The high school badminton season is underway and Minitonas’ Jackson Kurtz is doing great things for himself.

Playing in the Flin Flon Bash this past weekend, Jackson had a dominating weekend.

He placed first in the men’s singles and he was second in men’s doubles. The 16-year-old also placed second in the mixed doubles competition.

The cool thing about his mixed doubles silver medal was who he played with. Jackson teamed up with a player from Snow Lake. He had never met him prior to playing with him at the event.

“I was really, really proud of how I did at the tournament,” said Kurtz. “I’ve been playing badminton since October and I felt really good going in. I lost to one of my teammates earlier in the round-robin and instead of getting down on myself, I just tried focusing that much more and I ended up winning the rest of my games. I was really happy.”

“Getting silver in the doubles was a really good feeling as well, it was fun playing with someone I’ve never met before,” added Kurtz. “We came up short against a Dauphin duo in the final but it was still a really good game. I learned a lot over the weekend and it was a great experience.”

Although the high school season just started, Jackson has been busy. He’s been with the club team since October and he played in a few tournaments before Flin Flon. Playing in those prepared him to play some of the best high school badminton players from across the province.

“Instead of just getting my shots over the net this year, I’m trying to add more finesse and power to them,” said Kurtz. “I think the combination of those has allowed me to have the success I’ve had. I’ve learned so many different techniques from playing many different players.”

Although it’s not a long season, Jackson will be very busy moving forward leading up to the provincials. Within the next two weeks, Kurtz will take part in the Gimli tournament, the Sectional Championships in Swan River and the Zone Championships in Grandview.

The provincials are May 3-4 at R.D. Parker Collegiate.

“I think I should have a good shot at making the provincials because I made it last year,” added Kurtz.

After that Jackson will head to Brandon for a tournament with a friend of his.

“I know there are many good players from around the province and it’s going to be hard moving forward,” said Kurtz. “I’m just trying to keep it going and I’ll work my hardest to have success.”

“I just really need to be able to adapt to the other player,” he said.