It turns out my daughter Anja is pretty good at badminton. I guess that’s all right, but when I invited her to join me at Greenbelt’s badminton club on Sunday I had the script already prepared. I would be the one who would turn out to be surprisingly good at badminton, to the delight and amazement of the assembled players.
“Wow,” they’d say. “And you’ve never played before?”
I’d affect a tone of humility. “Well, not since I was a small girl playing alone in the wilds of British Columbia.”
“You played badminton by yourself?”
I’d shake my head. “We had to make our own fun in those days.…”
Surprisingly, things did not go quite as planned. That is not to say that I was not good at some parts of badminton, specifically the missing-the-birdie parts and the standing-rooted-in-one-spot-while-taking-a-birdie-to-the-face parts, but not quite as in touch with my epic athleticism as I had anticipated.
Luckily, the other people at the Youth Center on Sunday were encouraging and patient, and skilled enough players to get the birdie to land exactly in the center of my racquet time and time again, requiring me to have very little in the way of what we might call ability to still have a wonderful time.
Greenbelt’s badminton club was founded about three months ago by Peter Teuben, who has been playing since university and currently serves as the faculty advisor for the University of Maryland’s club badminton team. He noticed that badminton is among Greenbelt Recreation’s plans for establishing a club. There’s been a positive response, with people of all ages attending the weekly drop-in sessions and a core group of regulars there to lead, support and rally newcomers.
Peter took me through the basics of badminton, from a brief overview of the history to explaining the shuttlecock (birdie). I had used a synthetic birdie before but Peter showed me some made from goose feathers. “They’re from the left wings of geese,” Peter said, as the feathers’ curvature allows the shuttlecock to fly true.
“What… what happens to the right wing feathers?” I wondered.
Pillows and such, of course. That made it harder for me to imagine that shuttlecock makers were just coaxing their beloved pet goose over, gently tugging out 16 feathers and sending it back to play in its little goose playground. The good news, for anyone who is sensitive about such things, is that synthetic shuttlecocks are both allowed in regulation play and on offer at Greenbelt’s badminton club.
Peter showed me how to test the tension of a racquet by lightly donging it against my head and listening to the ping of the strings, but I mostly heard a hollow donking sound so think I didn’t have the necessary finesse for that technique. Club regular Amy Feng showed me how to try on my hand, also a bit of a fail for me, but I got the idea: a nice ping indicates the strings on the racquet are at the preferred tension.
Attendees on Sunday hailed originally from Ukraine, Taiwan, the Netherlands, the United States and points in between, and represented all skill levels, with me bringing up the bottom end and Peter maxing out the top. The wide range of countries of origin and ages present led me to conduct a little unofficial poll, as I started to wonder if badminton was more popular in places outside the United States than in it. I polled a variety of friends and family, asking them if they’d taken badminton in elementary or high school gym and, if so, in what country they were in for those grades. I learned that while not everyone had had the opportunity to play in school, most had, and I asked people from 18- to 70-years-old, American, Canadian, Danish and beyond.
I surprised myself with those results. But then Peter told me about Canadian-born Judy Devlin, who settled at a young age in the Baltimore area with her family and went on to be one of the greatest players of her generation, dominating the U.S. sport and winning 86 national and international titles. Baltimore! That’s right up the road! It turns out badminton is a truly global sport, widely popular, affordable and quite easy to get started playing. Whether you’re new or an experienced competitor, the club offers the opportunity to play at your level with friendly folks who love the game. And they’ll lend you a racquet.
Greenbelt’s badminton club meets on Sundays from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Youth Center Gym and follows the City of Greenbelt’s Covid-19 safety precautions. All are welcome.
