Joy serves up the competition
Year 11 student Joy Lai, currently the national U/19 Girls Singles champion, is a member of the Australian squad who combines VCE studies with a very demanding schedule of badminton tournaments both locally and internationally.
In order to manage her complex study and elite sports commitments Joy manages her time very judiciously. A resilient student with independent learning skills of a high order, she is to be commended for the purposeful way in which she organises her life.
Complementing this are Joy’s teachers who are very supportive. Work requirements must be met, but considerable flexibility and negotiation characterise the working relationship she has with staff.
At School level, Joy plays in our Boys Firsts Badminton team when national commitments permit. On average she plays around fifty percent of matches in the AGSV Summer Competition. This is permissible because the School does not have a Girls Firsts team.
Since Joy commenced playing matches as a Year 8 student, she remains undefeated in singles competition – despite competing against male players, some of whom have been much older and talented state representatives. When Ivanhoe Grammar School took out the 2013 AGSV Boys Badminton Premiership, Joy defeated Camberwell Grammar’s top male player who was in Year 12 at the time.
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