Pathy would like an OFSAA double
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Glendale HS Gemini’s Jen Pathy has been successfully juggling two high school sports – badminton and soccer – in the last few weeks.
Pathy finished second in senior girls singles at the WOSSAA badminton championships about two weeks ago to qualify for OFSAA this week in Chatham.
“Finally,” grinned Pathy, ready to leave Thursday for her first-ever OFSAA. “First time.”
Her path to the Ontario badminton championships opened a bit, in part, without competition from long-time Gemini teammate Olivia Marve.
“She was always good competition,” Pathy nodded. “Then a lot of the girls who were ranked higher were fifth-years last year, so they were all gone.”
But it wasn’t an easy road.
“There was the one girl I had to play, the same age as me, she was really good. She’s been playing all the divisions – and she beat me (for WOSSAA gold).”
Pathy also plays midfield for the Gemini girls soccer team, which opened its TVRA South East season Wednesday with a 5-1 win over Woodstock Collegiate Institute at the Tillsonburg Soccer Park.
“Luckily, my badminton coach (Louie Tzavelas) has been pretty lenient with days I can go (to soccer). Practices for badminton are usually about three hours, so I can go to half-soccer, half-badminton.”
Pathy scored Wednesday in the home opener. Taylor Campbell netted a hat trick, and Michaela Gubesch added a single in a dominant victory.
“I thought we played excellent – this was an awesome game,” said Pathy. “Our passing was really nice today. It was really ‘on’ compared to our tournament (in Aylmer) a couple weeks ago. I thought we played really well today.
“We had a ton of shots – it should have been more (than 5-1).”
Glendale had won twice at East Elgin’s pre-season tournament, but also lost to the Aylmer hosts.
“Our last game, it was… I don’t know what happened,” said Pathy, recalling their loss to the Eagles.
“It wasn’t our best game,” said Gemini co-coach Scott Gooding.
Glendale travels to Dorchester (1-0) Friday, May 3 for Game 2 of their five-game TVRA regular season.
“And I won’t be there because I’m at OFSAA,” said Pathy, wishing she could do both.
JUNIOR-SENIOR MIX
Glendale went into Wednesday’s game with 20 players on its roster. Seven are high school veterans – mostly fifth-year players. But the majority of the team is in Grade 9.
“There is kind of a divide,” said Pathy, reminded of what it was like when she was in Grade 9-10. “It’s good to see they’re playing their hardest and keeping up. Our team moved up every year, and now it’s their team, and they’re going to be moving up together every year.”
With one OFSAA under her belt, Pathy would like to make it a ‘double’ with the Gemini soccer team.
“I think we have a really good chance this year because there’s two going this year, because it’s in the WOSSAA region this year. We should have a good chance.”