Fort Worth Do The Olympics: Badminton

Badminton was likely invented in the mid-1800’s in British India, where it was played by British military officers stationed there. The officers brought badminton back to Britain with them. The shuttle’s conical shape and feathers cause it to fly differently than the balls used in most racquet sports; shuttles have a much higher top speed, but decelerate more rapidly than a ball. Competitive players must have aerobic stamina, agility, and explosive strength. Once a player has mastered the basics, learning advanced hitting techniques to deceive your opponent about the shuttle’s flight is a major part of the game.

R and J look like the shuttle's flight deceived them.

Badminton debuted in the 1992 Summer Olympics and has been contested ever since. It’s not as popular as beach volleyball and was on the chopping block for the 2016 Olympics, but it is still on the list of events. Medals are awarded in men’s and women’s singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. Like in table tennis, China dominates badminton. The US has participated in badminton at every Olympics, but has never medaled.

After playing beach volleyball, we moved over to badminton. Some of us did singles, some doubles, and some mixed doubles. The sun and especially the wind were certainly factors, and the shuttlecock's flight was very unpredictable. We still had a ton of fun.