Marblehead Youth Badminton players prep for N.E. Junior Open

When we as a society think of what happens to be a sport, usually the big four come to mind: baseball, basketball, football, hockey. Other sports that we’d be thinking of might be volleyball, soccer, boxing, and gymnastics.However, one sport that people never mention at all has started to attain a sort of cult status, particularly among teenagers in Marblehead, and that’s badminton.There are roughly around 75 youngsters between the ages of 7-20 currently taking part in Marblehead Youth Badminton, and while one might associate the sport as being played in the backyard during a summer barbecue, these young athletes are into it year-round.Click here for a photo gallery.”I’ve been playing it since I was seven,” said Philip Donlan, a senior at Marblehead High. “I play it all year round, and it’s such a great sport.”The sport is so popular in town that MYB is hosting the New England Junior Open for the second straight year at Marblehead High on the weekend of Nov. 20-21. There are expected to be around 100 players between the ages of 7-21 taking part, both from the United States as well as from other countries.”There aren’t that many players locally that play badminton, and so this is a good way for our kids to meet others who are from other places,” said Lina Rodts, director of Marblehead Youth Badminton, who’s been on the board the past five years. “We’ve hosted the event before, and the NEJOs are most focused on the New England and East Coast players. Sometimes we get players from as far away as Peru and Hungary, and last year there were 85 players taking part from as many as 10 states.”There are six different types of levels in the sport, and players are assigned to those specific levels depending on their skill and age.To those who might scoff that badminton, which became an Olympic sport in the 1992 Summer Games, is no more arduous than dusting around the house, there are many who would disagree. One man is Nick Vered, who trained at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for the sport several years ago and now coaches the teams in MYB.”I started playing badminton at 15, learning from my uncle, who grew up playing it in the Philippines,” Vered said. “I played all the sports growing up: football, volleyball, racquetball, basketball among them. The quickness, endurance, strength, and hand-eye coordination you need for all those sports you also need for badminton. There’s plenty of running involved, especially in short spurts, and there’s plenty of training involved as well.”Assistant coach Arthur Chin has been playing the sport for 10 years.”I had a neighbor who was from Malaysia, and she had me and her daughter play badminton,” said Chin, who also wrestled, swam, and played rugby growing up. “I enjoyed it right from that moment. It’s fast-paced, and certainly different than what the other kids were doing. It’s a good mix of both physical and mental ability and mental toughness is important to have as well.”If you think professional athletes have certain and specific training regimens throughout their respective seasons, badminton players have to prepare themselves just as much for a tourney.”You really have to prepare (train) for the NEJOs months in advance,” Donlan added. “We run plenty of suicides and sprints, as your legs need to be strong, and there’s plenty of footwork throughout a match, especially in bursts. And your hand-eye coordination has to be really good.”While Nolan Ryan fired a fastball at over 100 miles per hour, and Bobby Hull’s slap shot was timed at over 110 mph, the shuttlecock used in badminton can reach speeds well over 200 miles per hour (especially off a jump smash).There are a variety of tournaments held worldwide in the sport. Twelve-year old Nicole Frevold, who developed an interest for badminton playing it in the street and using a crack in the pavement as a net, competed in a tourney over the summer in the Dominican Republic, and will also take part in one in Jamaica next August.”That’s one