THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 3, 1997 TAG: 9702030120
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 111 lines
Whack!
The sound resonating inside the Virginia Beach Middle School gymnasium sounds like dozens of fly swatters smushing their prey. Only it's not flies the folks inside are killing.
It's birdies.
``Shuttlecocks,'' Barroni Chin-Hugh corrects in an accent that is all Jamaican. As he does every Monday night, Chin-Hugh, who now lives in Norfolk, is speaking the language of badminton with a group of 30 or so Hampton Roads regulars known as the Virginia Beach Badminton League.
The league, originally the brainchild of the late Monroe Farmer, has met in this spot on this night since 1967.
``Back then, nobody dared miss Monday night badminton,'' confides Virginia Opalio, a member since 1970 who now plays with daughter Michelle.
Players come in all ages and sizes, carrying brand-name rackets over their shoulders, along with water bottles and sweat towels. Some play for fun and fitness, while the more competitive, such as Chin-Hugh, play to win.
``I don't believe in overkill,'' he says with a grin, ``but I do believe in kill.''
Badminton, the second-most popular participatory sport in the world, trailing only soccer, hasn't established any kind of fervor in this country, but internationally, it's a hit. Indonesia boasts five of the top 10 men's singles and doubles players, and the United States, a dominant power from 1949 to 1967, has lost ground to China, Korea and Sweden. An Olympic sport since 1992, badminton is one of the few medal sports that didn't receive a single minute of U.S. television coverage at last summer's Olympic Games.
In Hampton Roads, badminton is relegated largely to recreation centers in Virginia Beach, which requires players to be residents. The middle school, for three hours every Monday night, is the other alternative, and that's only a wintertime activity.
``The league kind of peters out when the weather gets good,'' admits coordinator Melissa Smoot.
Because contrary to belief, badminton is an indoor sport, not something to do around the backyard barbecue. The sport's enthusiasts are often rankled by the misunderstood nature of their game.
``It gets a bad rap,'' says Mark Huenerberg, 38, who used to play intramural badminton at Virginia Tech. ``People buy their little sets and set up a net 6- or 7-feet high and hit up all the time. When you set up a net at regulation height, you can drive it, down it, drop it. You bring your own nuances to the game. Or worse, people play badminton over a volleyball net.''
A regulation net is 5 feet and sits in the center of a court that measures 44 feet by 17 feet for singles, 44 by 20 for doubles. A match is best-of-3 games, with each game played to 15 points for men, 11 points for women. Similar to volleyball, a point can only be won by the server or serving team.
Badminton uses all of the same muscular groups as basketball and is a better workout than tennis, according to the United States Badminton Association, based in Colorado Springs. A player can run a mile in a typical two-game match.
``I play here once a week;'' Huenerberg says, ``I hurt for three days.''
Rec-level tennis players generally spend most of their time chasing wayward balls. In badminton the shuttlecock, which weighs less than an ounce and consists of 16 goose feathers attached to a leather-covered cork tip, cannot be hit three courts away. Generally it drops somewhere next to a player's feet.
``It doesn't fly like a ball,'' says Smoot, who won the mixed doubles league last year with Huenerberg. ``As soon as you hit it, it starts flowing down. It doesn't follow the same trajectory as a ball.''
It's also a mind game; Chin-Hugh compares it to chess. Smoot says strategy takes a while to develop.
``I joined a badminton club and my mentor turned 70 when I was there,'' she says. ``I was younger, quicker, stronger - everything but smarter. It took me a couple of years of getting beaten by little old ladies before I was any good.''
Any player at any level is welcome to join the league; players are divided between A, B, C and D levels and some, Chin-Hugh says, have specified being D-minus. Generally five matches are played each hour, all doubles and mixed, and then players rotate or sometimes sit out an hour. Chin-Hugh says anyone coming in with racquetball or tennis experience usually picks up the sport quickly, although Smoot says tennis players often get tripped up trying to keep their wrist firm.
``But,'' she stresses, ``it doesn't take long before you can hit it over the net and you're playing. Immediate satisfaction.''
Ivor Sequeira, originally from South Africa, is regarded as the league's best player, having competed in various state and national tournaments in the mid-'80s. Sequeira reaches every shot, sometimes bending, always anticipating, and often swatting the shuttlecock back with such force opponents are convinced it will land out of bounds. Instead, it lands inches in.
Along with Chin-Hugh, Sequeira takes new players aside and works with them on technique. While Smoot says the best players are differentiated by their backhand, Sequeira believes movement is key.
``The secret to the game is happy feet,'' he says.
Chin-Hugh wishes Americans were more receptive to the sport; the league is largely international and includes more women than men.
``Men still think it's a sissy game,'' he says, admitting he used to have that attitude before he started playing. ``It's not.''
Chin-Hugh would like to see badminton at the high school level, as it is a fairly inexpensive sport. Rackets can cost as much as $200, but most hackers start with the $30 variety. After that, about all you need to get started is a net, a place to set it up and a little dedication.
``There's not much to badminton except committing yourself to learning the game,'' Chin-Hugh says. ``Once you've done that, you've mastered the basic part.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by L. TODD SPENCER
A Virginia Beach Badminton League player, Ivor Sequeira competed in
various state and national tournaments in the mid-`80s.
Color photo by L. TODD SPENCER photos/The Virginian-Pilot
Since 1967, Monday nights have meant badminton to Virginia Beach
league players, including Pete Haglich, above.
KEYWORDS: BADMINTON