Badminton club to open in Arcadia By Patricia Jiayi Ho and Colleen O'Connor Staff Writers Article Launched:09/02/2007 11:01:45 PM PDT ARCADIA - For about $40 a month, enthusiasts will soon be able to smash shuttlecocks and polish their strategies at a new 17-court badminton club in Arcadia that co-owner William Chan boasts will be the largest in North America. For Chan, the sport runs in his family. His sister is Amy Chan, known as the badminton queen of Hong Kong, who has won medals at the Commonwealth Games and the Seoul Olympics when the sport was a demonstration event. A brother is also in the badminton business in Hong Kong, manufacturing equipment, he said. Chan anticipates at least 1,000 people will immediately sign up to play at the facility, which will join three others badminton facilities in California - a testament to the sport's growing popularity. "People are concerned about their health," says his business partner, Scott Chen, who said he turned down an offer for the property from figure-skater Michelle Kwan's dad to build an ice-skating rink at the Arcadia site on Lower Azusa Road. In the San Gabriel Valley and elsewhere, new immigrants are reinvigorating the venerable sport of badminton, which had its heyday in the 1950s when it rode the postwar wave of suburban backyard cool. More than 2 million people play regularly in the United States, according to a 2007 study by the Sporting Goods Manufacturing Association. That means more Americans engage in badminton than archery, ice skating, racquetball, gymnastics, ice hockey and lacrosse. The numbers are rising as much as 8 percent a year, according to some surveys. The surge is fueled by a multicultural mix, led mostly by immigrants from Asia, where badminton is a way of life. That makes its growth a natural in the San Gabriel Valley, which leads all of Los Angeles County in Asian population gains. Although badminton has "kind of declined a bit" since it was viewed as the sport of Hollywood stars in the 1950s, Lee Calvert, secretary of the Southern California Badminton Association, said "the influx of Asians" into the sport has made it "very, very much in demand." But the resurgence has also created a dearth of badminton courts in some parts of the country. There is also a general lack of understanding of how, exactly, the game is played. "People don't know what the (court) lines are, and they don't understand where the net goes," says Kathy Zimmerman, a former national women's champion. "Then you're competing with basketball and volleyball, floor hockey and indoor lacrosse. People are fighting for gym time." Worse, badminton has something of an image problem. "Americans don't really see it as a serious sport," says Pavel Zelinksky, 17, who emigrated from Moscow and now runs a badminton club at his high school in Boulder, Colo. Some say it's not even a sport, just a game. "The image of badminton is something you play on July 4 at a picnic," says Kevin Han of Colorado Springs, a native of China who has competed on the U.S. Olympic badminton team. "You have a hot dog in one hand, a beer in another, and you play some badminton." In reality, badminton is an aerobic challenge that demands more snap and stamina than the other racket sports, Calvert said. "You need the whole athletic package to play," says Han. "Endurance, speed, agility and the power of using your body to jump up and smash the shuttlecock at speeds of more than 200 miles per hour." One study that compared tennis with badminton showed badminton players competed in matches for half the time but ran twice as far and hit twice as many shots. An average two-game match is the equivalent of running a mile. Bob Cook, president of the Pasadena Badminton Club, has seen first-hand how the sport has been revived locally. In 1987, when the club lost its facilities, only 20 percent of its members were Asian. The club eventually folded into the San Gabriel Valley Badminton Club, based in El Monte, and now has 13 courts and more than 1,100 members. "When we closed down the club in Pasadena, Asians were just starting to come in. Now I would say, at least 90 percent, probably close to 98 percent (of members) are Asian," said Cook. patricia.ho@sgvn.com (626) 578-6300, Ext. 4586
