By Darren Lum

Published March 1 2018

Haliburton Highlands Secondary School alumnus and current Humber College badminton player Darcy Schmidt has the chance to showcase his skills at the national collegiate level after he won a gold medal at the Ontario College Athletic Association finals with doubles partner Cameron Lai on Feb. 17 at Mohawk College in Hamilton.

The HHSS Red Hawks 2013 Male Athlete of the Year worked with Lai to win in straight sets (21-12 and 21-15) to take the final and the OCAA men’s doubles championship title over Georgian College. The road to the final included seven consecutive match wins but wasn’t without challenge as the Humber doubles team was pushed in the semifinals by George Brown College. Schmidt and Lai won the first set 21-14 and then narrowly won 23-21. Despite the scare the team never lost a set the entire tournament.

A few days ago Schmidt left to represent the Humber Hawks and the province at the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association Championships which run from Feb. 28 to March 3 at Concordia University of Edmonton.

Schmidt who is a third year police foundations student at Humber could not be reached for comment before he headed to Edmonton for the nationals.

While at HHSS he had a history of success. He was an OFSAA finalist earning his berth as a COSSA champion in his final year. He was involved in the first-ever team title for the school at COSSA in 2013. He then helped the Central Ontario Badminton Association win a silver medal  at the Ontario Winter Games in Muskoka.

Former coach Jason Morissette contacted the paper about the gold medal win for Schmidt calling it an “amazing achievement at a very different level from here at HHSS by a local young man.”

He added “Darcy has put enormous work into the sport from his time here at HHSS to his present prime in the sport at the national level as a talented OCAA student athlete.”