As their season comes to an end, the senior badminton captains are getting ready to bid a final farewell to the team. Through four years with the team, seniors Avi Taneja, Brady Smith, Samanvi Boppana and Richard Li have each had their own unique journeys.
Q: How did you start playing badminton?
Taneja: I originally started playing badminton when COVID-19 hit because my dad got a kit from Costco, and I enjoyed it so much I wanted to go to the next level. In 2020, I started training at Bintang Badminton, a local badminton club, where we do competition training.
Smith: I started playing in eighth grade because we had a badminton unit in P.E., which was really fun.
Boppana: It was originally a family sport; my parents played it, and then they introduced me and my sister to it when we were living in India. When we actually started training more competitively, I got to the national level.
Li: My parents first signed me up for badminton classes in Milpitas back in elementary school. I played casually for a few years but started seriously training once I joined the team in high school.
Q: How have you bonded with the other team members over the years?
Taneja: I mainly bonded with other team members at games where I would sit next to my friends or get to know new people as we cheered for the same person.
Smith: I’ve bonded with players through coaching them and helping them succeed, but I’ve mainly bonded with the other captains just from having to work through a lot together.
Boppana: I think the bond that we’ve created is very strong, through making lineups and talking during games. Sometimes we also go out for food after games.
Li: Practicing, competing and volunteering with other team members each year has definitely been a bonding experience. I think our team chemistry is built on our collectively horrible sense of humor. Picture this: clinking SHS water bottles while sharing a box of 20-piece chicken nuggets from McDonald’s as we cook MacDonald High. There’s more of that on the @shsbadmintonn Instagram.
Q: Which year was your most successful season?
Taneja: This year has been and will be our most successful season not just because of how great we’re doing, but also because of the improvement I’ve seen in all our players.
Smith: My most successful season was probably either last year or this year. I did well in league finals last year playing singles, but I’ve won so many more games this year.
Boppana: I’m pretty happy and proud with all the years that went by. Last year, winning states with my sister was probably the happiest moment for me, and we won at the league finals, CCS and States as well.
Li: We could argue this year has been our most successful season — we’re undefeated and league champions. But there is an asterisk: We moved to the lower league last year, so the competition’s been softer. Hopefully, the team doesn’t get stomped when we’re back in the upper league next season. Lock in, juniors.
Q: What’s your favorite school to play against?
Taneja: My favorite school to play against is probably Mountain View High, just because they’re a really chill team with some great people.
Smith: I don’t really have a favorite school, but if I had to say it’d probably be Monta Vista High — good gyms and the players are chill.
Boppana: Milpitas High from last year in the upper league, since I know most people from there.
Li: The matches against Fremont High have been great. My opponent there is also my training partner at Bintang — the badminton club I train at — which makes it fun to trash-talk off the court and then back it up on the court.
Q: What’s your favorite shot during games?
Taneja: My favorite shot during the game is a straight or cross jumpsmash — a fast, hard shot aimed down and a challenging shot for the opponent to return.
Smith: My favorite shot is absolutely the drop shot, when the birdie is placed very close to the net.
Boppana: My favorite shot during a game is the smash, a powerful downward shot when the opponent hits birdie high.
Li: My favorite shots are the cross-court stick smash — a smash with minimal follow through to trick my opponent — and the jump smash. They’re flashy and effective at ending rallies, but if done improperly can just as easily cause the rally to end against my favor.
Q: Are you going to keep playing in the future?
Taneja: I definitely will keep playing in the future, hopefully on UT Austin’s badminton club.
Smith: I’ll probably play in college as part of clubs and school tournaments, but I don’t think I’m good enough for the college varsity teams yet.
Boppana: I hope to keep playing in the future at college and beyond.
Li: I fully plan on joining my college badminton club and will probably keep playing until I’m old.
Q: What was your favorite memory?
Taneja: Last year’s banquet at the end of the season, where we had fun as a team.
Smith: Getting food with teammates after games.
Boppana: Winning league finals, CCS and States with my sister.
Li: It’s hard to pick just one, but one that stands out is when our multi-year campaign effort with our captains succeeded. We’d been pushing the administration to upgrade the large gym with safer badminton equipment infrastructure, including drilling holes with slip covers in the floor and installing new poles to hold up our nets. This $10,000 plan finally succeeded earlier this year, exactly to our specifications in our initial document. I really appreciate [assistant principal Matthew] Torrens, who made time to meet with us almost every week to make this possible, and Coach Calvin for making sure the holes were drilled properly.
