Badminton is an increasingly popular racket sport that is gaining traction at Pleasant Valley High School. Its fast paced action demands intense concentration and skill on the players’ parts.
In fact, the birdie used in badminton is the fastest object in sports, reaching speeds over 200 or even 300 miles per hour. With these speeds, reaction time is everything in the world of Badminton.
The Pleasant Valley Badminton club meets every week in the ABC gym at the high school on Wednesday mornings. It is a great way for students to start their day with high-speed, friendly competition.
“I’ve gone to a couple of them, It is pretty fun actually. I usually hang out with a couple people when I go so I feel like badminton has a special community in Pleasant valley. I kind of like the fact that it is mainly student led,” said Badminton Club member Tim Murphy.
The student led aspect of the club allows more students to get involved in the leadership and planning of club activities. The leadership facilitates both singles and doubles matches of badminton in the morning. All the students pitch in before and after practice to set up the nets.
Most of the demand for badminton at Pleasant Valley High School has stemmed from its popularity in gym class. Badminton is one of the favorite units for most students in gym class. As a result, these students then attend weekly badminton club meetings to feed their desire to compete.
Sometimes the matches can get pretty intense as members compete for the win in a match. “It gets pretty competitive, but in a fun way. One time it was a pretty intense match and instead of hitting the thing [birdie] I accidentally threw the racket at them,” said badminton player Hayden Griffin.
With the intense competition wins comes strong satisfaction.
“When you’re doing good in badminton it’s like a high. Badminton is a game of high highs and low lows,” said badminton enthusiast Chris Joyce.
Pleasant Valley’s Badminton Club provides students with a structured time to engage in friendly athletic competition. Its before-school meetings allow members to start the day off right with a little bit of exercise, competition and teamwork.
