Badminton team looks to improve next year

Ending their season with a 20-10 loss to Milpitas on May 8, the Falcons finished fourth in their league with a 6-6 record.

“I think everyone did the best that they can,” said coach Alex Chan. “I don't think the team has been put under this kind of stress in the last few years.”

The stress put on the team was partly due to frequent changes in lineup; players would often arrive at a game not knowing what position they would play or who they would play with.

League finals were held on May 10-12, at Cupertino High School. Sophomore Bryan Chow placed second in boys' singles, and senior Jeffrey Kuo and junior Derek Chao placed first in boys’ doubles.

Chan hopes to secure a league championship two years from now; next year, instead of aiming to win the No. 1 spot in the league, Chan hopes to focus more on training the returning players. 

“Next year's focus will be more on training, and we can implement different types of training, depending on the returning players’ skill levels and returning training resources,” Chan said. “If we have more parents helping like George and Cynthia, we could do more.”

George Chu, junior Lauren Chu’s father, and Cynthia Chao, junior Derek Chao’s mother, helped the team throughout the whole season in training the athletes and strategizing different lineup options for the players.

Chan’s main reason for not pushing the players to aim for league champion next year is due to the large gap in the lineup left by graduating seniors. These spots would have to be filled in by incoming juniors that would be new to the varsity atmosphere.

“Next year will be tough in that a lot of our current players that will have to move up into varsity are going to be juniors next year,” Chan said. “I expect academics will have a huge impact, on top of all the other extra activities.”

Additionally, the lack of strong girl players on the team also affects the team’s chances of a league championship next year.

“Obviously our goal is to win [leagues] every year, but also I hope the girls improve from last year,” sophomore Alvin Huang said. “Also there is some room for improvement for boys now that we lose several key seniors, although the losses will impact girls as well.”