Badminton may be an Olympic sport but there isn’t typically another time when people come across competitive uses for shuttlecocks besides in the backyard.

 

However, coach Gene Valocchi’s girls badminton team is on the rise in talent and interest at Highland, even though football is king.

 

There aren’t many places to find information on the squad. Even the school’s website does not have a roster more recent than 2016. But, as its second match of the season was ready to get underway Aug. 29, there were nearly two dozen players on Highland’s bench and a similar number of athletes on the visiting Liberty’s side.

 

Valocchi said, “Right now, we have 22 players on our team. We had over 30 girls try out, we had to let a few go because we’re just limited by space. It’s been growing the past few years. We need to do a little better job of getting down to the junior high and giving those girls opportunities to see badminton.”

 

The exposure to the sport may be the key to badminton’s rise in popularity. The more people who become interested at younger ages, the more will play. If the amount of players continues to rise, then the number of friends and family who go to watch matches presumably increases as well.

 

Take it from varsity player Cassidy Larsen. She learned about the team from her sisters.

 

“I’ve been playing since my freshman year, so three years now. Both my sisters did it. My oldest sister, she decided that she just wanted to do something that was fun with her friends, and she ended up loving it and doing it for all four years,” Larsen said. “It’s tradition.”

 

Another factor that has led to Highland’s development has been the head man himself. “I had the same group of girls for four years, which was great, that group of girls set a great example for this group now,” Valocchi said. He is also the department chair of the counseling office at the school, so perhaps his experience connecting with students has made him approachable.

 

Larsen talked about how she has learned from her coach and the team.

 

“I’ve learned a lot from it. I’ve definitely gotten more physically fit but mentally I know I’ve strengthened a lot because it’s a really mental sport,’ Larsen said.

 

 

As the team has gotten more popular, its performance has risen over the past few years.

 

Highland went just 3-10 in 2015, followed by an 8-4 campaign and then a school-best 11-4 season in 2017. They made the state tournament for the first time last year. They sit 2-1 with their next match on Tuesday against Dobson.