On April 28th, after three consecutive losses, the boys badminton team displayed a resurgence in their playing. Crushing Flushing High School 4-1, the Hawks showed the results of their dedication and hard work by implementing the skills they’ve been honing all season. They accomplished this win despite the fact that, for most of the boys on the team, this is their first year playing badminton competitively, or for some, their first time altogether.
Freshman Harleen Karir said that it was their opponents’ lack of experience that helped the Hawks to win. However, he among others said that it was, “the team’s intense practices over spring break” that gave them the necessary edge that allowed them to overcome Flushing High School. These practices normally consist of “mini games” that are used to focus on developing different ways to strike.
Like many on the team, sophmore Aqib Sadique felt that his initial inexperience was detrimental to his performance. In spite of past performance, in this most recent game, Aqib won his set 21-8. “I took this challenging situation as motivation to continuously improve. Now I can play my opponents again and hopefully the turnout will be different.”
Regardless of the turnout of the match, for some like freshman Christian Foronda, this game was an enjoyable and a relaxed experience.”There wasn’t a moment during my game where my opponents and I weren’t laughing at each other.”
In the end, all three singles matches were won for Townsend by Seniors Christopher Artun and Jordan Brandwein as well as Aqib. One doubles game was won by the pairing of Christian Foronda and Brian Balayon. In retrospect, many of the boys seem to agree that this win definitely boosted their confidence as well as team chemistry.