Call it one of the quirks of the OCAA (Ontario Colleges Athletic Association).

The Cambrian Golden Shield badminton team competes in the West Region of the OCAA while the athletes who represent the Collège Boréal Vipères in exactly the same sport are situated over in the East.

This past weekend, however, athletic directors Tim Yu (Cambrian) and Andréa Boyce (Boréal) were thanking their lucky stars for the quirks that come their way.

Because of the intriguing alignment that sees institutions separated by less than ten kilometres slotted into two different brackets, the entirety of the OCAA badminton community found themselves in Sudbury on the weekend, with both local schools hosting play within their own division.

“It’s nice any time that Boréal can host,” noted Vipères head coach and former member of the varsity team, Julien Bélanger, now in his fifth year involved with the staff of the squad. “Because we’re such a small school, there’s only so many things we can host – and it’s fun for some of the other schools to come and see up north.”

And fun for northerners who want to catch some of the action as well, apparently.

“We’re hoping to get a few fans out,” said 20 year-old Kristen Vane, in her second year at Boréal but first within the Architecture program. “My family is coming down from Timmins. Being home is an advantage for us, especially the lighting – and you kind of have guidelines on the court that aren’t your badminton lines.”

Teamed with partner Domenic St-Aubin for the mixed doubles event, the new tandem could not hit the win column but did garner valuable experience, remaining involved with a sport they both love. “It’s kind of like my getaway from everything else,” said Vane. “I think that you need a sport outside of school, and badminton was it for me.”

The only woman representing the Vipères this year, Vane started with badminton in grade three or four, playing right through her high-school days at Thériault, but never exposed to the club game. Given that background, it only stands to reason that she would note a definite difference in making the jump to a program that featured a national medal winning team for the first time last year in the form of Michelle Kozlowskyj and Frédéric Houle.

“Your practices are more structured and you’re playing against a different level of competition,” said Vane. “I wanted to get more consistency (this season), but I still need to get a lot of work done.”

Bélanger would certainly not argue that last point – both with regards to Vane, as well as all of her teammates.

Truth be told, he often finds that his starting point is merely trying to break the athletes from the mindset with which they may have approached the game when the competition was much more modest.

“What I found this year and for a few years now is that everybody wants to hit hard to try and finish the rally,” said Bélanger. “I always try and push to have them focus on just getting it over the net. Place your shot better rather than concentrating so much on the power. It’s much more effective.”

“I don’t know if it’s a northern thing,” he added. “Everybody hits hard in high-school but down south, the rallies last longer. There are different styles of coaching. I always prefer to have the players keep the rally going and wait for the one opportunity when you can take your best shot; try not and force it.”

That said, beyond all else, it’s the atmosphere surrounding his team of just five competing athletes (Nicholas Degagné – men’s singles; Jérémie Lamothe/Jacob Lefebvre – men’s doubles) that keeps Bélanger coming back one season after the next.

“It’s not a big team but it’s very family oriented,” he said. “It’s a very close group. It doesn’t matter who you are practicing with, they all mix well.”

In terms of podium finishes, it would be the Cambrian men’s doubles team of Dominik Brunette Royer and Robin Davis that would steal the local spotlight, earning silver and a trip to the OCAA Championships two weeks from now at Seneca College.

While Brunette Royer has been a mainstay in Sudbury badminton, both at Collège Notre-Dame and with the Sudbury Jr Badminton Club, Davis comes to Cambrian by way of India, having left his homeland to land in the Great White North just over one year ago.

Though he arrived with some background in the sport, the 24 year-old I.T. Business Analysis student contrasted where he has been to where he is at. “I started playing badminton by watching You Tube videos,” said the soft-spoken young man. “There was not much interest, not many academies in my area – and not many good coaches interested in growing the game from the early stages.”

“Jim (Duff) is the first coach of mine who really knows me well,” Davis continued. “I get good coaching here. I played in a small club in India and had never played with a feather bird; we used to play with a plastic one.”

With school and work keeping him busy, Davis and the coaching staff looked for the best possible fit when making out a team lineup that can slot individuals in singles play, doubles or mixed doubles.

“I don’t have as much time to practice here so coach decided that I should play doubles,” he said. “In order to play singles, I would need more endurance and more stamina to compete. I think this is a better decision.”

Posting the best results of any of the Cambrian crew (which also included Cole Lejambe – 4th in singles and Jofray Anto – 5th), Davis and Brunette Royer have worked hard to create on-court chemistry in a short period of time.

“We need to communicate a lot – that’s the first thing,” said Davis. “We have to do many drills together. And I need to set my partner up to have a good smash; that is my duty.”