No medals, but good games at All Ontarios for Moen/Bartlett

By Ken Johnston
Editor

While they did not bring home All Ontario Gold Kristin Moen and Molly Bartlett of Rainy River High School did the community proud again this year!
Coach Guy Arpin, who accompanied them to Niagara Falls last week to compete in the OFSSA’s or All Ontarios for badminton. The RRHS seniors competed for the second year in a row as a girls doubles team.
Last year they were amazed by the tough competition there and felt that this year they were ready for what awaited them. Arpin agreed noting that all but one of their matches could have gone either way.
They won their first game in the “A” Flite. Playing a team from East Northumberland they lost won two straight to stay in that Flite. Then they lost their second match which was the one that Arpin felt the team was outplayed.
That dropped them to the “B” Flite where they played a team from Father Leo J. Austin School and lost two straight. “But they could have won that game as well as the next one. A couple of small errors can cost you the match and in this case it did.” They lost 21-17 and 21-15.
That put them in the “C” Flite where they lost to a team from Bishop Strachan School in another close match. They lost 21-23 and 16-21. “They (Bartlett and Moen) were definitely better than them but nerves played a role as both teams were facing elimination,” said Arpin.

Many of the teams at the All Ontarios play all year long where the kids here play for about a month. “Four of them had national rankings.”
Aprin said he was very pleased with how the girls did and noted that the team they beat in the very difficult “A” Flite went on to win Antique Bronze in the “C” Flite. He noted that the girls were disappointed as they knew they were better than the other teams they faced.
On the second day of the event all the competitors had a chance to watch Chantelle Reid of the Canadian National Team do some demonstrations and talk about what they can do as players to get better. Reid went to Athens for the Olympics representing Canada and is #1 in doubles and #2 in singles at present.