Many club sports are popular within the campus community, such as soccer, bowling or volleyball. But did you know that among all those club sports, there is one for badminton? Many students on campus have played badminton for high school gym classes, so why not pursue it further in a club and have fun with rallies or competitions?
“The community within the club is very tight and is where I met my best friend and oddly saw my Hawk Squad leader as a freshman,” president Zack Koenig said.
He first experienced badminton in high school and soon joined the club as a freshman with friends and has been competing in tournaments ever since.
“My favorite aspect of badminton is the competitiveness, along with the connection that you build within the community as well as improving in the sport,” Koenig said.
He explained how the club is smaller than other sports clubs, but still holds the fun of the sport while only meeting two times a week. Koenig hopes for the club to expand to more people so others can learn to appreciate the sport while having fun in a competitive or non-competitive manner.
“My favorite memory was becoming president of the club. It was a time when I found out the importance of the space and my home in UW-W,” said the club’s risk manager Salaar Akbar. “I was ecstatic to be the president, and I soon after beat a phenomenal player within the club by 36-34.”
He described the community to be diverse with a lot of international students, and this can represent how the club welcomes anyone, no matter their background and experience with badminton.
“The club is very accessible and affordable, with only a five-dollar fee to help with equipment and maintenance. It is a very positive space that makes sure people fit in right away,” Akbar said.
His goal for the future of this club is for it to have a solid group of leaders who are welcoming and help develop a core group of people within the club who understand the importance of the community and sport.
More general members of the club enjoy the club for both the sport and the people.
“The club community is full of people who are willing to help, welcoming and don’t require a specific set of skills to join,” Cole Raben said.
He joined the club because he enjoyed playing the sport in high school and wanted to stay active throughout college.
“Practices are open play, and people within the community can choose whether they want to play for fun or have a rally with someone else,” Raben said.
He stated that badminton isn’t a popular sport, but the community is growing and is learning more about the club as well as the sport that they may not have known before.
When arriving at a practice, you can see how close-knit the community within the club is, from people laughing to sharing encouraging words. The club practices every week, one week can have fun events with new inventive games such as volleyball, which is a mix between volleyball and badminton. The games keep practices interesting and fresh. The other week’s practice can be an elimination-type event, similar to how badminton is played in high school. The practices are on Monday and Thursday from 8:30–11 p.m. in Kachel Gym on the second floor of the Williams Center.
