Boston, March 12, 2014, –USA Badminton has awarded the right to host Adult Nationals competition to the Massachusetts Badminton Association (MassBad). It will be held at the Boston Badminton Club on the last weekend in March, March 28-30. Badminton has been gaining popularity in greater Boston area over past 20 years as the Asian population grows. Chinese North American Sports Association (CNASA) has hosted annual badminton tournaments at MIT for over 10 years.
Division 1 Champion Newton North High School at 2014 MassBad High School Badminton Team Championships (from Boston Badminton Facebook page).
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This will be the first Adult Nationals held on the east coast, or even east of the west coast, in a very long time. According to Beth Sopka, MassBad president, “I’ve been involved in badminton for 20 years and I am unaware of the tournament having been on the east coast any time in that period! With the growth we have been striving for and achieving, I think it is long overdue. We are hoping to attract both athletes and spectators who have not had the opportunity to enjoy this level of competition locally.”
Boston Badminton Club has 8 high quality courts in its 3-year old dedicated facility located in a western suburb of Boston, highly accessible by air and auto. MassBad has supported the growth of the sport in the Bay State for over 30 years, organizing competitions for players of all levels, supporting school and community programs with demonstrations and clinics and working with the Bay State Games and Massachusetts Senior Games organizations.
Newton North High School won the Division 1 Championship at 2014 MassBad High School Badminton Team Championships recently. Lexington High School took 2nd place in Division B. In a letter to Lexington High School (LHS) Associate Principle Adam Goldberg, LHS senior Ethan Wu thanked the support from the community. The following is from his letter.
“First of all, I want to thank you Mr. Goldberg for settling our club down, and allowing us to use the field house on Wednesdays. Without all of our meetings, I don’t think we would have been able to play as well as we did. The tournament lasted from 8:30 in the morning to around 10:30 at night, so the dedication of our high school’s students was simply stunning. I feel like this shows the potential that LHS shows in the sport of badminton, and I feel very hopeful for its future.”
Hopefully, many of the high school students will compete in the Adult Nationals one day.
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