What is Badminton? If you ask the general American populace, it’s a backyard sport that’s played when the weather is good and there’s truly nothing to do. A nice breeze, the smell of barbecue on the grill, and meemaw’s insanely lucky trickshots — or, perhaps, a duel on the PE class floors with your high school frenemies. These memories are sacred, reminiscent of simpler times, and twinged with the fuzziness of nostalgia. A childhood pastime.
What if you ask Zoey Yong, Co-Practice Director of the CMU Badminton Team? Well, the answer might not be as easy to extract from her story.
“I started playing when I could hold a racket, and I’ve never stopped since,” she exclaimed. Coming from San Diego, she competed in Junior Nationals, and consistently placed within the top 10 of her age group across the U.S. when she was younger. In lectures, she might resemble every other tired Physics major — but on the court? She seems to challenge every member on the team to rise to her level with a flick of a racket and a presence that screams “come try me.”
Here’s the truth about this relatively unappreciated sport: Badminton tests an athlete’s physical and mental capabilities to an extraordinary degree. At the elite level, players must possess exceptional speed, reflexes, and endurance. A single professional match can last for over an hour, with players covering extensive distances and executing powerful, precise shots at high speeds. The shuttlecock, unique to badminton, can travel at speeds exceeding 200 mph, making it the fastest racket sport in the world. This requires players to have rapid reaction times and impeccable hand-eye coordination.
In addition to its physical demands, badminton is highly strategic. Players must read their opponents, anticipate movements, and execute deceptive shots to gain an advantage. The mental stamina required to maintain focus, adapt to an opponent’s strategies, and sustain intense rallies is comparable to that required in sports such as tennis or volleyball.
The Carnegie Mellon badminton team might not be smashing birdies hard enough to qualify for a world record, but they aren’t casual either. During the fall of 2023, they took home third place from the Northeastern Collegiate Conference, beating out other elite teams such as Rutgers, UPenn, and Princeton.
In which case, why is the Carnegie Mellon badminton team so undistinguished on campus?
One of the primary reasons badminton is often dismissed is the cultural perception of sports. In many Asian and European countries, badminton is deeply embedded in national identity and viewed as a prestigious, highly competitive sport. Universities in countries such as China, Malaysia, and Denmark offer scholarships and training programs specifically for talented badminton players, similar to our athletic recruitment process for sports such as American football, basketball, and soccer. However, the misperceptions of badminton within the Pan-America region means it is hardly considered to be important enough to foster talent in.
The result is a stark contrast in treatment between the badminton team and other athletic teams on campus. The word “intercollegiate” seems to mock the team when it follows on every funding appeal or booking schedule. A team with a caliber of talent rivaling those of recruitable players in other countries is, here, prohibited to access the Highmark athletic gym or have a high-quality training environment. Open play often favors basketball, and the new opening of Highmark only meant a sequestering into a smaller, busier side gym. The newly painted lines for the courts are barely visible, a light beige that seemingly was painted as an afterthought, camouflaged onto the wooden floors. Any lines taped at the start of practice must be ripped up before the team leaves, and any feathers left over means a scolding by the following basketball players.
The team members power on regardless. Yong, along with her fellow Practice Director Tony Dong, make practices hellish, filling in consistently for the role of coaches. With their guidance, the passion of every player breathes new life into a dying community. Despite all the obstacles and external pressures, the team persists at every training, scrimmage, and tournament.
In March, the team plans to attend Nationals, held in Boston and Delaware. If you have the time, take a walk up to Highmark on any weekend from 1–4 p.m., and watch as Yong forces everyone to do agility drills. See the way the players twist midair, and hear the sound of jump smashes slamming birdies into the ground. There is a strange poetic quality in the way the lunges come down hard enough to send squeaks across the gym, but fingers grasp grips with the gentleness to send precise shots toppling over the net. One is inspired watching a team that no one roots for as it fights for itself. And if you ask the members their thoughts? “Well, the challenges we have to overcome only make the wins more satisfying,” Yong says fondly.
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