Stellenbosch University’s (SU) badminton team won multiple medals at the University Sport South Africa (USSA) Badminton Championship this week.
“At a critical part of the championships, the team decided to turn the tables on a team with depth and past success and leave the court champions,” said Hadley Volkwyn, the Maties Badminton team manager after their success at the recent University Sport South Africa Badminton Championship. “I believe that it was more than just a gold medal but a sense of personal pride and accomplishments that I saw on their faces, as they stood in front of their peers to receive the title of [the University Sport South Africa] champions.”
Front: Team members Peter McCausland (left) and Erna Schoonees (right).
Back, from left to right: Team members Stefan Schmeisser, Surika Snyman, Hadley Volkwyn (Maties Badminton team manager), Nicos Efstratiou and Jaison Zacharaih. PHOTO: Supplied/Elmarie Snyman
Shining results
The team triumphed over the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) during the main team event’s finals with a score of 3-2 on 9 August, according to Nicos Efstratiou, the SU team’s captain and coach. The competition took place at the John Tyers Hall in Cape Town, he stated.
“It was a very good tournament and the competition was of a high calibre,” said Surika Snyman, an SU team member.
The women went undefeated during the open event of the tournament, bringing home gold in both the individual and doubles rounds, according to Snyman.
The combination of Snyman and her teammate Erna Schoonees worked very well, Snyman stated. “[Schoonees] is very good at the net and I cover the back.”
The Maties Badminton team had a winning streak during the University Sport South Africa Badminton Championship. GRAPHIC: Karla van der Merwe
Although they started out strong, the four men on the team experienced some fatigue along with a few injuries during the tournament, said Efstratiou.
“We did rotate for a lot of the fixtures. Between myself and Peter McCausland [another SU team member], we would alternate singles for the different fixtures and the same goes for doubles – every now and then we would rotate players,” he explained.
Risk-takers to gold medalists
During the final co-ed team event against UKZN, the team took “one or two risks”, according to Efstratiou. “We set up kind of anticipating how they would set up and that worked out,” he said.
“I think that was the high point for me, coming together as a team,” stated Efstratiou.
“Experience has taught me that it is the best team on the day that takes home the gold,” said Hadley Volkwyn, the Maties Badminton team manager, after the team competed in the University Sport South Africa Badminton Championship.
The Maties Badminton team came out on top at the University Sport South Africa Badminton Championship during the team event on 9 August. According to a Maties Sport Instagram post, the men won silver for the singles and bronze for the doubles. The women won gold for both the singles and doubles, and the team achieved silver and bronze for the individual mixed doubles during the open event of the tournament.
From left to right: Team members Stefan Schmeisser, Jaison Zacharaih, Erna Schoonees, Peter McCausland, Surika Snyman, Nicos Efstratiou and team manager Hadley Volkwyn. PHOTO: Supplied/Justin Green
The team’s success was a “proud and inspirational moment for all at Maties Sport”, stated Hadley Volkwyn, the team’s manager.
“What a powerful experience to sit next to the court [and] watch a team dig deep and surprise everybody,” Volkwyn told MatieMedia via email correspondence. “What a powerful experience to watch that same team rise to the occasion and become USSA Champions.”
The USSA committee also recently announced that Efstratiou, McCausland, Snyman and Schoonees were selected for the Badminton squad that will go play at the World Student Games 2023, according to Volkwyn.