Intramural badminton wraps up Session III

The Intramural badminton program met for another round of play in Venable Gym on March 5.

Moments before the matches began, a visitor would never have guessed that the court would soon be host to shuttlecocks and nets. The basketball courts were filled with scrimmaging players, while the racquet-wielding badminton participants filed in slowly and took practice swings.

The court was cleared off and the nets were carried out and untangled. Two teams set up on either side of each net and began taking practice volleys for warm up.

Around them, stragglers from the basketball shooter took free throws and dribbled around the flying shuttlecocks and waving racquets.

As the games began, two volunteers stood at the ends of each net to keep score and referee the matches.
There was an imbalance, with nine players to only two courts. Sophomore Mary Ferrara stood off to the side, reserving herself as a substitute in case one of the other players needed a break.

Ferrara learned about the badminton league through First Class where she read about the program under the student announcements banner. Having already played a little badminton in high school she was interested in continuing at the College.

Describing her first experience with the game, Ferrara broke from her story to marvel at the on-court antics, as one male player performed a mid-court split.

“I like that it’s relaxing, but competitive. I just play it ‘cause (sic) I have good hand-eye coordination,” Ferrara said.

Ferrara has enjoyed her time playing badminton, but felt that the Intramural program could have handled the organizational aspects better.

“I think it could be a little more well-organized than it is,” she said. She expressed the wish that if email and other online resources were used to their full potential, then there would be better communication of schedules and whether or not teams were going to show up for scheduled matches.

Despite this, Ferrara was enthusiastic both about badminton and the program as a whole. She described plans to sign up for the Kan Jam program that will be starting soon.

Shorty before taking the court to sub in, Ferrara commented positively on the experience.

“It’s pretty fun. You get to meet new people. I didn’t expect this many people to do it,” Ferrara said.

Some of the other team’s playing had brought their own cheering section who filled the rafters of Venable with laughing cries of “DEFENSE!” and applause at each serve and volley. After a successful return, one player even broke from his court to high five classmates in the front row of the bleachers.

Sophomore Sebastian Waldron echoed many of Ferrara’s criticisms and compliments. Waldron heard about badminton from a friend and decided to sign-up. He was largely ignorant of badminton before joining up.
“It’s fun to get involved,” Waldron said, “and to have something to do.”

Waldron agreed with Ferrara that things could have been more organized and the athletes better informed.
On the court, Ferrara missed a serve, but her opponents simply waved it away, announcing that it did not count and allowed Ferrara to swing again.

The games concluded, the winner being determined as the winner of the best of three games, the winning team being the first to reach 15 points.

With the official games over, Intramural supervisor Ryan Shewchuck told the assembled crowd that he would stay behind a little longer than he had been asked to allow them to continue to use the nets for friendly games.

Shewchuck was recruited to the Intramural effort by head coach of Men’s Soccer Adam Hildabrand, who Shewchuck met when he played for the Trailblazers. Shewchuck is one of four supervisors who devote their time to sending out emails, keeping time and refereeing games and getting the games set up. Shewchuck is not just a supervisor; he also participates in as many of the programs as he can. He named Kan Jam as his personal favorite Intramural activity.

The third session of Intramurals will conclude this week with the finals of the indoor soccer league. The fourth and final session will begin shortly after spring break.

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