Badminton is a racquet sport played with racquets to hit a birdie across a net, most commonly played in the form of singles and doubles. As of recently, it has become a varsity sport here at Glacier Peak. After being started as a club last year, it has officially become a school sport with many matches at various schools. With almost 50 girls on the team, badminton has certainly proved its immense popularity since being chosen as the new varsity sport through a survey conducted last year.

Ever since it started, the coaches and players have had many positive things to say about the new team and their experiences being on it. “I love seeing all of these girls competing and getting better at the sport. For some of them it is their first time on a school team so I am excited that so many girls can have that experience,” said Coach Torre. “Since this is our first year as an official sport, it has a steep learning curve, but these group of girls are getting better every day. I am hoping to build this program to have the most competitive team we can while still giving our players a positive fun atmosphere,” added Torre.

Mr. Divito is the second coach who is also super excited about badminton being a new sport. “Badminton allows more kids at our school to find something that they enjoy. I know a lot of kids that may not have had the chance to play a sport and now they have a place to go to,” Divito said. “My future hopes for badminton are just to continue growing. We started the year off COVID so we got in like two practices before we had to shut down for two years, so just being able to have more and more kids participate and show an interest in playing would be awesome,” he added.

Meanwhile the girls on the team also have similar thoughts for being able to play and frequently mention how they love the bonds that are formed through the team. “I am honestly really passionate about badminton, and I think that it’s just such a fun sport. I can’t wait to play more with my team since they’re such nice and friendly people. I’ll just continue to enjoy all the games that we play against different schools,” said Sophomore Kayla Black.

So, what about the captain who leads and supports the team? “I think that it’s amazing how quickly everyone in the team has improved and adjusted in such a short time. We’ve had some rough moments being beaten by teams like Bellevue and Lake Washington, but we got better and will continue to do so,” said Captain Karuna Kov, who plays varsity singles. “All the girls on the team and really friendly with each other and we support each other a lot when playing so I think that’s great. I just hope to continue playing and finish off the season strongly.”