Eric Miller was in high school when he developed a passion for badminton.
“I got hooked on it and have been playing ever since,” said Miller, 57. “I coached the Bryn Mawr collegiate team for over 10 years.”
Miller has been ranked nationally in the sport.
“The best I had achieved was a No. 12 ranking in doubles in the U.S.,” he said. “In 2011 and 2012 my son and I scored a U.S. ranking of No. 20 in the U.S. doubles. He’s a very good player. He played in the junior circuit and had been playing in the top 10 periodically.”
While he still consults with Bryn Mawr College on occasion, he focuses his attention on running Smashville Badminton, a club he started in Pottstown. Players who utilize the club come from Berks and beyond.
“We have a contingent that comes from Reading, some from Exton, West Chester, a few locally in Pottstown and Douglassville, Collegeville, Chester Springs and Limerick,” he said.
In addition to Smashville’s members, drop-in players are welcome.
“We have a lot of players that aren’t official members,” he said. “We had over 75 players come through the place last year. We have 45 to 50 consistent players.”
Smashville’s courts are always set up for play.
“We are the only badminton club in Pennsylvania to have courts up 24/7,” Miller said. “Twenty to 25 years ago, there were two courts over at the Germantown Cricket Club in Philadelphia.”
Miller discussed how badminton is typically viewed in the United States, which differs from other parts of the world.
“The public perception of badminton is that it’s a picnic game in the U.S.,” he said. “In China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, even England, it is considered a true sport. There are some great stats up about tennis versus badminton. The short of it is the workout is much more intense than tennis. The bird travels over 200 miles an hour on a fast smash in high-level competition.”
Miller initiated fundraising in 2003 to make it possible to obtain the space Smashville calls home.
“A top U.S. player, Andy Chong, ran a couple of clinics (as part of the fundraiser)”, he said. “We have had other top players since: Vince Lobo, who is a world-class player from King of Prussia, and Rick Thompson from D.C.”
When they first were in search of a home to set up the courts, they ran into some challenges.
“It’s been very difficult to find a place with a high enough ceiling,” he said. “We have been looking for a decade or so. We have some truss bars that contribute to some overhead obstruction, but it’s a good start and a nice home to build a badminton community.”
Miller, who lives in Phoenixville and works at Montclair State University in New Jersey, where he coordinates the lab for music and physiology, has some artist and musician friends who live in Pottstown who led them to the space they settled on to rent for the club.
“We did renovation work on the space, and we had a lot of volunteer work parties from the badminton community,” he said. “We have a grant from the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation to help with the renovations.”
They received the occupancy permit for the space they rent in October.
“We have taken over the third floor,” Miller said. “There is a dance studio, Swing Kat, on the second floor, and a new T-shirt shop and West Point Coin on the first floor.”
The club offers free badminton training for kids on Saturday afternoons, which is funded by the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation. Miller said kids typically start playing at age 8, though some are as young as 6.
“There is also a time for kids to play before adult play on Wednesday and Friday from 4:30 to 6 p.m.,” he said.
The most active playtime for adults is in the evening after work hours during the week.
“On weekends we get the younger crowd,” Miller said.
Since there are only three courts at the club, doubles are usually played over singles during the evening when courts are in most demand. During the summer months, the facility is also used for badminton training on a collegiate level.
Miller said badminton is a sport for all ages, with players at Smashville ranging from ages 25 to 55.
“It is really a lifetime sport,” he said. “You can play it up through the senior ages. I have seen a 92-year-old on the court.”
Smashville caters to all levels of experience. Those who play can expect to get a workout.
“It’s a very physically demanding sport,” he said. “It’s an intense cardio workout.”
Miller compared the learning curve involved with badminton versus tennis.
“In tennis you have to train a good amount to get a rally going,” he said. “With badminton, beginners learn fairly quickly at a lower level (of experience), and it increases the motivation to go out and stick with it and improve their game.”
Contact Courtney H. Diener-Stokes: life@readingeagle.com.
