Rubber sneaker soles squeak against the polished wooden floor of the basketball court.
The air is filled with a series of whooshing sounds, punctuated by the loud thwacks of shuttles as they hit the racquets before hurtling over the high net.
The players quickly dart from side to side, intercepting the shuttle when it enters their side of the court.
They play in doubles to accommodate the 28 people who have shown up tonight.
More people are expected to join in the coming weeks.
And tonight is only their third meeting.
The El Camino College Badminton Club is one of the newest student-run organizations on campus. They made their debut at the Spring 2025 Club Rush.
They meet twice weekly on Monday and Wednesday night, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., in the ECC Gym Complex.
It is the brainchild of Marisela Gomez, 30, a high school substitute teacher and club secretary, and her sister Maria.
She had been taking fitness classes at ECC since fall 2023, but there was something special about the badminton course they took.
“My sister and I really love the class,” Gomez said. “So we talked to Coach [David Levin], and he said we didn’t have the club. So I decided to start the process of making the club.”
With the help of members of ECC’s women’s badminton team, four of whom serve in leadership positions, Gomez started crafting the club constitution, talking to the college for access to the gymnasium and applying for the official notice.
By December 2024, the Inter-Club Council approved the ECC Badminton Club’s application.
“I don’t think there’s ever been a badminton club before this one,” Levin said. “Not that I know of. There’s team badminton at El Camino and there’s badminton in the curriculum.”
Badminton is a racquet sport whose origins can be traced back to India.
Like tennis and pickleball, the goal of badminton is to score points by landing the shuttle, a feathery projectile also known as a “shuttlecock” or “birdie,” into the opponent’s side of the court.
Players must score 21 points to win a game. Badminton is played as “best out of three,” meaning the winner is determined after winning two games.
British army officers, who had been introduced to the sport while stationed in India, brought it to England in the 1860s.
The name comes from the estate of the Duke of Beaufort, Badminton House, where he introduced the game to his friends at an 1873 lawn party.
Today, badminton is the second most popular sport worldwide. It is popular in Asian countries such as China, Thailand and Indonesia.
However, badminton is now gaining popularity in the United States.
According to Google Trends, which analyzes search trends, badminton saw a sharp spike in popularity between July and August 2024.
This coincides with the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, where badminton is an Olympic sport.
For the Badminton Club, the interest was more face-to-face.
“A lot of people don’t know about the sport, so once they heard about it during the Club Rush, they were interested,” Montila Winyaworapon, 26, said. The kinesiology major pulls double duty as a member of the ECC badminton team and its club’s ICC representative. “They show up and they enjoy it.”
Experience isn’t a requirement to sign up for the Badminton Club.
The college provides the racquets and shuttles needed to play. All members need to bring are a pair of suitable shoes.
No black soles are allowed, as the club’s Instagram account has to remind its over 70 followers, because they “will damage the court by leaving black marks, which are impossible to remove.”
During the spring 2025 Club Rush, the Badminton Club saw over 76 people sign up over two days.
“If we were there for three days, we’d have more people sign up,” Winyaworapon said.
The ages of the members span from late teens to 50s.
“I like everything because there is no age limit,” Maja Mandic, 50, a language academy student from Serbia, said. “There are great people who play so well, but it’s important to have fun.”
For the March 26 meeting, the gymnasium was converted into six temporary badminton courts.
The players pair off for doubles matches, while others wait on the sidelines for their turn. Others congregate at the center of the gymnasium to practice their swings and serves.
“My hope is that it continues, that it’s not just a one-semester event,” Levin said. “All it takes is one person to make it happen.”
