By Jessica George, Summer reporter
Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Tim Desjardins and Jamie Jensen competed in the all-Ontario badminton championships held May 1-3 at Brock University in St. Catharines.
They were entered in the senior boys’ doubles division and had their eyes set on the gold medal, but unfortunately they came up a little short.

The pair certainly got off to a great start last Thursday, beating Ryan DeMarchant and David Chuang (Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference) in their best-of-three opening match by scores of 21-16 and 21-15.
Then they scooped up another win against Jonathan Tessier and Michel Robin (North Eastern Ontario Athletic Association), although it went the full three sets.
They won the first set at 24-22, lost the second one 22-20, but then pulled it together in the third-and-deciding set by a 21-19 score.
Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse in their third match of the day against Ian Lau and Jackson Tan (Region of Peel Secondary School Athletic Association).
The Muskie duo were swept by scores of 21-14 and 21-6 to drop down to the ‘B’ flight.
They then were eliminated from further contention with a 21-17 and 21-12 loss to Brad Gemmel and Tim D’Ana (Southern Ontario Secondary School Association) on Friday.
“When I first got there, it definitely wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” noted Jensen. “Once I got there, we had a pretty good chance, I thought.”
“Last year, you see, we won one [match] by default,” echoed Desjardins. “So we were doing great this time around.”
Both felt they were pretty much even with most of the teams, which explains why they only were one win away from being eighth across Ontario. But in the end, they attributed their ouster to their own laziness, as well as the new scoring system.
“We went into the game lazy . . . and we went in too stupid,” said Desjardins. “With the new scoring system, we couldn’t make little mistakes and that’s how we lost—stupid mistakes.
“With the old scoring system, we had a chance,” he added. “We could have made those mistakes.”
“. . . and once you get down five or six points, you feel out of the game,” Jensen interjected. “It’s really hard to come back after that.”
The pair had limited practice time leading up to OFSAA. On average, they practise four times a week but when it comes time for tournaments, they feel like they don’t get enough time.
Unfortunately, the location and timing of the tournament both cut into their practice time.
Jensen said tournaments occur during the school week, so they lose practise for the week. Plus when he arrives at a tournament in southern Ontario, he feels all achy and jet-lagged.
Upon arrival, after the ceremonies, they are given a quick 15-20 minute practice and that’s it. Then after that initial practise, they only are given five-minute warm-ups right before their matches.
It’s hard to be in the zone right before a match when you’re going up against so many southern Ontario teams that don’t have the travel time to contend with.
But overall, the pair had a great experience at OFSAA. “I felt a lot more calm [this year],” said Desjardins.
“It really just felt like badminton again,” added Jensen.
Between the two of them, they did much better this year compared to last. “This year we just calmed down and played,” they said.
OFSAA also had organized a few sightseeing excursions for the players to attend after their matches. This helped to calm their nerves and take their mind off of their impending, high-stakes matches scheduled for the next day.
When asked about their plans for next year, Jensen said he is moving on to university in Winnipeg. But he intends to keep up with badminton and hopefully still will find time to enter some tournaments.
Desjardins still has one more year of high school and definitely intends to stick with badminton—and hopefully make it to OFSAA one last time. He’s unsure if he will enter in male doubles or in the mixed doubles competition, though.
It’s all up to who he can find as a “worthy partner” to replace Jensen.