Bournemouth Collegiate School badminton players enjoyed success on a national platform at the weekend when they 
competed at the Centre Parcs National Schools Badminton Championships at Sherwood Forest in Nottingham and achieved 4th place.
The BCS team had reached the finals of the competition, having previously won the Bournemouth, Dorset and South West Regional qualifying rounds.
They were competing in the Year 7, 8 and 9 age group and as mainly current Year 8 pupils they were up against many competitors older than themselves.
The Saturday competition was fiercely contested. The BCS boys won their first match 5 -0 against Wilson’s School from Surrey.
Their second qualifying round match against Failsworth School in Manchester was an incredibly tight match and the boys were frustrating close to winning with a final result of 2 -3.
As a result the BCS team were now playing for 4th, 5th and 6th places. Their next two matches were won easily with convincing successive 4 – 1 wins over Monk’s Walk School in Hertfordshire and Sheffield’s Tapton School. These wins secured the BCS team over all 4th place in the National Schools Championships.
Bournemouth Collegiate School coach, Helen Troke said, “We were so close to qualifying for the finals today. There was nothing in it. The boys performed brilliantly and it’s definitely good experience which we shall put to good use in next year’s Championships. The boys were a real credit to BCS.”
BCS Team Captain Jack MacGregor said, “We were really disappointed not to reach the finals for the top 3 places, it was very close. Fourth place was good but next year we will aim to win it. There were great performances from the team, particularly from Tom Barton- Clapp and Kaylan Jensen