Senior Girls Badminton Team Places Fourth at Provincials for Second Consecutive Year

The Eric Hamber Senior Girls Badminton Team concluded its 2026 season with a fourth-place finish at the BC School Sports Badminton Provincial Championships, which were held in Burnaby from May 27–29. The result marks the team’s second consecutive year finishing fourth in the province, reinforcing their position amongst the province’s strongest secondary school badminton teams. 

The team’s provincial run came after a strong stretch of victories in early to mid-May, when the senior girls captured the City Championships title before advancing through the Sea to Sky Zone playoffs at Sentinel Secondary on May 13, where they also received first place.

While the senior girls moved on to provincials as city and zone champions, the senior boys also had a strong competitive season, finishing second at the City Championships before being eliminated in the zone playoffs.

For Jaimie Lee (8), competing as a Grade 8 student at provincials was both exciting and intimidating. As one of the youngest members of the senior team, she described the opportunity as a significant milestone. “I was really excited, because as a Grade 8, it was an awesome opportunity to be able to play for Eric Hamber on the senior team,” Lee said. “I was also a little nervous because I was facing new opponents and I didn’t want to let my team down.”

Those feelings were shared by many players, including Rylie Chew (12) and Victoria Tsang (12), who entered the tournament with high expectations after a season spent building toward provincials. 

“I was pretty calm,” Chew said. “I think there was a lot of anticipation because our whole season was sort of building up to provincials, and I think we had really high expectations. So for me, I was a bit nervous, but also really excited.”

Tsang shared that her nerves increased as the tournament advanced. “As each day progressed, we got more nervous,” she said, describing it as a feeling similar to stomach butterflies.

At provincials, Eric Hamber faced some of the strongest badminton programs in the province. One of the tournament’s defining moments came during the match against Fraser Heights Secondary, where third place was on the line, and many of the games stretched into three sets.

“I feel like the most challenging moment was our fight for third [or] fourth place in the tournament because the team we played was decent and most of our games went to three sets,” Lee said.

For the graduating players, the match carried additional significance. “[It was] the last game against Fraser Heights,” said Chew. “[Also,] it was our last game on the team as Grade 12s, and we’ve been on the team since Grade 8.” 

Tsang said the pressure of competing for a podium finish added to the pressure of the match. “It was pretty intense,” she said. “Physically, we were also really tired from the last three days.”

Despite ultimately finishing fourth, the players reflected positively on their performances throughout the tournament and emphasized how competitive their last game was. “It was a very close game, and it could’ve gone either way,” Chew said.

Another memorable moment came during a matchup against Steveston-London Secondary, the defending provincial champions. During the tournament, Tsang and Chew had the opportunity to play together in doubles, something they had not done for a while in school games. “We got to play together, and I don’t think we’ve played together in a school game in years,” Chew said. 

The pair won one of their matches against the defending champions and nearly won another against players with national-level experience. “It was very exciting and also very intense,” Chew said. 

For the two seniors, the opportunity to share the court one final time served as a fitting conclusion to their final provincial tournament together after five years with the program. 

Looking back on the season as a whole, the players expressed pride in both the team’s achievements and the effort that went into reaching them. “Overall, I’m proud of how far we’ve come as a team,” Lee said. “We all became good friends and supported each other the whole time.”

That sense of connection and unity extended beyond tournament results. Throughout the season, players uplifted one another through demanding practices, difficult matches, and championship competition.

“I think it was really supportive,” Tsang said. “We always say we started playing badminton for the badminton, but we really stayed for the people.” Lee described the same atmosphere from her experience as a younger player on the team. “It was electric,” Lee said. “Exciting and nervous. Friendly and fun.”