Girls’ badminton hit the court this spring with an 11 game season and a 5-4 varsity record and a 3-6 JV record.  

Because of COVID-19 restrictions, the JV and varsity players took part in a socially distanced season with only 10 players instead of 16 players. 

“We are a team that has had a freshman-level for the last five years,” head coach Erin Smith says, “Unfortunately, we did not have enough athletes to support having a freshman team this year.”

The social distance rule forced the team to change up typical procedures. Since badminton is already distanced during matches, doubles games were still allowed to be played. 

“We also had to change how we practiced, making sure we were 6 feet apart at all times,”  assistant coach Alivia Guagenti said.

This season, the girls spent practices working on moves that were used for gameplay and played against each other in singles and doubles.

“We warm up with our partners by hitting clears, drives, drops, and other combinations of moves we would see during games,” sophomore Seanah Wenz said.

Freshmen made up the majority of the JV team who looked at starting at the JV level as an advantage. 

“It was a good first season,” freshman Nina Powley said. “It was super fun getting to make new friends and be a part of a group.”

The different environment and overall skills of the players of Oswego East was the girls’ toughest matchup this season garnering only two singles wins.    

“The floor was very slippery, and it was really hard to see in general,” sophomore varsity player Iniya Krishna said.  “The whole atmosphere was really tense [and] the players themselves were insanely good. “They definitely played outside school as well and were very skilled.”

Often, people do not recognize the level of skill needed to compete in badminton. 

“I think a lot of kids enjoy badminton and playing it in the gym,” assistant coach Alivia Guagenti said. “Many people view badminton as an easy sport, and it’s not.”