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SJSU badminton club member Rosanna Kwan lunges for a shuttlecock as SJSU graduate student Tony Pham (right) looks on during a tri-meet at Spartan Complex. The 43-member club meets every Friday afternoon in the Spartan Complex. The club usually hosts three meets every semester.

Badminton attracts dedicated members

One student battles injury to play

By: Jon Xavier

Posted: 12/2/08

Knees bent, racket held at the ready, business graduate student Tony Pham prepares to return a serve.

The serve, when it comes, is slow and arched, tracing a lazy parabola over the net.

Pham's eyes track the shuttlecock. His muscles tense.

Then, he explodes, body surging upward, hand following arm following shoulder, bringing the racket forward with a whip-crack of force that sends the shuttlecock sailing back over the net.

Were it not for a three-inch scar running the length of his right heel, one would never know that six months ago, doctors told him he might never play badminton again.

"It was a pretty standard return," Pham said of his accident.

He said he leapt up to hit the shuttlecock, and when he landed, he felt something in his heel rip.

"I didn't realize anything was wrong until I landed, and I felt it snap," Pham said.

Pham had torn his Achilles tendon, a potentially crippling injury.

He said his doctors told him that the chances of re-injury were high, especially in badminton, which puts a lot of stress
on the legs.

But they also told him that, because he was younger than most people who normally tear it, there was a chance he could return to sports, if he was willing to risk it.

He was willing to risk it.

Three months later, following reconstructive surgery and intensive physical therapy, he joined the SJSU badminton club.

Now, when the club has meets, Pham and his partner are the No. 2 team, said Alex Chan, a senior marketing major and club marketing officer.

Last month, when they played UC Davis, Pham's team won the doubles divisions.

"It was just three months (of rehabilitation); I can deal with that," Pham said. "But never playing again - that I can't handle."

Everyone in the club is pretty dedicated to the sport, Chan said.

"They obviously care about the sport; we have some pretty good players and everyone is really trying to get better,"

he said. Club president Michael Cabebe, a senior biology major, said that SJSU is an important part of the badminton community.

"San Jose is the center for this area, and San Jose State is a part of that," Cabebe said.

"Our biggest thing is we're trying to get more people to join the club," Chan said. "In the past, I think we've had problems further into the semester with less and less people showing up … so I think that's one of our goals - to keep interest throughout the semester."

But the team also competes, usually having at least three meets per semester.

And recently, Chan said, they've really come together as a team.

"This year, the biggest thing is there's a lot more team spirit, where everyone knows each other," he said. "Before, it felt like some people would know each other in their little groups, and kind of stick to their own thing. But now it feels more like a club than just people playing badminton."

In that way, it's not that much different than any other sport, Pham said.

"People don't realize about club sports that they're just like any school sport," Pham said. "It's about going out and competing, about representing your school."