Badminton

Badminton is about more than just the game. For Annie and Kerry Xu, who played women’s doubles for the USA Olympic Badminton team this year, the sport is a passion, according to an interview with NBC News. 

Ricky Xu (12), who has been playing for over four years and is currently on the varsity badminton team, understands this feeling. As a senior, Xu doesn’t know where he’ll end up and if he’ll keep playing; what it comes down to is his excitement for the sport. 

“[Whether or not I keep playing] really depends on if my passion is still here in the future. I’ve made some … good memories with badminton on the team, and it’s something I would pursue if nothing major happens,” Ricky said. 

The Xu sisters have been playing since they were eight years old. Recently, they took a leave of absence from their jobs to pursue their dream of qualifying for the Olympics. 

For the Xu sisters, though, badminton is about more than just the game. “Our next [goal] might be to try to promote the sport and grow the sport in the U.S. because it’s not that well known right now,” Annie said. 

This is seen even at the high school badminton level, such as when the school struggled to hire coaches for the spring season last school year, resulting in the team starting practices behind schedule, according to Ricky.

“You know how we almost couldn’t find coaches? It’s because [badminton is] so small [in the U.S.] We shouldn’t have a problem [finding coaches],” Ricky said.

Kristina Wang (12), who plays for the varsity badminton team, agreed. 

“Badminton is really popular in China and [other] Asian countries. I feel like it definitely deserves more recognition outside of where it’s popular [in order] to have more choices in terms of school sports for students because common sports like football or soccer might not be for everyone,” Wang said.

To represent their country, seven badminton players from the U.S. traveled to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games to compete. Although the U.S. did not medal in badminton this year, for Guangying Zhang, head coach of the varsity badminton team, the sport is about more than just the game.

There are four different kinds of badminton matches: men’s singles, women’s singles, mixed doubles, and men’s and women’s doubles. For each match, there is the potential to play three sets of 21 points. China has been dominant in badminton for many years, along with Indonesia and Korea, as seen by these countries’ medal counts in the sport.

In a women’s singles semifinal match between China and Spain, Zhang was impressed by the sportsmanship between the athletes, especially after the Spanish player, Carolina Marin, injured herself and could not finish out the match.

“The Chinese player was lucky to get into [the final round] because I don’t think she could’ve won [against Marin]. The Chinese player lost in the final to [Korea] … [and] during the medal ceremony, the Chinese player brought a pin to show respect to … Marin,” Zhang said. “That’s the spirit of the Olympics, the players respect each other [and] care about each other … I respect that Chinese player for doing such a gesture.” 

Reportedly, the pin, depicting the Spanish flag, brought a smile to Marin’s face during the ceremony. 

But there were plenty of successes for the sport of badminton as a whole during the Games. 

In men’s singles, Viktor Axelsen of Denmark defended his Olympic gold medal  against Thailand. Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand won the silver medal, winning Thailand its fourth medal ever and its first in badminton.

Watching professionals such as these was “a motivation factor for self-improvement,” according to Wang. For high school players, seeing badminton on a world stage is important for furthering the sport, regardless of the end result of the match. 

“Seeing these top Olympic athletes compete, especially since badminton isn’t that recognized in the U.S., really gives a new perspective. Seeing them perform and seeing how athletic [they are] … me realize there’s a big gap between the top performers … and the normal players,” Ethan Jin (12), who plays badminton for the varsity team, said. 

Jason Xu (12), who has played badminton for over four years and is part of the varsity badminton team, agreed. 

“When I watch these matches, since they’re at an international level you can’t [be] at the same level as them, so what you can do is try to mimic or learn from them. That’s the best way to improve [at] badminton.”

As a coach, Zhang believes that having less experienced badminton players, such as those who play on high school teams, watch the sport at a high level is essential. 

“It’s to encourage those kids, like high school kids or earlier … you can learn from [the professionals],” Zhang said.

A consequence of the sport being relatively unknown in the U.S. is seen by a gap in skill level between the U.S. and other countries during competition. This year, though, Zhang saw improvement and a closing of what used to be a seemingly insurmountable gap. The game of badminton is not just about winning. It is about “the progress that [the players] made,” which he saw in particular with the U.S.’ mixed doubles pair, according to Zhang.

This progress was encouraging to Jin, as well. 

“I think it was fun to see the top players dominate but it was also nice seeing some players that I hadn’t really heard of from the U.S., especially in one of the mixed doubles games,” Jin said. “It was a U.S. pair against a Chinese pair and they actually did pretty decent against China, who have been traditionally dominant. It was nice to see the U.S. pair put up a fight. It was really cool to see that [the U.S.] can field some decent players.” 

For Kaden Ly (12), who plays for the badminton team, the Olympics is important because it “increases interest in [badminton]” and “shows off the sport at a high level.”

Looking into the future, badminton has the potential to gain more traction in the U.S. through global events like the Olympic Games, according to Jin. 

“The Olympics is the highest level of competition and it’s such a big international event, so I think it helps shed light on a lot of these lesser-known sports like badminton. People can actually realize that athletes from their country are participating and get more domestic involvement hopefully,” Jin said.

by Cass Love