A Shuttlecock's Journey: Amidst Life's Rally, By: Santos, Alem

Badminton is a sport that can be played solo or with a partner, using a racket and a shuttlecock to hit it back and forth across a court with a low net in the middle. It originated fromIndia in the 1860s, where British soldiers played a game called poon in Pune. They later took the game to England, where a club was established in Bath, near Badminton House, owned by the Duke of Beaufort. There, matches were often held, and the name "Badminton" was used once and then stuck as the sport's.

I first held a racket when I was about 6 years old because I was curious about what was inside the racket bag. I opened it up and saw two badminton rackets and a tube full of shuttlecocks. I took them out and instinctively knew how to play with them without anyone teaching me. After practicing for a bit, I called my brother to play with me, and one play got so intense that I was drenched in sweat with my heart pumping, and I did not know at the time that I had done something called a rally in badminton. From that point on, I was hooked on the sport of badminton and the feeling of rallies.

 

Playing the sport made me more active and got me to socialize with others who also played, which is still having a positive impact on me as of today. I also got the realization that we can compare badminton to our lives; like in life, we play for every point we can get, we also give up on the points we know we will lose, and we can also liken our lives to a rally, the constant back and forth, while giving our full efforts to achieve even that one thing, and though we might lose that one rally, a new one will come forth where again we will give it our all, caring little for losing and winning while in the moment, just being content that we are in the act of fighting for something no matter the result. So I think that I will keep on playing the sport, because it has given a lot to me and will continue to in the future.