Many sports at Amador Valley high school receive some form of funding, Badminton is not one of them yet is still able to fully function without the backing.
“Players usually already have equipment when they join the team. If they make the team, they’ve already usually practiced, so they have their own rackets, shoes, and stuff like that” said girls captain of the Badminton team, Joyce Li.
Getting Equipment
Because the Badminton team does not get any funding from the school, they supply everything they need temself.
“Oh, we got zero. We get nothing from the school. So everything is funded by our community, by our parents, the sponsors, and some parents get the company match. And also, I did a summer camp last summer, and that raised almost 4,000 for the team” said Coach of the Badminton team, Mike Li.
Recruiting members
While badminton might get less attention when compared to other sports, they still get many applications every year.
“This year, I think we have about a little over 100 applicants, and then we select, out of those through the trial process. So we have a very fair way to select the players just based on their skills. And also after that, we also have them play games and kind of sort of rank them. And based on that, you choose the top players” said Mike Li.
Winning tournaments
As an official sports team of Amador Valley, the Badminton team sees competitive play with other high schools and teams in their bracket.
“Right before the spring break, we attended the tournament at Emerald High School, that they call Emerald Emerald Cup. This is our first tournament, and we did really well. So, out of all of the five events, we have, like, a girl single, boy single, boys double, girls double, and also mixed double. Out of the five events, I think we’re pretty much dominated” said Mike Li.
