The Girls Varsity Badminton team is off to a strong start this season—currently holding a 4-0 record. The new captain leading the team this season is senior Melinda Wang and the team’s assistant captain is sophomore Yam Yik Zheng.
From a young age, Melinda would play badminton with her neighbors in her grandma’s backyard. Now she has been on the Girls Varsity Badminton team for three years as a starter doubles player. “Trying out for the badminton team and making it on has given me a glimpse into what competitive badminton looks like,” she said.
Similarly, the team’s assistant captain Yam first learned to play badminton in the first grade, and from there, she was committed. She enjoys playing competitively and in her free time as well. She played last season as second singles and is currently the starting singles player.
Both Melinda and Yam share a love of intense games where they give it their all. During their games, “the rest of the team and head coach stand by cheering and helping. Their support goes hand in hand with the players,” Yam said. Melinda added, “Badminton isn’t known to be a spectator sport where people can come and cheer, so when our teammates make up for it, it becomes more enjoyable and makes us all motivated to win as a team despite there being individual matches.”
As captain, Melinda has taken on new and often challenging responsibilities. For example, she holds the responsibility of choosing the starting lineup—leaving it up to her to determine the positions of her teammates and making decisions that lead the team to success in their matches.
Although these are hard decisions to make, players on the team have proven to show confidence in Melinda. Sophomore Sydney Cao said, “Melinda is really good at communicating, sorting players and games. One thing I really like about her is that she’s not hard to talk [to], she’s super nice and understanding.” Furthermore, junior Mandy Lin shared a similar point of view on Melinda’s communication and organization skills. “I feel like she does well maintaining a balance between being friends with us and being our captain,” said Mandy.
As assistant captain, Yam has separate responsibilities from Melinda. For example, she plans the training and practices for the team to make sure the entire team is continuously improving with the amount of court time they are given. Yam is always looking at “how to have a better atmosphere for training.”
Junior Rubi Kim said, “Yam also leads by example since she’s so skilled and plays so well,” and “she inspires us to try our best.” Additionally, when Yam is not on the court she watches her teammates play and she’ll give advice to the best of her ability, demonstrating leadership.
