Every Wednesday, birdies fly through the air as badminton rackets whoosh back and forth. 40 to 50 students rally in the gym to practice as part of the Badminton Club, which joined the CIF’s Open Freelance League following months of outreach and is taking initiative to increase the sport’s accessibility.
This process of making badminton more accessible and joining the Freelance League involved negotiating with the athletic department and additional school staff, according to club co-president and junior Angela Yu. Through meetings, the club was able to establish boundaries for the gym badminton matches, create team shirts and find practice windows, according to club co-president and junior Josh Xu.
“After doing this process for a while, we got a coach now, and we have structured trainings every Tuesday and Thursday in the morning,” Xu said. “We got into CIF as well. That was a big accomplishment for us.”
Yu said that creating a CIF team and improving badminton visibility on campus has been difficult since badminton is not as well-known in IUSD. Although the team was not able to compete in many matches as a CIF team since joining in March, the club saw increased drive and consistent participation, according to Xu and Yu, respectively.
“Our players have been working and training extremely hard to help our team progress in terms of ranking [and] in terms of our accomplishments,” Yu said. “Really just being able to immerse ourselves in that competitive environment has pushed us all of us, and collectively as a team and a club, toward a greater state of self-improvement.”
Competing in CIF provides the team with the momentum needed to solidify the transition from a club to a sport at Portola, according to club advisor and business teacher Robert Stowell. The club brought about 20 to 30 students to participate in various events at its recent match at Cypress High.
“Life is always exciting when we have new opportunities, especially to develop and to compete and show off new skills, to have interaction with other schools, to find ways to compete and win or even to compete and lose, and to learn from the experience,” Stowell said.
A goal for the club is for badminton to become an official sport at Portola High, according to Yu. To become an official sport, there needs to be three IUSD schools creating competition teams, so the club aims to encourage other schools to join in this goal.
“Our development of the team and the dedication that our club, and the leadership, has shown a lot of the people in the club how serious badminton is as a sport,” club Vice President and sophomore Ian Tan said. “Most people see badminton as a very recreational sport [that] you play outside in your backyard or at the park, but I think our push for the club, to see that level, shows how serious the sport is, and it actually makes a lot of them want to play competitively and learn about [it].”
