Starting strong with a 17-0 defeat of Quarry Lane on March 2, the Dougherty Valley (DV) Badminton team plans to keep winning.

An angry chorus of footsteps sound the gym as the team starts practice off by jogging a few laps around the basketball courts. Through this warm up, Head Coach Danielle Suh intends to improve the members’ endurance. 

“Badminton is a fast paced sport and [the team] is getting winded by the second set. Introducing more running before practice and making sure they’re drinking enough water [would be] a big improvement,” Suh said. 

Once practice starts, assistant coach Riad Hossain is ready with feedback: complete the swing and formation, reach, take a break. Simultaneously, he focuses on strategizing.

Hossain said, “Our strategy [is] to focus on pairing so that we have strong players [all over]. We are trying to divide our talent across singles, doubles and mixed doubles.” 

In the upcoming weeks, they will play against their toughest competition, Amador Valley High School (AVHS) and Dublin High School (DHS). Even so, the team is not too worried. 

“Last year we won [against] them [and] we have been consistently winning for many years. We just hope to continue the trend. Our most ideal scenario is a clean sweep, [so] we’re going try to maximize how many games we can win in the entire matchup,” says captain Manav Bokinala explains.

As the season progresses, the team captains explained they will be applying what they learn from tournaments in practices in order to get better results than last year. Their goal is to win EBAL, NCS, and hopefully CIF titles. 

Most importantly, the captains hope to cultivate a healthy and spirited community within their team. 

Bokinala said, “At the beginning of every season, we all sit in a circle and we have every player tell us what their goal is for the season. My number one goal is to make sure that everybody on the team has an enjoyable experience. That they improve their skills, become as competitive as they can be and that we achieve our personal goals.”