Badminton season has started as students are prepared to compete.
“I’d love to get some wins as a team, and I think that’s definitely achievable this season with this group,” senior Marin Martinez said.
“We want one of our athletes to earn a state qualification,” coach Ryan Wilhelmi said.
Due to the pandemic making everybody remain at home, this year a lot more students are making an appearance to play the game.
“Tons of more people are showing up,” junior Elle Thompson said, “I didn’t have much to do and I love trying new things so I thought why not.”
“I always enjoyed playing with my dad and I wanted to get involved,” junior Martyna Mateja said.
Compared to different sports, badminton is in its own domain because of its own ongoing interaction style, accuracy, and set of rules.
“I love the sport! The strategy of shot placement is like a live game of chess. You must know where you want to place your shot and then you have to physically execute it. It is very exciting to watch,” Wilhelmi said.
Along with these unique characteristics of the sport, badminton also helps teach and develop life skills for the girls.
“It’s a very humbling sport,” Thompson said, “When you are playing singles and you mess up you can only blame yourself to put it lightly. And it doesn’t sound hard until you play an hour long match just to lose and the very end with nobody to blame for it.”
As humbling as the game may be, with the right support system, the athletes will feel ready to play.
“My coach is super understanding,” Martinez said, “I’m super involved in school but I still make badminton a priority. But my coach understands that sometimes I have to show up late and I really appreciate that.”
“To him it’s not just about winning, it’s about having fun and being an athlete,” Thompson said.
The young ladies on the team are eager to play and bond with each other.
“I love the girls I play with and it’s a great way to have fun and get some energy out,” Mateja said.