Pilling advances to OFSAA
Peter Pilling of Eden captured the boys singles title at the SOSSA badminton championships Wednesday. Photo by: BILL POTRECZ
A few years ago, Peter Pilling watched his older sister, Jenneke Pilling, become the first badminton singles player from Eden to advance to OFSAA.
Now he will get a chance to see how he fares at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championships after capturing the boys singles title Wednesday at the SOSSA championships at Heritage Christian College.
“I’m really excited,” said Pilling, a 16-year-old, Grade 11 student. “My sister went two years ago so I’m kind of following in her footsteps.”
Pilling defeated Dale Whitmore of Westdale 21-10, 21-16 to capture the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association championship.
“I knew of a few people who were going to be here so at the start of the year I knew if I made it to SOSSA these were going to be the people I had to play against,” he said.
Pilling he knew he was in for a fight against Whitmore.
“It was a good match, for sure. I knew he was a guy who was going to make me work hard the whole match,” he said. “I watched him play and I knew he wasn’t going to get worn down which explains why the second set was closer.”
Pilling’s approach to badminton is to keep it simple.
“I know there a lot of other guys who know more about badminton than I do so I make sure I never get myself into positions where they are attacking.
“I want to make sure I never get myself in trouble.”
Pilling grew up on tennis but switched to badminton in Grade 7 at Grapeview Public School where former teacher, Angela Esau, was a big influence.
“I played a lot of tennis when I was younger but as soon as I got to Grade 7 and I went to the first (badminton) practice and I really liked the sport,” he said. “Of all the racquet sports, badminton is definitely the one that came the most naturally to me.”
Pilling, who also plays volleyball, basketball and tennis for Eden, captured SOSSA titles in Grade 9 and 10 at the junior level.
He’s excited for the opportunity to head to North Bay next week for OFSAA, but realizes it won’t be an easy task.
“I know there are going to be a lot of great players. It’s going to be a lot of competition.”
He defeated Ethan Nvell of Cayuga Secondary School 21-3, 21-3 and Joe Ye of Saint Paul 21-10, 21-6 en route to the finals.
Cyril Fu of Smithville Christian High School topped Sheldon Pols of Heritage Christian in the boys open final.
The team of Harb Memon and Charlie Jeffries of Eden defeated Mitchell Waldt and John Higenell of E.L. Crossley in the boys doubles final.
The duo of Olivia Vermeer and Eric van den Boogaard of Smithville Christian High School defeated the team of Selena and Sean of Great Lakes in the mixed doubles final.
Full names were not provided on the scoresheets.
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