The start of the 2023 girls’ badminton season here at Glenbard North includes preparation for tryouts, open gyms, and conditioning sessions to better prepare the athletes who want to play badminton. Tryouts were at the end of February, and the badminton season begins the second week of April.  This season is going to be filled with hard work, determination, and dedication towards badminton. 

From an athlete’s point of view, Rem Sui, ’25, hopes that this season brings improvement for each individual player, improvement of agility, and more wins than losses for the team. Her favorite part about being on the team is that the players get to show off their own strengths and also work with their teammates at the same time. “I love the adrenaline and ability to shine on the court,” says Sui. According to Sui, the most difficult part of the season for an athlete is the beginning of the season because not a lot of players get to practice during their off seasons. They also tend to set higher goals and standards for themselves, which makes the standards harder to meet. The role that badminton plays in Rem’s life is that it is a way to blow off steam and enjoy the day. 

Zubeida Seedat, ’25, says her hopes and goals for this upcoming season are to pass tryouts, and to place higher in both doubles and singles. Her favorite part about being on the team is that she gets the opportunity to socialize and meet new people. She also says when traveling, she has so much fun. “You can just get to hang out, talk and destress from school, it’s like a family getting together,” says Seedat.  Seedat loves the sport of badminton because of how laid back yet challenging it can be, and since she has been playing since she was younger and grew up playing badminton, she loves it even more. In Seedat’s opinion, the most difficult part of the season is during the end of the season when there is conference and in the beginning because of how much practice and matches there are. She also says that the season can be hard because they are going for a long time, and trying to balance school and playing a sport. The role badminton plays in Seedat’s life is that it is a way for her to relieve stress and get in a “zone” as a way to escape reality. Overall, Seedat likes that playing badminton at Glenbard North allows her to have a good time and develop good friendships.

From a coach’s perspective, freshman coach Dino Petrin has hopes for things to go back to how they were before the pandemic in terms of girls badminton. He hopes that more girls will want to join and be part of the team than last year, and has goals that he hopes the girls will improve in badminton and overall have fun. His favorite part of the team is the diversity that comes from the athletes on the team. What Petrin likes about the sport of badminton is the pace. Badminton is very quick and the athletes have to not only work hard, but also work at a fast pace.  “Badminton is a sport where effort matters,” says Petrin. He also likes that no matter how long you stop playing badminton, you can definitely make a comeback. For Petrin the season starts to get difficult when they are about three quarters of the way done because the athletes start to get tired as they have more and more matches. The role that badminton plays in coach Petrin’s life is great because he gets to meet new people from different parts of the world and he gets to work with different people rather than the students he teaches. Overall, he enjoys coaching badminton because the kids are amazing! Good luck to the girls’ badminton team this season!