Amador Valley's varsity badminton team dominated the scoreboard in the season's first game against San Ramon Valley this afternoon, winning 12 matches to SRV’s five. The Dons swept into the San Ramon Valley gymnasium like the all-mighty Spanish lords of their namesake and swiftly overpowered the hometown Wolves.
Over the span of two hours, the Dons came, they saw, and they conquered–with relative ease. Amador secured all victories in both boys singles and girls doubles, and dropped only one match each in girls singles and boys doubles.
“Honestly, I didn’t think we’d do that well.”
Heading into the game, girls captain Amber Liu (‘23) felt stress building up. She had no idea how well the team could hold up. After all, they had just under a month of practice, most doubles partners had been spontaneously thrown together without any experience, and players still fudged each other’s names.
What’s more, with the past season’s officers all having graduated, the current leadership team marked an array of fresh faces, uncertain, inexperienced. Longtime coach of the team, Coach Sun, had also retired from the position and handed the reins off to newcomer Coach Mike Li.
Other players shared Liu’s apprehensions. Even the presiding coach.
“We got a new coach, many players are new, and many players were not able to make it [to the game], so we even had a hard time coming up with our match rosters,” said Coach Li. “But, we were able to get all settled down and have a great competition.”
That this particular season started out with more challenges and struggles than a regular season, then, made the team’s victory even more remarkable and satisfactory for the players.
Raghav Sreekumar ('25) has been playing badminton for as long as he could remember–he still clearly recalls playing "countless hours" of badminton as a kid with his mother, learning from her the basics of timing, coordination, and short selection.
Playing for the first time on the AV varsity team, Sreekumar almost burst with excitement. After winning both his doubles match and singles exhibition match against SRV, he dedicates his victories to his mother for her unwavering support.
"It's really heartening to see her staunch dedication to me translate to [these wins]," said Sreekumar. "It was a really wholesome experience, and I look forward to further cultivating my skills and becoming a stronger player. Go Dons!"
“Exhilarating.”
That’s what Soham Garg (‘24) dubs the rush of euphoria through his body from when he won his match. He had gone into the game determined to redeem himself from last season’s losses, and that he did, with a score of 21-10 and 21-16.
“I knew that I wanted this to be a special season as I had a pretty rough losing streak last year,” said Garg. “The tournament, overall, was very smooth. I got to enjoy it with my friends and had lots of fun.”
Cheering on their teammates from the bleachers strengthened the team’s sense of camaraderie. For many doubles players, like Varsha Harnoor (‘23), the first game helped build much-needed rapport between their partners.
“My favorite part about the game was being able to hit the right shots after communicating with my partner,” said Harnoor. “The other team was friendly and we played a pretty fun game.”
Following the game, Coach Li acknowledges the team must “practice harder to prepare for a stronger opponent,” but he knows that, when the time comes, they can rise to the occasion and meet any challenge head on. Li looks forward to helping each member improve and leading AV Badminton to more future victories.
“We are on track for a wonderful season,” he said.