The De Anza College Women’s badminton team won their first Coast Conference match,17-4, against Skyline College Thursday, March, 16.

Switching off from singles to doubles, every athlete on both teams had a chance to play multiple games. There was an average of six back and forth birdie hits during singles games. During doubles games, there were typically three to four hits usually ending with a smash of the birdie.

“We had pretty good depth today,” Head coach Mark Landefeld said. “We’re missing players (Elita Murtanu, Negar Hosseini, Sza Ka Yip), but we still managed. As far as what we need to work on I would say more consistency with our  play, specifically hit shuttle consistency.”

Elizabeth Chang, 19 year old computer science major, said she joined the badminton team because “they needed people and I have some background. I love sports. After, I joined I found out it was really fun and a great way to interact with teammates.”

Many members of De Anza’s Badminton team have had prior experience playing the game. Some even play it with loved ones. “It’s our family exercise in my home country,” said Yu Hsuan Liu, 20, computer science major. Every Friday, two hours per week, my parents would take me to play.”

Madison Ng, 19, sociology major and member said “I played Badminton in high school, so I was interested here. Originally, I wanted to play field hockey De Anza doesn’t have that sport though, but Badminton is fun.”

In support of their friend, three audience members observed the games: Lauren Turnco, 20, City College of San Francisco student, Pratash Nair, 19, science major, and Angelica Portilla, 19, respiratory major.

Turnco said “we don’t know anything about Badminton, but it seems like a cool sport to play.”

Portilla said “Why can’t we cheer or curse while watch this sport?”

At the end of the game, both teams shared cupcakes to celebrate a Skyline player’s birthday.

De Anza has four more coast conference matches before finals begin on May 5. Their next match will be a home game against Fresno on Thursday, March 23. For more information, visit De Anza College Athletics, Badminton, on the school’s website.