Hidden Valley students let their presence be known Wednesday at the 2009 Yukon Schools Athletic Association Badminton Tournament.

The elementary school won an impressive four medals, taking a pair of golds and a couple of silvers in this year's competition.

"I just have terribly hard-working kids that don't mind putting in the extra work," said Hidden Valley coach Peter Harms. "They never quit, they never give up, they are always dying to get into the gym and kids like that just end up being good."

Takhini Elementary School and Elijah Smith Elementary School hosted the tournament. All 10 Whitehorse elementary schools took part, with five playing at each venue.

The competition was open to Grade 6 and 7 students. Approximately 180 kids played throughout the five categories at both schools. The different categories included boys singles, girls singles, boys, doubles, girls doubles and mixed doubles.

At Elijah Smith School, a round-robin format was used and the top two schools in each pool qualified for the playoffs.

Students needed to win two games before a match was over. Individual games used a rally point system, awarding a point after ever serve. All games went up to 15.

"I think the kids have had a lot of fun," said Lisa Harvey, organizer of Elijah Smith's side of the tournament. "They are responsible for scoring their games and knowing the rules, so there's no referee standing there. They are playing on their own, there's adults here and coaches if they have a question or can't figure it out, but it's good because they have to be independent."

Category winners included Hidden Valley's Peter Joe Jensen, who beat fellow schoolmate and friend Aidan Uiterwaal in the boys' singles final. After falling behind 3-0 in the opening game, Jensen went on to win 15-10 and then 15-13.

"It's actually really good, because everyone kind of thought I was coming in as one of the favourites," he said. "I got fourth in the Yukon Championships badminton (last year), so this felt actually way better."

Jensen said he learned a lot from the Yukon Championships, most importantly not to hit the birdie right back at his opponent.

In his match against Uiterwaal, Jensen successfully was able to pick the corners, keeping most of his returns nice and low.

"It's kind of funny that my game was the corners because in our school we have a really small gym and we always have to hit it right at each other, so it doesn't go out of the court," he said. "So it's actually really hard for Hidden Valley kids to learn to hit it to the sides."

Harms said sports are important at Hidden Valley.

"If you come to Hidden Valley we do every single one," he said.

Other results in the boys' singles category included Jono Runioins winning a bronze medal.

The girls' singles final was postponed until today because one of the players had an orthodontist appointment on Wednesday.

Ecole Emilie Tremblay's Camille Galloway will take on schoolmate Charlotte Rentmeister. Both players finished first in their respected pool.

Selkirk Elementary School won bronze in the girls' singles, thanks to the play of Anja Reti.

Hidden Valley won its second gold in the mixed doubles category with the school's team of Teah Dickson and Dominic Korn.

Trent Humphrey and Jarrett Malchow came in first in the boys' doubles category.

The Christ the King duo won over Hidden Valley's Tyson Schubert and Clayton Mervyn.

Ecole Emilie Tremblay placed third with its team of Ryan Chippett and Dylon Reed.

More badminton results are expected to be available for Friday's paper.