Badminton is a great sport for a fun competition with its flying shuttlecock and its fast pace. The LHS Badminton club will finally be starting on Monday, February 24th after months of hard work. This new club will provide a space in the PEC after school for students to have loads of fun, build a community, and play the well-loved sport of badminton.
LHS Junior Khadija Kouraj came up with the idea of a badminton club after she started playing badminton a few summers ago. She spent months submitting paperwork, sending emails, and trying to find a time to hold this club that didn’t interfere with other winter and spring sports.
“[It] was a long process,” said Kouraj. “It took a couple of months.”
With help from gym teacher Mrs. Bedrosian, who agreed to act as the club’s advisor, and Mr. Hopkins, the school principal, this club was made possible, and currently has 28 members with possibly more to come. The club will take place in the Physical Education Center from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 pm each Monday unless the track team needs to use it during bad weather.
“I’m so excited,” said sophomore club member Zaynab Diop. “The coronation of badminton provides people who love the sport a chance to play outside of just gym class and allows them the opportunity to get better at it. I’d hope there’d be lots of engagement, and we would be unified … players with Lion’s pride.”
The club sets up six to seven nets where people can do singles, doubles, or even make up their own game. The other club captain, sophomore Tanvi Bobbili came up with a round robin game, where everyone lined up on either side of the net and you had to try and run to hit the Shuttlecock when it was your turn before it hit the ground. This eliminated people and created the ultimate winner. Games like this can be created by any of the players, and rules are flexible so it is more fun.
This club has made Kouraj stronger in more ways than just on the badminton court. She learned a lot in setting up and managing the club.
“It’s taught me a lot of organisation and communication across several different platforms,” said Kouraj. “It’s a place for just some friendly competition maybe, and just to have fun and enjoy your time [for] an hour after school.”
Kouraj hopes to continue running this club throughout high school and possibly hold competitions with other schools in the following years. Bobbili, who has been a great help so far, will continue to lead this club after Khadija graduates.
“I believe this club can go a long way if more people can participate. Next year, Mr. O’Connor told us we could possibly compete against different schools. The best part about this club is that you have fun and at the same time are being competitive. We have possible t-shirt ideas and fundraising ideas ready.. all we are waiting for is the people.” says captain Bobbili.
Starting this club has been a pleasure for Khadija and she hopes students will benefit from it and use it to enhance LHS values and morals.
