Their rackets and shuttlecocks left aside, students ran energetically to the court to prepare for a strategically-held training. Stretching and sidesteps were the exercises scheduled for the first-ever practice of the Badminton Club at SF State.

“Front right, left, back right,” said club President Alex Ly with a firm voice to the seven motivated players who showed up.

The club had its first official practice on Feb 4. Before, players were enjoying smashing the shuttlecock during open gym hours.

One of the biggest advantages of being part of the team is that students, instead of playing against people they don’t know, have the opportunity to truly interact with a team. They play for fun or competition and are taught the necessary skills to become better players, an opportunity not offered in the unstructured open gym.

Even though the club became official this semester, its image has been shaped since last October by the minds of its creators, Ly and Edna Lo, the club’s vice president.

Ly and Lo met last semester while playing badminton during open gym. They shared a passion for the game and were enthusiastic about creating a club.

“It was a joint-effort type of thing,” Ly said.

By introducing themselves to other players and sharing their ambition for the club, Ly and Lo were able to get seven people to sign up in support of the creation of the club.

“It takes determination and some patience to actually get momentum going for the club,” Ly said. “The easiest part was gathering members because there were so many people eager to join.”

Once the club became official, about 30 members had signed up to join the team.

Ly started playing badminton two years ago while attending Leland High School in San Jose. He explained that practicing for fun was his original goal before he actually got the necessary skills to perform in competitive events.

His goals for the Badminton Club go beyond simply training on Mondays and Fridays, he said.

“For now, my goal is for the club to get recognized, beyond the sphere of SF State, in the rest of the badminton community in the Bay Area. Therefore, we will be able to join a league and play against other schools,” said Ly, who advised team members to sign up for local tournaments.

Junior Kenichi Seo, an English education major who transferred from Seattle, has been playing badminton for eight years and is willing to get involved in competitive events. Seo said he signed up to compete at the Yonex Bay Area Open held from Feb. 15 to 17 in Milpitas.

For the time being, even if he has the Northern California Collegiate Badminton League in mind for the team’s future, Ly said he does not want to rush things.

“I want to go slowly, take time to get new members and organize the club,” he said, who also said he hoped that the club will contribute to the promotion of the sport at SF State.

Players had diverse expec-tations when they decided to join the club.

Eighteen-year-old Jasper Yu started playing badminton in open gym last semester. “My objective is to get better and be able to play at a higher level,” he said, regarding tournaments.

Lhamo Wangden, a 19-year-old undeclared major, has other hopes. “I am not a very competitive person. I like to play for fun, so if I get to play it is great,” she said.

Annie Lee, a graduate student in dietetics, represents another face of the team.

“My internship consumes my life, so I wanted to play and meet people who have something in common,” she said.

The structure of the club is set by Ly and Lo, who say they will organize practices in a way that satisfies all players, no matter their level.

“To accommodate both advanced and new players, we will split the types of practices into two to allow those who don’t know how to play to develop basic skills while players that do know how to play will polish up their skills,” Ly said.

An interest in badminton and determination are the only conditions required to join the club.

“It’s an opportunity to bring a community of badminton players together,” Ly said.