Headline: JDHS Boy badminton maintaining a great lead in this year’s season as they approach play offs.
photographs taken by Linda lin, Team Manager.. Picture of jia wei , this years single 2
Before the first match of the 2024 season, which was scheduled for September 26th, the boys’ team was demoralized due to losing two key players, Jack Wei from doubles 2 and Hong Kang He from singles 3, as they graduated. To fill these gaps, they added two new members to the roster. These new members were Jun Hao for doubles 2, who had been playing since 2023, and Xue Da for singles 3. The new team was concerned about the limited time for team building and gaining experience in such a short period. In their first game against FDR, JDHS lost. However, in subsequent matches against three other schools – James Madison, New Stretch, and Murrow – the JDHS team won by large margins, boosting their position to second place behind FDR. As of the current date (October 27, 2023), the JDHS team practices daily in the school’s main gym to further improve their skills.
The morale of the boy badminton teams has been exceptional as a result from these matches and also due to their techniques and ways in badminton.
“I feel good about this new season.” Jun Hao, our new doubles player said. “Each school we’ve faced so far has been challenging and fun.” Despite the competitive nature of badminton, the sport in general is very fun to participate in as nothing beats the feeling of success after a hard earned victory. However, there obviously is an obstacle to the boy team in general. “So far, FDR has been the most challenging, given that we haven’t won against them yet.” Jun Hao said. To improve, I can work on my skills and hopefully contribute to our success against FDR.”
There are many ways for a student to improve their skills in badminton even as a beginner, you can do one on ones with your friends, two on two, or simply doing training exercises in general. Playing badminton is mostly stress free and chill whenever you get to play fun matches and improve a lot. One prime example that the boys team do is to follow one of their older experienced badminton team members which is Jia Wei who has been on the team for 2 years. He would teach beginners or even roster team members the way of badminton.
“Jia Wei has been a major contributor to my improvement within the team. He has helped me with the basics and improved my coordination in badminton. We often train together to enhance our coordination and teamwork.” Jun Hao said.
There are also reasons why the boy badminton team was able to maintain a good lead in the boy badminton season. One such reason for this situation was simply motivation. For example, from the perspective of Calvin Wong, a player who has been on a team and has been on the roster for 3 years, has his reason as well.
“I started playing badminton for fun in middle school. But after joining the school’s badminton team, I realized there were many skilled players on the team, and they became my role models.” Calvin said. “For instance, Daniel Wu inspired me to pursue excellence in the sport. Everyone needs a source of motivation or enjoyment to pursue their goals, and in my case, it has allowed me to contribute to the team’s success in the JDHS boys’ season.”
As a result of motivation, this allowed many team players to improve at badminton in general as motivation is the seed to continuous practice toward success. In addition, another factor to maintaining a great lead in the season was due to maintaining a strong mindset. Having a strong mindset allows a player to clearly focus on his game and not be nervous around their surroundings.
“I believe I’ve performed decently this season, though I still get nervous at times.” Calvin said. “ In the upcoming season, I hope to perform even better by controlling my nerves. Having a strong mindset and determination not to lose helps me calm my nerves during matches.”
Lastly, the last factor that allowed the boy badminton team to play at their highest level and allowed them to even compete against other schools in the division was due to their coach, Mr Gross. If not with him in their team, there wouldn’t be any badminton practice in general. He also has keen eyes since he would choose the best player for position through observing the player throughout practice. Even if the team doesn’t do well at the end of the season, their still another chance which is the playoff where highest across the five borough will compete with each other
“So far the boy has performed well in the season, not best nor the worst just in between.” Gross said. “Now we will have to see how well they do in the playoffs. They will need to play at their highest level in order to win their first playoff like the girls team did.”
Regardless of the final score of the boys’ badminton season or Play off, the team’s roster will always change over time. The JDHS team remains open to new members, whether experienced or not, as they maintain their competitive and enjoyable approach to the sport. If you’re interested in joining, please contact Mr. Gross, the team’s coach, for information and the application process.
