Court divided between a thin five-foot net. Scrambling all over the court to reach the birdie. Thin racquets swinging. Quick dives made to prevent elimination. Swinging back with precise strokes against your opponent in hopes that the birdie hits the ground, end- ing a round and earning a point. This racquet sport is known as badminton.
Badminton enthusiast Anna Nguyen plays for Skyline’s badminton team. Badminton is a sport Nguyen used to enjoy in her hometown, Khánh HÃa, Vietnam, and she continues to play to this day. This is the 26-year-old kine– siology major’s first semester in college, and already she conquers the sport by leading as number 1 from Skyline.
Ever since moving from the south-central province of Vietnam to the United States 10 years ago, Nguyen has always been working. Nguyen’s family of eight came to San Francisco but later moved to New Mexico. Because the weather was too extreme for Nguyen, she and her oldest brother returned to San Francisco.
Nguyen is very thankful to her brother: “I was able to go back to school because of the support my brother that I live with gave me.” But going to school was not made easy for Nguyen.
“Ever since I came here I worked,” Nguyen said. “It’s hard with both work and school.”
Nguyen works five days a week. This work schedule interferes with her badminton schedule, but there is nothing she can do about it.
“The coach tries to work around my work schedule, but I can’t miss work,” Nguyen said. “I need the money.” Badminton games take place Tuesdays and Thursdays, but Nguyen can only make it to the Tuesday games.
Because Nguyen is only able to attend Tuesday games, her ability to rank as the school’s number one is that much more remarkable. When asked about her secret, she replied that “running and a home- made juice with celery, apple,banana and potatoes blended” help her stay prepared for action. She insisted that there is not much of a secret to the exercises she does besides running.
All this hard work of practicing and winning games leads to the Coast Conference Finals in Fresno on May 5. This event will draw from the five conference teams, and then the top eight singles play- ers and top six doubles teams will qualify to play in the State Cham- pionships located in San Diego on May 11 and 12.
Badminton coach Jan Fosberg is thrilled to have such a player on the team.
“Anna probably ranks in the top five players in Skyline badminton history,” Fosberg said. “She is not only a talented player but a team leader and a great person on and off of the court.”
Her teammate Kayla Garcia also spoke kind words about Nguyen, saying “(s)he’s really modest. Hav– ing her on the team is helpful be- cause she’s like an assistant coach to us and helps us improve.” Aside from badminton, work and school, in her very limited free time she is able to hang out with friends. She has even picked up bowling from her team- mates.
Overall, Nguyen’s main focus is to complete her general education requirements in hopes of becom– ing a successful badminton coach. School may be her priority, but that won’t distract her from play- ing hard for her team.
“I try to do the best I can for Sky- line,” Nguyen said.
