Badminton honour for St Mary's

By [jmattos]

THE sport of badminton has received a further boost in Hull after St Mary's Sports College on Cranbrook Avenue were handed Premier School accreditation.

St Mary's is the 28th Premier School in the country to achieve this achievement and were handed the honour after showing they are committed to promoting badminton in their own school and have forged strong community links.

St Mary's offer playing, volunteering and officiating opportunities for their pupils, while in 2009 their year 11 boys team made the national finals at Center Parcs.

This was highlighted at the Premier School presentation event, which was held in conjunction with a Bisi Festival for feeder primary schools, which was assisted by St Mary's' young leaders.

The Bisi Festival followed the presentation and involved over 40 young people, competing in eight different teams.

The fun activities put on were designed by local badminton coaches to help develop tactical awareness, co-ordination and athleticism.

Will Wallace, regional officer for Badminton England, said: "The Festival has been an enormous success and the culminating showcase event by players from the Hull Performance Centre hopefully really inspired the young people to get involved with one of the many out of school opportunities that exist in Hull in the sport."