Bloomington Kennedy Gets Badminton Fever

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Bloomington Kennedy High School launched its brand new badminton team this spring.

"There's a lot of interest. As a phy-ed teacher, every time we play badminton, the kids love it. It's one of the easiest units to teach, they get excited about it, they all want to play," Coach Todd Kennedy said.

He grew up in Canada, and played badminton in high school. So when the school decided to start the team, he was the natural choice to lead it.

"It's really exciting starting a new program at our school. I think some of the challenges are getting the word out, getting the girls registered, having them take their physicals, go online and register," Kennedy said. "So I think some of the challenges are more administratively. There's a lot of excitement about our badminton program."

And that excitement is palpable.

"I have friends who have a badminton team at their school that's been going on for years, and I really wanted that at this school, so now we actually have it, so like I can tell them, 'Oh, we have our own team now!'" player Chusang Nhasang said.

The sport is gradually growing in popularity in Minnesota, with a new school adding a team seemingly every couple years.

There are nearly 20 now, and Kennedy believes that number will keep rising -- for one simple reason.

"It's just I think meeting the needs of our girls here. I've coached girls' golf for a long time, at Kennedy our numbers have declined, the interest kind of stagnated a little bit, but badminton is really growing," he said. "So kudos to our school district, kudos to our athletic department for recognizing that and offering a sport that, you know, hopefully we can get 30, 40, 50, 60 girls out in the future."

What Kennedy is most excited about is all the new athletes the badminton team has created. He said only two girls on his team had ever played it competitively before. And the vast majority of his players had never been on any sports team before this.

"I don't know the exact percentage, but I would guess 90 percent or above, this is their only sport. They haven't participated in traditional sports, a volleyball or a basketball or a soccer, so they're really excited to play the sport, and that's I think what I'm most interested in," Kennedy said. "We have a lot of girls that are getting involved in their school, they're getting involved in a sport, they're getting healthier, they're playing, they're having some fun, so I'm really excited about that. The more that word gets out that we're offering this, I think other schools will want to do the same thing."