By: Maliyah Fick
The varsity badminton team’s season has been off to a great start, Senior Andrew Hua said. The team has been winning their games, and they have been getting along, he added.
Hua is a varsity one doubles player. He started playing badminton during his freshman year, and he has been on the team ever since. He has hope that the team will continue to win their games, to grow as a team, and to stay prepared this season, Hua said.
“I think the hardest schools are yet to come,” he said. “A lot of the new kids are playing varsity.”
One of the best parts about being . A lot of it goes into just being with your teammates, and the team feels closer this year than in their previous years, Hua added.
“My favorite part of playing badminton is just the team dynamic and just the variety of games where you really don’t know what’s going to happen,” he stated. “My favorite part about being on the team is just getting along with everyone because we grow on each other.”
The junior varsity team has also been winning most of their games, Junior Christine Ma said. She is a junior varsity one girls’ doubles player. This year, they have a much younger team with very strong players, Ma said. They are also very supportive of one another this season, she added.
“The team is optimistic as our lineup for this year is quite strong,” Ma said. “I think as long as we continue to work hard and stay humble, we’ll have a great season.”
The team feels like one big group this year, Ma added. Everyone on the team is bonding over the same game and going through the same conditioning all together, and it’s one of her favorite parts of being on the team, she said. The skill aspect when it comes to playing is another thing she enjoys about the sport , she said.
“There’s more technique than you’d expect,” Ma said. “So when someone hits a good shot, it’s only that much more impressive.”
According to Varsity Badminton Coach Jerell Maneja, the team has seen new players and new talent this year. He has been coaching badminton at MHS for four years now, he said, and this season has been more successful than they had been previously.
“We are currently sitting third place,” Maneja said. “We have beaten two teams that we did not beat last season, and so this year definitely is an improvement from prior seasons.”
