Alpha take on the Celtic Challenge

ALPHA travelled to Dublin on Friday 22 March to participate in The Celtic U15 Challenge in Terenure Badminton Centre, Dublin.
By The Newsroom
Published 17th Apr 2013, 09:00 BST
Members of Alpha who took part in the U15 Celtic Challenge Cup along with the Mayor of Lisburn, Alderman William Leathem; Councillor Thomas Beckett, Chairman of Lisburn City Council's Leisure Committee Councillor Thomas Beckett and coaches Trevor Woods and Lyn McKibben.Members of Alpha who took part in the U15 Celtic Challenge Cup along with the Mayor of Lisburn, Alderman William Leathem; Councillor Thomas Beckett, Chairman of Lisburn City Council's Leisure Committee Councillor Thomas Beckett and coaches Trevor Woods and Lyn McKibben.
Members of Alpha who took part in the U15 Celtic Challenge Cup along with the Mayor of Lisburn, Alderman William Leathem; Councillor Thomas Beckett, Chairman of Lisburn City Council's Leisure Committee Councillor Thomas Beckett and coaches Trevor Woods and Lyn McKibben.

The team consisted of Caitlin Steele , Judith McClure, Linzi McClure, Katie McKibben, Summer Ferguson, Erin Boomer for the girls and Matthew Lightbody, Chin Nam Soong, Matthew Smyth, Connor Monteith, Stephen Boyd, Aaron Scott, Ben Elmore for the boys.

Their first match was on Saturday morning at 10am against the strong favorites for the trophy, Leinster.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The boys and girls all played well but unfortunately going down 12-3 in the matches. The best performance in this match was in the first men’s game where Matthew Lightbody lost a very close three set match against Nhat Nguyen 21/17 in the third.

In this match Alpha won the first and second ladies doubles through Judith and Linzi McClure, Caitlin Steele and Katie McKibben and the third ladies singles game thanks to Katie McKibben. It was a very good performance by all the girls.

The second match Saturday, played at 2.30pm, was against a very strong Lothian team. The local team again performed well, going down 12-3. The winners for Alpha was first men’s singles Chin Nam Soong, first men’s doubles Matthew Lightbody and Chin Nam Soong and first mixed Matthew Lightbody and Linzi McClure.

The third and final match was on Sunday morning at 10am against a Munster-Connacht combined team.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

They lost the match 9–6 but this was the best match of the weekend and all the matches were very close and the players did themselves proud. Winners in this match were all three men’s singles - Matthew Lightbody, Chin Nam Soong, Matthew Smyth; the first and third ladies singles Caitlin Steele, Katie McKibben and the second ladies doubles - Caitlin Steele and Katie McKibben.

Alpha played very well indeed and I felt that all the players will benefit from the experience. Special thanks must go to Lyn McKibben who acted as team manager, mummy and nurse for the weekend.She was a great help to coach Trevor Woods and attended to all the children’s needs on and off the court.

Leinster Badminton were exceptional hosts taking care of all our food requirements during the event at the centre, a special thanks goes to all of the Leinster Ladies Youth Committee concerned for an excellent weekend for our children.