VEREENIGING. – Judy Strydom (87) and Ruth Doonan (84) have been friends for years and share a passion for the same sport – badminton.

You will find them every Tuesday morning at the Olympians in Vanderbijlpark where they play club matches.

Ruth is also part of the Brummer Badminton Club in Three Rivers. The club members gather on Thursday evenings at the little church in the Three Rivers Retirement Village.

Ruth says she used to play when she was in her late teens until she got married. She took up the sport again about 25 years ago and hasn’t stopped since.

Judy recalls how she attended a farm school where they hardly had any sports activities. She first encountered badminton as a student at the former Potchefstroom Onderwyskollege.

“I started playing seriously in 1960 in Durban,” she said. Throughout the years she played for Durban, Port Elizabeth and later the Vaal Triangle. In 1982 she also became a national umpire.

A year later she joined the veteran ranks and represented the Vaal Triangle in Bloemfontein.

Since then, Judy has represented the Vaal Triangle and later on Sedibeng six times as a Master, nine times as a Grand Master, 10 times as a Silver Eagle, and five times as a Golden Eagle.

Her last official tournament was in 2013. Nowadays she only plays for fun and both she and Ruth are now honourary members of the Sedibeng Badminton Club.

The two friends agree that badminton keeps them going and because they play indoors on Tuesdays, the weather doesn’t influence them at all.

“Badminton is a real family sport with no age restriction. We invite everybody to come and join us.

“If you don’t know how to play, we would love to teach you. It’s great fun, good exercise and you get to make lots of new friends all over South Africa,” they said.

The duo loves their badminton-Tuesdays, although Judy admits that she nowadays plays knit one, slip one matches.

“I’m 87, I cannot play all the matches anymore. Unlike Ruth who still plays every match and then goes on to play on Thursdays too!” Judy laughs.

She summed it up beautifully with these wise words: “Life is like a badminton match. If you want to win serve well, return well, play cool, and remember that the game starts with love all.”