No regular Joe
Joe Ye is a natural.
The 17-year-old, Grade 12 student at Saint Paul grew up in his native China with a badminton racket in his hands and brought that expertise to Canada when he immigrated three years ago.
Ye defeated Adam Beaucock-Schmura of Lakeshore Catholic in the boys singles final at the Zone 3 high school badminton championships Thursday at Jean Vanier.
“Joe comes with some background so it’s different from a lot of the high school students who come in fresh,” Saint Paul coach Kristin McDonald said. “He has a lot of coaching expertise as well. He helps a lot of players in practice and stuff.
“The sense of the court he has and his fundamentals are very strong from his background so it’s really nice to work with him.”
Ye, who said his strengths are his ability to hit long and saving smashes, is in his sixth season of competitive badminton.
“I started playing back in China and it’s pretty popular there,” he said. “My friends played badminton so I followed the trend.”
Ye admits the adjustment to a new country has be challenging.
“It’s not that difficult but I still have to learn a lot of English,” he said. “I have to take an (English) test to get into university and I just missed. I was .05 below the requirement.”
Ye was hoping to get into Waterloo and study computer science, but is now planning to study engineering at McMaster.
Ye topped Beaucock-Schmura 21-16, 21-15 in the final.
“It was pretty easy,” Ye smiled.
Ye, who finished second last year at zone, had a simple explanation for his ability to get over the hump this time.
“The guy who beat me last year isn’t here this year,” he said.
Ye also defeated Braydon Royston of Westlane and Braedan Cascangette of Jean Vanier.
James Yoon of Centennial topped Billy Pak Lam Lee of Niagara Christian College 13-21, 21-13, 21-14 in the boys open category.
Hye-Jun Song and Kyle Glenney of E.L. Crossley defeated Mitchell Waldt and John Higenell of Crossley 21-18, 21-18 in boys doubles.
Winners advance to the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association (SOSSA) playoffs next Wednesday at Heritage Christian in Smithville.
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