This spring, the Sandburg Girls Badminton team look ahead to a busy season. Driven forward by their team’s collective motivation to succeed, the girls are aiming to reach new heights this 2025 season.

The Varsity Badminton team poses for their official team photo – Photo courtesy of Ms. Huelsman

Even before the badminton season officially began, the girls were already preparing, utilizing the numerous resources they had been offered to feel confident to play.

“We’ve been offering a lot more in regards to open gym times, more summer camp opportunities, more conditioning, so the girls can have year round opportunities within the school,” said varsity Coach Huelsman, who has coached at Sandburg for the past 23 years.

These growing opportunities encourage a growing curiosity in the sport. Sophomore Jenna Mhaisen joining the team for the first time this year. “All my friends were doing [badminton]. They kind of motivated me to start going to the open gym,” Mhaisen said. “At first, I used to go to the open gym just for fun, just to be there with my friends to have something to do, and then I started enjoying going and playing.”

Although it is her first year on the team, Mhaisen has already demonstrated lots of growth as a player. “I improved so much since I started, because I pretty much have relearned how to play because I have never played before, and every day it becomes like a new lesson. Overall, I think I’ve done way better,” said Mhaisen.

The improvement is not only seen in the more recent additions to the team. Kacey Enoya’s second year on the team is allowing her to gain the new skills necessary to be competitive in the sport. “I think I’ve improved a lot. I managed to get second place at our recent tournament for number two singles. I think I’ve improved a lot with my back court drops, learning new shots, and thinking better while on the court,” Enoya said. “Especially as a JV member, the switch from freshman to JV, you could see the difference in how a lot of our players play, and I think you could see growth.”

These switches are not only noticeable in the girls’ improvements, but also in the badminton sport as a whole. Coach Huelsman, having had the experience of coaching for 23 years and playing throughout high school, has witnessed the rising ambitions of the athletes wishing to succeed in this sport.

“Badminton has grown tremendously in the Chicagoland area. When girls 23 years ago started, and even when I played, there really weren’t any [badminton] clubs around,” shared Coach Huelsman. “Over the course of the last 10 to 15 years, different clubs have popped up, so girls are starting to play year round. So instead of coming in basically brand new, where the coaches are actually the ones coaching and teaching, girls are coming in with years of experience in background, so the competitive level has definitely increased.”

This competitiveness is one of the driving factors for the team’s motivation this season. At this year’s conference, there will be nine teams competing, as opposed to the five teams in years prior. Additionally, last year’s results push the team to achieve their main goal of making state. “Last year was the first year in my 23 years that we didn’t make it to state,” Coach Huelsman shared. “We were really close, but again, with a competitiveness with other area schools, it’s become a goal each year to continue to make it.”

In preparation to reach this goal, the girls work on their strategies and gameplay. Coach Huelsman commented on this mental aspect of the sport, which is just as important for players, as they need to understand the rules of the game and “that there are gonna be situations that will potentially become contentious. If there is a line call that’s questionable, whether it’s on their side or the other side, how to go about civilly to ask questions and stand up for yourself, and make sure you’re still kind while you’re doing that.”

To strategize, Enoya shared that “usually we try to look at what the other players are doing as they warm up, how they play with each other, just to gauge how good they are.” For Enoya, she works on these types of observations to prepare for her games, where she typically plays singles.

This season, players were offered the chance to choose if they would want to play singles or doubles, depending on their own personal strengths and preferences.

Enoya opts for singles, and said, “I prefer having the full responsibility of the court onto myself, so that everything is on me. I can improve my own game, my own shots, and grow as a player.” This independence comes in handy for a sport like badminton, where the athletes are responsible for many of the calls throughout the course of a game.

“What’s interesting about badminton is that it’s a very civil sport in terms of there aren’t any refs until the state competition, so it’s the girls that are calling the lines and making sure people are being courteous and kind and playing by the rules,” said Coach Huelsman, adding that she cannot even coach a match, only being allowed to during the 11 point timeout or between the games.

Despite all of this independence, there are still numerous players who prefer playing doubles, and while playing singles does promote lots of individual growth, it is undeniable how successful the doubles players have been this season.

Varsity athlete Gigi Hernandez has played badminton throughout all four years of high school, and while she does play both singles and doubles, she “prefer[s] doubles because it’s more fast-paced,” said Hernandez, and this doubles approach has proven successful. Hernandez shared, “My doubles partner and I went 6-0 in a tournament and placed 1st place,” which is what she is most proud of from this year’s season so far.

For JV athlete Mhaisen, doubles is her favorite way to play, and she finds herself achieving new milestones through this at both practice and competitions. “I prefer doubles because I feel like singles gets very tiring. With doubles, you kind of have a support person where, let’s say you forget the score, you have somebody to back you up. Or if there’s a hit that the other team hits and it goes over your head, you have somebody to rely on to get it. So it’s overall more fun, because you get to play with your friends and get to actually socialize more,” said Mhaisen. “I am now at number one doubles with my partner, Nina, and I think we’ve come a long way. I have not found a great partner where we have worked on and have done everything right until me and Nina started playing together.”

Overall, the teamwork built during the badminton season has not only been rewarding with wins, but also with lasting friendships.

“I wanted to join badminton because it always seemed like a fun sport,” said Hernandez. “Over the years, I have watched the program turn into a family.”

“My favorite part [about badminton] is having a hobby where I can do something that I actually enjoy instead of just that I have to do it, and having it kind of creates a better social life,” said Mhaisen.

“The girls are incredible athletes and just incredible people,” said Coach Huelsman.
”I mean, I’ve had generations now of players, and it’s been fun to see former players. I have two former players on my coaching staff right now, and I’ve had former players that are coaches around the area, so it’s fun to see where they go after this.”

This year’s season has already been filled with countless personal achievements for the girls badminton team, and they are looking to achieve many more as the state competition from May 15-17 approaches. Each girl’s individual efforts to improve and learn all contribute to the team’s motivation to end the season triumphant, and has allowed the team to grow stronger for the 2025 season.