January 22nd, 2008
Nathaniel's scores for his first round matches were 15-4, 15-4 and 15-12, 15-8. Following his first round success, he went through to the knock-out rounds.
He won his next game 31-23 and, in the quarter-finals, he secured a 31-28 triumph.
Nathaniel came through his semi-final 31-28 and then had a long wait for the final.
He kept himself motivated and stormed to a 31-23 win to secure the gold medal.
Nathaniel entered the tournament last year and won a silver medal.
He was pleased to go one better this time around, demonstrating his continuing development.
Nathaniel is back in action next month when he returns to the Sheffield Institute of Sport for the U13 Gold BE Tournament.
This should qualify him for a place in the U13 Nationals at Milton Keynes later in the year.
He was unable to attend the Nationals last year due to a broken toe. However, through the results he achieved in only three tournaments last year, he was ranked in the top 50 and in the Grade One category.
For the last three months Nathaniel has been playing in the adult badminton singles league in Grimsby on the advice of his coach at the time, Jason Marshall, who is now at university.
This enabled Nathaniel to put his game-plan and skills to practice against different types of players.
Nathaniel's new coach, John Holland, has been working hard on his overall game, focusing particularly on movement, defence and attack.
These skills have proved a vital addition to his armoury and were an impact on his superb performances in Sheffield.