By Jeff Gard/Northumberland 89.7

Port Hope High School’s Sydney Watson is set to compete at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations provincial badminton championships in her hometown.

She will have family and friends at Trinity College School in Port Hope to support her quest for another OFSAA medal as she captured the antique bronze for a fourth-place finish in girls’ singles in 2022. 

One special individual will be missing in the gymnasium, but not from her thoughts, as Watson’s former coach Jolyon Thompson died suddenly in February. Thompson was a gold-medal winning competitor, coach, nationally-accredited referee and Badminton Ontario award winner.

“It’s hard when badminton is like my escape for anything that stresses me out or to get my mind off things so when the person that I see all the time to practice that sport with is also not there, it’s definitely hard so going into the tournament I’m definitely thinking a lot about him and dedicating every game to him,” Watson, who recently won her Central Ontario Secondary School Athletics championship, said. “While I’m playing I’m definitely going to be thinking about things he would say to me in every game, making sure I’m taking my time on my serves and keeping things positive.”

Watson has stenciled the initials JT and a heart on her racket for the OFSAA competition in tribute to coach Thompson.

“Jolyon was so positive and enthusiastic and he was supportive in everything whether it was academics, athletics, your future goals,” she said. “He was someone I was extremely comfortable with and I deeply admired. I really looked up to him and I fed off of his own love for the sport and it really made me more excited and determined to play and be the best I can. I really thank him for all the opportunities he had opened up for me.”  

Since Thompson’s passing, Watson is now being coached by Adam Wilson. He has worked with her in the past and also was formerly coached by Thompson. 

“There’s too many things I could ever possibly say about Jolyon and the impact he’s had on my life and Sydney’s life and just everybody he’s ever coached,” Wilson said. “It’s really an honour to feel like I’m in some way able to carry on his legacy and be a part of that. Certainly I’m nowhere near who he was as a coach or anything like that, but even being able to be a small of that is a pretty big honour.”

Wilson anticipates Watson, with her speed and strength, will be in medal contention again this year at OFSAA. 

“She’s fast - that’s a really big thing for her is being able to just keep the shuttle in play by getting to that one extra shot that maybe her opponent’s not expecting her to get to,” he remarked. “For her size, she’s got a really wicked smash, like really strong, physically powerful coming off of that racket.”

Watson gained confidence with the recent COSSA victory at St. Peter’s Catholic Secondary School in Peterborough. She really was no match for the competition as she even won the final decisively 21-2, 21-7. She said she’s practised a lot since last summer as the fourth-place OFSAA performance served as motivation to keep striving for more. 

“I was very happy with how I did,” Watson remarked. “Since I had never been to a tournament like that, I had no idea what to expect so I didn’t really have any expectations and I didn’t even think I was going to medal. I’m hoping to do that again this year.”

She has mixed feelings about this year’s provincial high school championship being held in Port Hope.

“It’s nice to definitely be at home where I can have a community of family and friends come and watch and support me, but I personally think it’s fun to travel and going away sometimes helps me get put into a more competitive and focused headspace so this year will definitely be something new for me,” Watson said.

Watson competes in any sport available to girls at PHHS, but badminton is one she truly enjoys and continues without outside of school as well.

“I enjoy it because I think there’s a certain etiquette that people have when they play. It’s an extremely respectful game, but it’s very competitive,” she said. “It’s very unique because I think every tournament and every game is vastly different. Everyone has very different playing styles so it definitely keeps things interesting.” 

OFSAA badminton runs from Thursday through Saturday at TCS in Port Hope.