It was not a “birdie” who told the school’s badminton coach that he would have to make cuts this season. It was the 60 energetic teenagers who showed up on the first day of tryouts.

“We actually had a really good turnout this year compared to years before,” senior Valerie Tam said. “It was the first day of tryouts and just mounds and mounds of people kept on coming.”

The coach was so overwhelmed by the number of people that he didn’t know what to do. Varsity and JV can only have 24 players each, but with such a large group to choose from, the teams are hoping to do well.

“For girls doubles, it’s looking pretty strong for varsity,” Valerie said. “Boys doubles not quite. We only have one returning pair for boys doubles. The varsity 2 and varsity 3 seats—they’re freshman teams.

The concern for this area is echoed throughout the boys doubles and the rest of varsity, but the team is looking forward to a good season in all of the other categories.

“That’s what I like about our school,” senior Caroline Kan said. “[None] of our players really train. We learn from experiences and we can still beat some of the toughest challengers, which is pretty awesome.”

The team began preseason matches on Tuesday, March 11, against Palo Alto High School Varsity lost 14-16, but the close loss was taken well, as Palo Alto is in a higher league than this school. On Thursday, March 13, the school beat Mountain View High School in another preseason match. On Tuesday, March 18, for its first official match of the season, the school beat Mountain View yet again.

Seniors Olga Lykova and Felix Ong play number 1 for girls and boys singles, respectively.

“Olga can pretty much beat a lot of the gus in the league who are varsity 1,” junior Natalie Kwong said.

Although cuts were made and the teams have been set, any player can challenge the player above them to a match, and the winner moves up in rankings. This constant fluctuation can happen at any time in the season.