“Badminton is not just a sport…”
Badminton can be a fun yet competitive sport. It can get more intense than you think and is considered a racket sport that contains different positions including singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. Participants can play it fast and furious or slow and steady. It became an Olympic sport that took place in 1992 in Barcelona. The game consists of a match of 3, each out of 21 points. In addition, the fastest smash made in badminton’s history was around 565km/h (351.07mph) by Satwiksairaj Rankireddy from India this year! Badminton consists of many rackets and strings that go along with different types of brands.
With that being said, JDHS’s upcoming senior next year, junior Jia wei Gao has recently been leading the boy’s badminton team with 5 wins and 5 losses in a singles 2 position. With the support of his teammates and coach Gross, he has only lost 2 games against FDR out of all 10 games played with other schools. He’s been playing competitively for only a year and a half and has made big improvements throughout the school year, as agreed by coach Gross.
Jia wei has mentioned that “every game is a challenge” and that “now I feel like I’m stuck with where I am.”
From Coach Gross’s perspective, he believes and sees Jia wei in potentially being the “top singles player in NYC next year. He’s athletic, has great smashes, backhand, and understands the game. He is the highlight of every game.” From the girl’s to the boy’s badminton team, he has helped out a lot.
The team’s overall performance has been good and is close to an end. At the start of September through October, the team faced difficulties and challenging schools. Even though the season is about to end, it is still ongoing to prepare for the individual championships that is going to take place at FDR around the start of November 2023 against several schools in each of the boroughs, in addition to playoffs taking place on November 13, 2023. Unfortunately, many seniors on the team this year are graduating soon. Thus, Jia wei is preparing the new boys in order to maintain and build up a strong team.
However, being a high school student-athlete can be stressful and fun at the same time. It’s not as easy as most individuals think. From setting goals to achieving them, Jia wei describes how being a student-athlete is “actually pretty tough because we have practice every day and meanwhile I need to focus on my other AP classes. So time management is actually a big part of it.” You would have to balance between school, things you do outside of school, sleep..etc.
Gao, Jiawei: “The sound of hitting birdies make me feel joyful.”
Despite that, Jia wei enjoys playing badminton and has stated that he “will definitely continue to play badminton in college and in the future.” He explains that badminton “is a good way to release stress…and to get rid of the bad emotions.”
To sum it up, we are looking forward to seeing JDHS’s boy’s badminton teamwork and dedication to aiming for higher recognition in the upcoming years.
