Edina Badminton Squad Determined to Learn the Game

It wasn’t the type of first day that junior Celine Henke envisioned.

Henke put plenty of time and effort into making the Edina girls badminton team a reality this spring. She lobbied the school board to allow the creation of a team, used Facebook and flyers to field a roster and recruited her parents, Steve and Margo Henke, to coach the new Hornets squad.

But when they took the court in March?

“The first day, I’m going to be honest and say it was a disaster,” Henke said. “I was thinking this is going to be awful. We’re never going to win anything.”

That mentality changed quickly. The Hornets finished their regular season just last week against St. Paul Harding and St. Paul Humboldt, losing both matchups. They boast a 4-9 season record, but have grown both individually and as a team into a confident group of badminton players.

The squad, made up of approximately 40 athletes who largely didn’t know the rules or techniques of competitive badminton to begin the season, is now a team hoping to make a statement at this year’s state tournament on May 17-19 and springboard itself into next season.

It’s been a building experience, coach Margo Henke said, but it’s been enjoyable to see the kids learn the game.

“We realized this isn’t backyard badminton,” she said. “This is more like Olympic badminton. It’s a whole different set of skills.”

The Henkes sought help from a group of volunteers to guide the Hornets in their first year of competition. Jack Wu, who began playing badminton when he was 5 years old, is one of three volunteers who spend the most time with the squad.

Wu said technique and footwork were the two focal points. When the girls improved in both areas, their games soared.

“It’s just a matter of time until they get to the next level,” Wu said. “One of the great things for me is they’re not getting discouraged. That’s the future. That’s what they want to become. It’s great to see the girls have that.”

Senior captain Nicole Lyons saw flyers in the school hallway and decided to join. Having no badminton experience aside from backyard exhibitions and gym class, Lyons said it’s been an extreme learning curve this year.

“We’ve definitely improved a lot,” she said. “The first practice was kind of rough—the coaches were worried about the talent level. But having (volunteers) like Jack and Dave (Chua) coming to help, it’s a really easy sport to pick up and get good at quick.”

Edina has already seen improvements in matches. The Hornets lost 7-0 to perennial power Eden Prairie on April 12, but on May 3 Edina fell 5-2 to the Eagles in a match that included two three-set wins and one three-set loss.

“We learned based off all of our losses,” Celine Henke said. “It helps motivate us to learn their techniques.”

Steve Henke said he hopes Edina’s expansion and growth in the badminton community will spark other Lake Conference teams—Hopkins, Wayzata and Minnetonka—to join in.

Celine Henke agreed. 

Once just a high school student’s idea, badminton is now a full-fledged sport at . Celine hopes it will continue to grow both in and out of the city after she graduates and moves on.

“I have faith in this team,” she said. “I hope that it grows even bigger and that more of the school districts like Minnetonka and Wayzata join in so that we have a conference instead of all of us going to state. It would be more like an official high school league sport, so I hope it grows.”