Club Spotlight: Badminton Club
By: Nhan Phan
Although this year has been made unpredictable by the pandemic, one of the clubs that has retained a wide range of interest is Badminton Club, currently run by seniors Marco Rayner and Kenneth Elsman, upper Nick Chiu, lowers Jolie Ng and Eric Zhang and prep Colbert Chang,. Throughout this year, Badminton Club has worked with Student Activities to organize two schoolwide badminton tournaments for both singles and doubles, events which attracted a large crowd of community members and spectators. The most recent tournament took place over past weekends, with over 90 players fighting for the champion title.
“There aren’t any other ‘sports’ clubs on campus because other sports have to be in PE. When you are able to just casually play, it brings out people who actually enjoy the sport, not doing it for college or credit or to compete. People are there to have a good time,” Chiu said.
Chiu also discussed his reasons for joining and leading the club. “I started badminton when I was seven. I really enjoyed the sport and I started competing throughout the US and in countries near the US,” Chiu said. “When I was 13, I moved to Taiwan. Badminton over there was way bigger. I was able to train a ton more. Last year I was ranked Top 1 in the US. I have been competing for a ton of my life and even though Exeter doesn’t really have a place for me to train necessarily, I wanted to build a club where I would promote the sport I really enjoy and to see other people succeed.”
Statistically, in the United States, badminton is not as popular of a sport as in Asian countries, such as China, Indonesia and South Korea. This is in part because of the U.S.’s lack of Olympic success; China is currently holding the record for the most number of Olympic medals won in badminton. Through Badminton Club, members have been able to start enjoying a sport that isn’t as common across the U.S.
Ng shared her favorite parts of the club. “For me, joining Badminton Club was a great and rewarding decision. The club welcomes everyone and fosters a comfortable environment for us to destress, hang out with our friends, and also make new ones!”
Zhang reflected upon his involvement in the club. “[Badminton Club] is something that I look forward to every week and I have met a lot of new people through the club. It is very inviting no matter what your skill level is and that is why I think the club is growing so fast.”
Chang was one of the main organizers of the recent doubles tournament and described the process of organizing the tournament. “We would like to take the best aspects [of past organized tournaments on campus] and, keeping in mind that we are trying to draw in the largest crowd possible, reach the largest number of people and introduce badminton and expose people to the sport of badminton as a whole,” he said. “We were only expecting 20 teams or so, but in total, we have 45 teams, which is 90 active participants...It was a great success.”
Prep club member Hansen Tsai was one of the winners in the doubles tournament. “The Badminton tournaments are definitely the highlights. Playing with and against friends is always fun. The friendly competition is really fun!”
Another one of the winners. Prep Gunn Sukhum, appreciated the friendly nature of the tournaments. “There will always be someone at your level and everyone here is very friendly. You will get closer to each other without realizing it. It’s a great way to socialize, everyone can come to join,” Sukhum said.
Competitor in the tournament and prep Vedika Amin said, “My favorite memory of the club was playing in the open doubles tournament with my friends. I had a great time, and I loved seeing so many people take an interest in a sport that isn't too popular in the U.S.”
Rayner explained how he helped lead the club despite the pandemic. “In previous years it was a great experience to stretch beyond my comfort area. We went to a local tournament and it was great to experience competition in Boston. But when COVID first struck, we wanted to keep new members involved,” he said. “So, I reached out to a former US Olympic Coach and organized a Zoom conference where he shared his experience and advice with our members. I’m also very happy that despite COVID, we were able to hold lots of events and interest many new players this year!”
Badminton Club has brought attention to a sport that is not commonly played in the U.S. while building a community of players, spectators and badminton enthusiasts. Although the club encountered several challenges due to the pandemic, Badminton Club has thrived and established itself as a key part of the Academy’s community.