Although our school has a lot of the “staple sports,” some students felt like there was something missing. In light of their epiphany, they decided to make a change. One of the great parts about high school is the fact that students have a voice and can take initiative. You want a Ping Pong Club? Start one. You want a Chess Club? Start one. Sophomores Jessica Singh and Anabel Varghese wanted a Badminton Club. So they started one.

“Last year we were just sitting in class, and we said, “Let’s open a club,a��” Jessica said. “We thought about [starting] other clubs, but Badminton is a good club [to have]. We were just joking around last year; but [this year] we actually wanted to try it.”

The idea was conceived last year; but it wasn’t put into motion until mid-winter this year when they were able to finally make the dream a reality.

“We actually started thinking about it last year,” Anabel said. “We made slide shows and stuff to show the principal, but that wasn’t necessary at all. We just had to get a form, have someone volunteer to be the advisor, get some signatures, and basically sell the club to Mr. Passinault.”

One of the key parts of putting together a club is an advisor, which means finding a teacher who is willing to be the club advisor. As the girls found out, this part of the process can be difficult.

“We asked most of our teachers, but nobody was interested,” Jessica said. “[Holly Wierenga, a teacher at FHC,] was the only one that actually agreed to it.”

Even though Wierenga has no previous Badminton experience, the experience has been enjoyable, and she has loved being the advisor for the club.

“I have Jessica in third hour, and she came to me early February to ask me if I wanted to be the Badminton Club advisor,” Wierenga said. “I said, “I don’t know anything about Badminton; but once basketball is over, if you just need me to be the person who supervises it, sure why not.a�� So Jessica and Anabel had the idea, and they did all the work. So they have really taken charge of it, and I just have to be the adult who gets to hang out and play Badminton.”

The girls had hoped that there would be more clubs in the area to compete against, but to their dismay, no competitive teams reside in the area. Even without the motivation of outside competition though, Thursday meetings still continue to get competitive among the members.

“We really love Badminton, and we wanted a team,” Anabel said. “So we wanted to make it official like a team. It can get really competitive even though there are no competitions, and it’s just as fun as tennis or any other sport.”

The other members agree with Anabel, an since the club started a few weeks ago, they’ve had quite the turn out. With their fun atmosphere and unique team, people feel comfortable enough to join, even if they don’t know anything about the sport.

“It’s a really random group,” Wierenga said. “A lot of girls from my third hour are there; some from my second hour came. But then last week, JV Baseball practice times changed. Then about six kids from the baseball team came, and they were on one court. Anybody’s is welcome from any athletics range of ability. If you have any desire to play badminton, it’s a fun place to come.”

Even more than Wierenga, other teachers, like ASL teacher Kimberly Anderson, have taken interest in the club and have been starting to attend meetings.

“The first week I just watched and then last week I played a little bit,” Wierenga said. “It was really fun. Last week there were about fifteen kids. We had four courts set up, and we divided amongst ourselves. We hung out for an hour and just played. It’s a nice place to just hang out and play Badminton.”