Cypress High’s badminton teams began their season with major successes. On Wednesday, February 25th, Varsity badminton won 21-0, and JV won 14-1 against Loara High School at home. The very next day, Varsity won 21-0, and JV won 14-1 overall against Kennedy High School.
Last year, badminton won in first place in CIF Div. I. As this season progresses, the players are getting better and gearing up to go against tough opponents, such as Marina and Cerritos.
Badminton captain and senior, Vincent Hanafi, has been playing badminton since his freshman year. He decided to come back thanks to the supportive and safe environment. During his freshman year, he was inspired to join after he remembered watching his dad coach this very team, “I was really impressed and awed, so that’s when I decided that I was going to try out for the team.” Hanafi says that his favorite part of the sport is being able to be a singles player, not relying on anyone but himself, “I don’t really have to rely on somebody else to carry me, it’s just me fighting [my opponent], and if I win, then it’s proof that I’ve worked harder.”
Senior and Badminton captain, Kalei Dacayanan, has also played badminton since her freshman year. Her reason for joining and playing is that her brother was previously on the team. Dacayanan’s main goals for this season are to become a better player and a leader for underclassmen to look up to. She has a lot of advice for new players who are thinking about joining Badminton, “[It] is a lot of hard work and it takes time to develop your skills to get to a higher level because it is quite competitive.” Dacayanan is looking forward to “being able to lead our team and creating an atmosphere where people enjoy playing [badminton].”
Junior Deepti Arasavel played badminton the previous year and decided to come back because of the community and the chance to bond with her team and friends. Arasavel’s main goals for this year are to improve her stamina and endurance. Her motivation for training is being able to climb higher in the ranks and make it into Varsity from JV. Arasavel says that new players planning to try out should be ready to work out, run and learn, “Even if you don’t know how to play badminton, that’s totally fine. As long as you [can learn], everything will work out.”
Coach Daniel Byun began coaching at Cypress because he was a former student. During his time at Cypress, badminton was a big part of his life and high school career, and because of that, he wanted to come back and help coach the badminton teams at Cypress. To him, the strongest part of this year’s team is their morale and support for one another, “Conditioning is tough, practice is tough, but if you have others to support you, you can always get through it all together.”
The Cypress Badminton team members are looking forward to the start of their season. Even though there are high expectations for them to uphold, there are people and teammates around who support and cheer for them through any challenges they face.
