End of Season Party

Reminder that our end of the party is Friday, May 22nd. We will have it outside at Dunning with the school lunchroom as a backup if the weather does not cooperate. It is a potluck so:

• Seniors, Juniors and Coaches are bringing main dishes
• Sophomores bring side dishes
• Freshman bring drinks and desserts

We will also elect next years captains and give out awards.

Here are some pictures from the year...

Two points

What a way to end the season. Doua and Da were two points away from Central's first Doubles State Championship. Congratulations! - We have never had a doubles team in the final game.

If you did not see the tourney, Doua and Da put on a doubles clinic. I am not sure how many of their drops hit the floor, but there were plenty. They played smart, moved well and played like champions. One more shot at it girls..

Badminton picnic and awards on Friday after school at Dunning:

Juniors & Seniors (and coaches) bring main dishes,

Sophomores bring side dishes, and

Freshman bring drinks & deserts

See Reinhardt or Brigger with any questions.

Final Four

Central 4, Highland Park 3.

With a win yesterday, Central's badminton team is heading to Burnsville today (Wednesday) to compete in the "Final Four" of Minnesota Badminton. Winning in 2 games yesterday were Doua Thao/Da Chang, Melissa Vang/Nitsan Chang, Kelly Thao/Mai Tong Yang and Senior Captain Dawn Vang. They face the Johnson Governors.

State Tournament

Congratulations Central, you have earned the #3 seed in the Minnesota State Badminton Team Tournament. This means we host the first round of the tournament. Nice!

We will be playing Southwest on Tuesday at about 4pm. If we win that match, we play the winner of the Highland Park/Patrick Henry match-up. All four teams will be at Central.

If we win both matches on Tuesday, we travel to Burnsville for the Final Four of Minnesota badminton.

Tuesday, we are going to need some help. There is testing in the gym all week. We need to get all the tables and chairs out so we can host our matches. Anyone is welcome: players, friends, family, alumni, teachers, coaches, mangers.... It should not take long if you show up. We can start the tear down at 2:30ish. Thanks in advance.

City Tourney

The City Tournaments start on Wednesday. Considering the records some of our individuals had over the course of the regular season, we should do very well. Here are the rosters:

Varsity:

SINGLES

Dawn Vang

Mai Kou Lor

Kia Vang

KaLia Xiong

DOUBLES

Doua Thao / Da Chang

Melissa Vang / Nitsan Chang

Kelly Thao / Mai Tong Yang

Junior Varsity:

SINGLES

Sue Lee

Nancy Xiong

Mai Kou Thao

Hannah Johnson

DOUBLES

Maria DeLaundreau / Kris Neff

Mai Xiong / Panny Xiong

Mee Xiong / Chai Yang

I had a lengthy coaches meeting today to talk about the tourney. There are a few things that will be of interest to you:

Varsity:

• Both singles and doubles will have the same format. (No "pool play" like last year for doubles)

• Doua & Da earned the number 2 seed in doubles - congrats!!!

• A "bye" counts as a game - so if you loose after a bye game, you are done. Because of the numbers, there are 11 byes for doubles.

JV:

• They are trying a new format for JV this year. It involves several pools followed by elimination rounds. You will get it when you get there.

No matter what happens, forget about things you can not control. You can't change format, court, opponent, ranking, etc. If you continue to score more points than the other team you will advance no matter your/their rank or the format of the tournament. Have fun - you have earned a position in the 2009 St. Paul City Badminton Tournament.

Unless there were troubles we did not see, I only know the first match-ups for the Varsity:

Kia vs. Alana (Harding)

KaLia vs. May (Como)

Dawn vs. Kathryn (Hum)

Mai Kou vs. Yer (Hum)

Mel/Nit vs. Sha/Nai (Hum)

Doua/Da vs. Lauren.Kristina (HP) - in 2nd round, due to #2 rank bye

Kelly/Mai Tong vs. Mai Khou/Marina (Hard) - in 2nd round, due to luck of draw bye

The busses will leave around 2:30 for Harding (Var) and Johnson (JV). Bring some (healthy) snacks - it might take a little longer than a regular match.

Loss at Harding

Varsity: Central 2, Harding 5

JV: Central 3, Harding 4

Highlight:

Kalia Xiong - first Varsity match and Win - In 2 games