Olivia McClair and Amanda Tomm may be teammates on Kelly Road secondary school's badminton team, but they are also competitors on the court.
McClair got the best of Tomm Friday night to win the U19 women's singles final at the 2014 Junior, Open and Masters Badminton tournament at the Northern Sport Centre.
McClair, a 15-year-old KRSS Grade 10 student, beat her more veteran teammate Tomm, a 17-year-old Grade 12 student, in straight sets, 2-0.
"We have to be so serious when we play each other," said McClair. "But we are also teammates."
Besides Tomm, McClair and Courtney Anderson, her KRSS teammate, have been neck-and-neck in singles play and it wasn't until a tournament in Kelowna that McClair beat her.
"I used to play full-time singles, but in the last couple years I've focused on doubles and mixed doubles," said Tomm. "Olivia played really, really well."
McClair has only played badminton for the last two and half years, and like Tomm, plays club with the Shuttlesport Badminton Academy.
"I love the pace of it [badminton] and how fast it is," said McClair, who has her sights set on veterinary school when she graduates from high school. "There is so much more to it... it's just not seeing how many we can hit back and forth. A tournament like this reminds me how much I love the sport, there is so much competition."
Players ages 6 - 86 from northern B.C. competed at the three-day tournament.
The U19 women's doubles final was an all KRSS afair, as Tomm teamed with Anderson to defeat McClair and her partner Katie Timms in straight sets.
Tomm and her partner Jeremy Cote from Fort St. John won Sunday's mixed doubles open event, defeating Lisa Davison (the Shuttlesport Academy coach) and Lance Gordon in the final 2-1 (21-14, 16-21, 21-16).
"Playing in an [open] tournament like this is really, really awesome," said Tomm. "I love playing with adults."
When Tomm graduates from high school this spring, she'll join the Thompson River University WolfPack in September.
