Asian Sport Comes to Menlo

"Let's go fly some birds!" 

It's time for a popular Asian sport, badminton to bring you something new and fun. A badminton club, with more than 27 members was started at Menlo College this semester. In the last few weeks, it became the most active club which held four events already. 

Unlike tennis, players requires power, badminton uses a bird instead of a tennis ball. A bird is a cone shaped object with feathers attached to a half sphere of rubber. Commonly, a bird can also uses plastic feathers instead of real ones. It is much lighter and easy to control than a tennis ball. 

Like tennis, badminton also requires one to two players on each side of the court. Rules are similar; however a badminton court is much smaller than a tennis court. Although players have a smaller court to play, due to the flexibility of the bird, players often require more movements to catch the bird which leads to more exercise. 

Badminton is more popular in Asia than it is in the United States. But with the diverse campus of Menlo, badminton attracts new players from students sharing each other's culture. 

Menlo's badminton club has over 20 Asian members out of 27. But the point of establishing this club is not only to entertain Asian students. It also holds purposes of sharing cultures, developing friendships and team work, and also simply provides opportunities to do exercise for everyone from the Menlo community. 

"I am really happy with this club now. More and more people are coming. It's beneficial that members make friends with each other while exercising at the same time. " said Brigid Yu, a senior student of Menlo College who comes from Hong Kong is the vice president of the badminton club.

Surprisingly, beginners are attracted by the joyful environment of this club as well. "Badminton is fun. Although I don't play professionally, but I can still have a great time with my friends." said Joey Swink, a junior of Menlo. 

The club practices every Saturday afternoon at the badminton court called Affinity located in San Carlos, just a 15 minutes drive away from campus. New members are welcomed to contact any club members at anytime. The club is able to pay for rackets and court fees. So just put on those sports shoes and get ready for the Asian fun. 

Club contact information: 

Brigid Yu brigidyu1991@hotmail.com  

Affinity Badminton Court website: http://www.affinitybadminton.com/abc2/