AHS Faces Off Against Rivals at Washington High School
Priscilla Ng
Staff Writer
The American High School badminton team played their first of two matches against Washington High School on March 20, 2014.
The Eagles defeated the Huskies 12-5 for varsity players and 13-11 for the junior varsity team.
“We usually win against Washington with a comfortable margin, and so our win was not a big surprise,” senior and captain Tarun Pasumarthi said. “It was actually slightly easier to beat them this year because Washington has had some commotion going on with their coaching staff and the team is in slight disarray. Even though, I’m extremely glad that American won, I hope that Washington can work through their changes and get better too because it’s always more fun when games go right down to the wire, especially a Washington-American rivalry game.”
Despite the rather wide win to loss ratio, the individual games proved to be challenging for some players.
“The overall team results were expected. But my own game [was a bit] weird since I fell and injured myself,” captain and junior Jennie Au said. “Fortunately though, I pulled through and finished it and won.”
Although the team is already a few games into the season, most players have not been able to note much personal improvement.
“A few games are not enough to improve much individually,” Pasumarthi said. “Improvement in badminton or any other activity comes through a long period of dedicated practice.”
Despite the small progress for personal improvement, the captains have noticed a change in the team’s overall dynamic.
“The team as a whole is pretty good, we support each other in games, and we’re improving,” Au said. “Since the season began, as a team we are more determined to win games and support each other.”
With this win against Washington, the players are looking forward to keeping up a winning streak against the other schools in the league.
“As the captain of my team, my main goal is to lead the team to as many victories as possible and place American High school as high as we could possibly go in our league,” Pasumarthi said. “I really want my teammates to improve, but more importantly I want my teammates to have a really enjoyable experience so that they develop a strong passion for the game start to love badminton and the team as much as I do.”
Eagle Era 