Badminton in the United States

In the United States over 1,362,000 people frequently play badminton throughout the year. This number is provided as of 2008.[1]

Badminton in the United States
CountryUnited States
Governing bodyUSA Badminton[2]
National team(s)United States Olympics team
First played1878 New York Badminton Club
Registered playersUSA Badminton has over 4000 members
International competitions

Gameplay
Badminton

In badminton, the objective of the game is to hit the shuttlecock over the net and into your opponents boundary. If both of you are able to hit the shuttlecock or birdie back and forth a rally has ensued. A rally is won if one player hits the shuttlecock out of bounds or into the net. Games go to 21 points. The winner of three games wins the set.

Scoring

Games go to 21 points. If the score is 20-20, then it is win by two points. For example, 22–24. If the score manages to get to 29-29 then the next score wins.[3]

Other Important Rules
  1. The side that wins the game will serve first to start off the next game.
  2. A minute interval is allowed between games.
  3. During the third game, once the leading players score is 11, both players must switch sides.[4]

History

In the United States the first badminton club was formed in New York in 1878.[5] During the 1930s, badminton had become a popular sport in the United States. Establishments such as the YMCA, universities and more all formed badminton clubs and the popularity of the sport began to take growth. The sport was also aided by the support of celebrity participation. Celebrities such as Bette Davis, Douglas Fairbanks, Dick Powell and more all participated in the sport helping badminton gain popularity during the mid half of the 20th century.

Starting in 1936 the American Badminton Association was formed, however, in 1978 and 1996 the name would be changed to its current name of USA Badminton ( or USAB). The main reason for the evolutionary changes is because different groups and clubs from all around the United States joined together to standardize the rules of the game.

The time period between 1949 and 1967 was the biggest period of badminton popularity in the United States. In 1949 David Freeman brought the United States its first ever world championships. Freeman won the Men's Singles at the All-England Championships. Additionally, between 1949 and 1967 the United States won 23 championships in badminton. The success led to Sports Illustrated featuring Joe Alston on the Cover of the March issue of 1955 to recognize the United States successes in badminton during that time period.[6]

In 2016, USAB announced that they would be relocating their professional training facilities and headquarters from Colorado Spring to Anaheim California.[7]

Important Figures

Ben Lee

Lee is the current Board of Directors Chair. Lee was elected in 2017 to take over the spot in replacement of David Simon. Lee was a former olympian in the 1992 olympic games in Barcelona. He was also formerly the head coach of team USA at the 2012 olympic games in London. Lee is very experienced in badminton as both a coach and former player. Additionally, Lee is a nine time United States doubles champion. On top of all of these accomplishments he has also been inducted into the United States Badminton Walk of Fame.

Board of Directors

Lee will remain in the position of Board Chair until 2020. Lee will be eligible to run for another four-year term.

Nibu Paul

Paul is the current Coaching Director for USAB. Paul will serve on the Board of Directors while also helping with strategic planning and coaching objectives. Paul is the main representative in the interests of USAB coaches. Paul is a certified coach who has over 15 years of experience. He has served multiple platforms of badminton. Additionally, Paul is a Technology Manager in Texas where he oversees 15 developers.

Coaching Director

Pauls term will run until 2020 where he will be up for re-election. If elected, Paul can serve up to another four years.[8]

Popularity of Badminton

Badminton is not a popular sport in the United States for several reasons. One of the main reasons is because badminton in the United States is seen as a backyard sport. Due to this, the sport has not grown much in the United States. Another reason is the lack of olympic success. Team USAB has not had much success in their olympic runs. This lack of success is another reason why the sport has not grown in comparison to other sports that have had olympic success. Finally, wages are a huge reason why badminton has not gown. Badminton fails to receive a lot of media attention in the United States and with that comes low wages. Participants can earn up to $15,000 for winning a championship. That is a relatively small amount of money in comparison to the average football player that has a salary of 2.7 million dollars.[9][10]

Diane Cornell

January 7, 2020 marks the death of Diane Cornell. Diane Cornell passed away after her fight with breast cancer for many years. Diane served as president of the United States Badminton Association ( now USA Badminton) during the 1990s. During her time as president she worked in partnership with IBF ( now known as BWF) to welcome individuals to the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta.

Outside of Badminton

Outside of badminton, Diane was a long time official for the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) and served as chairmen for several years. In 2017, her hard work was recognized after being awarded the FCBA Excellence Award in Government Service.[11]

Beiwen Zhang
Zhang Beiwen - Indonesia Open 2017

Beiwen Zhang is one of the most accomplished United States professional badminton players. She has a record of 290 wins and 170 losses. Beiwen Zhang has made over $250,000 in prize awards from her winnings. Zhang currently has a world ranking of 9.

Background

Beiwen Zhang started playing badminton at the age of eight. The reason she started playing was because her immune system did not function properly and her parents encouraged her to participate in a sport in order to strengthen it. Zhang started playing competitively in 2004. Her most memorable match came in 2006 in the French Quarter Final versus Yamaguchi.[12]

USAB National Elite Rankings

As of December 6, 2019 the National Elite Rankings for team USA in Badminton go as followed.

Men Singles
Olympics 2012 Mixed Doubles Final
  1. Timothy Lam
  2. Howard Shu
  3. Mark Alcala

Women's Singles
  1. Beiwen Zhang
  2. Isabel Zhong
  3. Iris Wang

Mens Doubles
  1. Philip Chew and Ryan Chew
  2. Ferdinand Sinarta and Sattawat Pongnairat
  3. Hongkheng Yew and Yaohan Ow

Women Doubles
  1. Sydney Lee and Ariel Lee
  2. Jennie Gai and Breanna Chi
  3. Isabel Zhong and Emily Kan

Mixed Doubles
  1. Paula O'Banana and Howard Shu
  2. Brenna Chi and Vinson Chiu
  3. Isabel Zhong and Mathew Fogarty[13]

National team

The men's and women's national team have had limited success at the Summer Olympics.[14][15]

See also

References
  1. "USA Badminton". USA Badminton. 2020.
  2. Redford, Patrick. "USA Badminton Is Another Example Of How Messed Up Olympic Organizations Are". Deadspin. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  3. "Badminton Rules: How To Play Badminton | Rules of Sport". www.rulesofsport.com. Retrieved 2020-02-04.
  4. "Badminton Rules". web.mst.edu. Retrieved 2020-02-05.
  5. "washingtonpost.com: Badminton History". www.washingtonpost.com.
  6. "Brief History of Badminton". USA Badminton. 2020.
  7. Staff (2016-12-12). "USA Badminton to Relocate to Anaheim". SportsTravel. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
  8. "USA Badminton Appointed Nibu Paul as the new Coaching Director". USA Badminton. 14 February 2019.
  9. "Why Isn't Badminton Popular in America?". www.badminton-information.com. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
  10. Connley, Kerri Anne Renzulli,Courtney (2019-02-01). "Here's what the average NFL player makes in a season". CNBC. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  11. "USAB mourns the loss of Diane Cornell". USA Badminton. 13 January 2020.
  12. "BWF". bwf.tournamentsoftware.com. Retrieved 2020-01-21.
  13. "USAB National Elite Rankings". USA Badminton. 6 December 2019.
  14. "US badminton players work to reverse the backyard curse". USA TODAY. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  15. Gallo, D. J. (9 August 2016). "How can you call America great when it's never even won a badminton medal?". Retrieved 12 March 2019 – via www.theguardian.com.
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