The men’s doubles team of McLean

Brownlee and Derek Janssen won third place at the all-provincial Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) tournament in Niagara Falls a few weeks ago.

They couldn’t be more different, said Lakers coach Mike Quemby.

“McLean’s calm and controlled, focuses his intensity. Derek is very exuberant and likes to shout . . . a lot of fist pumping,” Quemby said. “It’s cool to watch them play.”

It’s this complementary pairing of opposites that is the secret to their success this year, the team has said.

“It was good because when I would get down on myself and get quiet (Janssen) would always be like, ‘C’mon, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go’. Sometimes he would get over-confident and I would bring him back down,” said Brownlee. He was quick to point out that their complementary skills were also factors to their success, such as the power from Janssen and his own ability to strategize or play the finesse game at the net.

“If he was smashing nobody could get it back,” he said.

Unfortunately in the second game of their fourth match to decide second place the team surrendered 10 straight points following the interval break, after leading 11-9.

“That really hurt them. They weren’t able to recover,” Quemby said. “They lost their focus. (Badminton) is a real mental game. Before the interval they were on a roll . . . they just lost their focus. The other team got on a roll and (Brownlee and Janssen) weren’t able to recover.

They entered the tournament as the number four seed and bettered it by one with an OFSAA competition record of 3-1.

There were 240 players at the tournament. It is second in participants only to track and field.

After three years Janssen felt satisfied with his final result and attributes the third place to confidence.

“It was great. It was the same as last year; the same as the year before that. It’s a good time,” he said. “McLean and I were a lot more confident we could do better (this year).”

This was the second season that the team played at OFSAA together.

Brownlee was happy with their effort. “It’s the best that I have played at OFSAA in my three years and it felt really good,” he said, attributing the result to added experience and practices. “Last year I was with (Janssen).”

Grade 11 student Brownlee has made the all-provincials every year of high school, but is thinking about playing singles next year, since his partner of two years is most likely leaving for post-secondary education.

This season included a first place at the Georgian Bay Secondary Schools Association and a first place at the Muskoka-Parry Sound tournament for the team.

Although the Lakers team members were nervous before the tournament, everyone held it in check and played well and had a good time.

Friday night, before Brownlee and Janssen’s Saturday matches, the entire team went out to see the sights.

Also making the trip to the all-provincials were the mixed doubles team of Jacob Schandlen and Serena Deketele, the ladies doubles team of Mara Goodyear and Rachel DeCaire, and the men’s doubles team of Kenny Cunningham and Bruce Burdett, both of whom are in junior grades.

For the third year of OFSAA entry, Deketele said it was a great experience just to have been there.

“We didn’t really play up to our expectations. We played teams that were stronger. We lost. It was disappointing,” she said.

After two years of mixed and three consecutive years at OFSAA, the teenager is looking forward to playing ladies doubles like she did in Grade 9, when she first went to the all-provincials.

The Grade 11 student said, “OFSAA is just fun to be there. You get to be with all your friends, playing a sport you want to play.”

Quemby and the team are thankful for the help that Curt Hillman provided throughout the season with his experience and skills as a coach. He was integral to the team’s success this year and other years, Quemby said.