Expecting a mere 32 participants in their first annual badminton tournament, Riya Iyer ’27, Carina Wu ’27, and Luna Yang ’27 were stunned when 108 players entered the competition.

“Originally, there was going to be one match per day,” Wu said. “Then, 108 people signed up, so we expanded the tournament to four matches per day, and some of the days we have even six matches.”

The contest gained enough support that it compares to the dodgeball tournament, an integral, longstanding event within the middle school community. Iyer thinks the recent addition attracted such considerable interest because it provides something new and exciting.

“I think it’s awesome that we’ve created something that can even rival the dodgeball tournament, which is obviously a super big HW tradition,” Iyer said. “I never thought I’d have the chance to play badminton in a school environment, and the fact that we were able to turn it into a club and now a tournament is really incredible.”

Iyer enjoys refereeing in the badminton tournament because it attracts contestants of varying levels of competitiveness and experience. She values the competition’s strength to unite the community through a sport, though not all participants are athletes.

“We get to meet all sorts of characters,” Iyer said. “There are those people who are super intense about badminton, and then there are also people who may as well give it a try. It’s really awesome that we’ve created a tournament where everyone feels like they have a chance to come and try it out.”

In Iyer’s opinion, the badminton tournament reflects the club’s initial objective to create an environment where people can learn and enjoy each other’s company.

“The goal of the club was to introduce people who maybe don’t know a lot about badminton to what badminton can be, which is a really, really fun sport that almost anyone can pick up if they have a racket and a birdie,” Iyer said.

The founders gained inspiration for the club from a badminton unit during their seventh-grade PE class. They planned to institute their idea during the following school year, without the expectation that it would ever become one of the middle school’s staple break-period activities.

“I didn’t really expect the club to be this successful, and now that it is, I think we’ve set a great example for other people who want to create clubs,” Yang said.

The winning team will receive a gift card, a trophy and candy as an award for their victory.