John Langford is back on the offence.
A month after his 15th birthday, Langford was in fine form on his home court last weekend as Stettler hosted its annual junior B badminton tournament.
The top-ranked Langford knocked off older opponents en route to winning the under-16 singles’ championship Saturday at the Stettler Elementary School gym.
He credited his pro-active style with victories over Saskatoon’s Brandon Redekop in the final (21-17, 21-16) and Mark Lisoway of the Edson club (Okotoks) in their semifinal (21-17, 21-18).
“I’ve been kind of changing around my play style for a bit,” said Langford, a Grade 9 student at William E. Hay Composite High School.
“I did play defensively for a while, just to change it up at the start of the year. But, no, that wasn’t really working for me. I need to go back to offensive play and attack more. That’s how I play, and that’s how I played today against Mark and Brandon, and I took those games. Today, it helped.”
In those playoff matches, Langford was up against familiar players that he’s already faced this season.
“I played Lisoway in Okotoks, and he had actually beat me there,” Langford said. “And then, I had played Redekop in Saskatchewan just last weekend, and he had beat me there.
“I kind of knew what to expect (in the Stettler final) after how he played last game, so it was a bit easier. I played it that way and I took it.
“You just watch how they play, and try and make your game so that you can adjust to how they play — and win.”
Although it was Langford’s hometown gym, Redekop had a vocal contingent of Saskatoon supporters in the stands. Langford’s teammates from the Stettler Junior Badminton Club answered with applause in support of the champion.
“People from the high school are coming down, watching me for the finals,” Langford said. “I had a few buddies come and cheer me on. That’s always good.”
The high school gym hosted the under-19 division in the Stettler tournament.
On occasion this season, Langford has moved up to the under-19 level to test himself against even older opponents.
“I was playing up in Saskatoon, and I won consolations there, so that made me happy,” said Langford, who showed his happiness in Stettler with fist pumps after scoring key points.
He’s been a busy boy this season, making tournament stops in Calgary, Edmonton, Okotoks, Saskatoon and Stettler.
Langford’s winning ways and focus don’t surprise Stettler coach Bruce LaRocque.
“He’s in top form,” LaRocque said. “He’s doing very well.
“He has maturity beyond his years. In kids 15 years old, a lot of times you see tempers and so on, whereas with John, you can’t tell whether he’s up or down. He’s playing the same game, the same points, every time.”
The five-foot-11, 160-pound Langford complements his badminton training with exercise.
“I am working out quite a lot,” he said. “I do cardio here and there, and a lot of weight training.”
The William E. Hay freshman seems to have also adjusted to high school life.
“I love it. High school is great. It’s fun.”
In other Saturday action, Langford teamed up with Kurt George of Erskine for under-16 boys’ doubles play. In the bronze-medal match, they lost to a couple of their clubmates, Kyle Poapst of Stettler and Ryland Stefanik of Big Valley.
Redekop and Andre Inthavong defeated Brandon Chiu and Michael Suey in the doubles’ final.
In the under-16 mixed doubles division, Stefanik and Stettler’s Cassidy Nichols were the silver-medallists. The gold-medallists were Lisoway and Emma Finnegan.
In under-19 boys’ singles action, Taylor Chase of Stettler advanced to the bronze-medal game before losing to Nathaniel Bergbusch.
Chase had a breakthrough performance in the Stettler tournament.
More than 30 members of the Stettler club participated in their home tourney, which attracted 132 competitors in under-12, under-14, under-16 and under-19 divisions. Players came from Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, which took its Winter Games team to Stettler.
Eight entries from Stettler took home medals.
“We’ve done quite well,” LaRocque said. “I’m satisfied with our results. The kids are all having fun. We’ve had some success. We don’t win ’em all, but we sure have some fun.”
Stettler plans to send entries to an Airdrie tournament in March and the junior B provincials at Olds in April.
“There’s two more events for most of these guys,” LaRocque said. “For John (Langford) and some of the other better players that we have, they’ll play A events as well.
“If things go right, I’ll take them to nationals.”