three 22-20 matches… and we matched up well there. So I knew that we will play well moving on to playoffs,” Coach Blackstone continued. During practices in preparation for playoffs, the team worked on clears, drops, and smashes. The first round of playoffs was with West Hempstead, who were undefeated before facing Great Neck North. “I knew we could beat them and we did,” coach Blackstone shared, “And in the next round I knew we could beat South too. Because we have such a tremendous team and we just need the players to believe that too. And they came out and play a lot of close matches, a lot of 3 setters. But we prevailed.”
Although the girls badminton lost against Jericho, a conference one team with a score of 14-1, the badminton team put up a tough fight and made the semi finals.
“Seeing how far we went this year, which is the farthest we have gone for at least 10 years is something to feel really proud of,” Coach Blackstone said, “no one can take that away from you.”