This past summer, several Amherst students decided that it would be fun to play badminton regularly. A game that requires speed, agility, stamina and lightening fast reflexes, the game of the shuttlecock is a great competitive sport as well as great exercise. These students realized the benefit of incorporating a sport like badminton into the list of activities that Jeffs enjoy.
While living on campus to do research this summer, sophomores Jesse Rasowsky, Vincent Chen, Lidya Tarhan and Furqan Fazal formed the nucleus of a badminton team that is now recognized as a club sport by the College. Although the Jeff squad has yet to field a member capable of the 160 m/hour serves that are smashed by top-tier world players, the team has its sights set on making a lasting impression on the student body as well as college athletics as a whole.
"We are very happy with the surprisingly high level of interest in the game on campus. Unfortunately, most of the time we have more interested players than Alumni Gym can accommodate," said Rasowsky.
The excitement for badminton has spread beyond the 100 interested students who signed up. Some Amherst College professors come regularly, including professors Alexander George of Philosophy and Kozue Miyama of Japanese.
The program that Amherst offers has encouraged participation from those outside of the Lord Jeff community, as well. Players from the Five Colleges come to get a piece of the action during the weekly sessions. The sport of badminton evidently goes beyond the Amherst crowd as it grows on the community around it as well.
Although there is no shortage of casual players, there are six regulars that fill out the unofficial roster. In addition to the founders, the nucleus also includes Anne Lipton '08 and Sebastian Harenburg, who bring consistent energy and enthusiasm to the team effort. These six players are ecstatic about the opportunity they have been given to play badminton, but continue to encourage more serious participation and support from the student body as well as from the athletic department. Because of the high volume of players who come to play occasionally, it is difficult to provide space to play for everyone.
"While the athletics department has been exceedingly generous, it would be nice if the badminton team could somehow secure more space for practices," said Rasowsky.
Despite the difficulty the team has with maintaining a consistent team beyond their six-member squad and issues with practice space, they are able to hold practices three days a week and are always looking for those interested in competing.
On Sunday, they were able to compete in the Northeastern Championship hosted by Swarthmore College, the Amherst squad's first badminton tournament.
"The level of competition was pretty high for our standards," said Rasowsky. "While Amherst didn't walk away with a trophy, we learned a lot by observing the more skilled players from places like Boston and Drexel Universities. It was also very motivating; seeing such skilled players perform made us want to get better."
It appears as though this is only the beginning of a very successful club sport. The team hopes to improve and looks forward to dropping some knowledge to the Amherst community about the game that they love so much. The efforts and ferocity of the founding members will spark more awareness of and appreciation for badminton as they are given the opportunity to compete for the Jeffs in future badminton events.