After a decent run in 2010, the Davis High badminton team was met with a tumultuous offseason. But as this season begins, the squad  is ready to lift off and fly like a birdie — not the kind that live in trees, but a shuttlecock, which is what players of the sport hit back and forth.

Though Jackie Tran had decided not to coach the team in 2011 so that she could focus on studying biological sciences, the UC Davis senior will be back to help the Blue Devils improve on last year, when they finished third out of six teams in the Sac-Joaquin Section. Tran ultimately decided to return when it became evident that no replacement would be found, so DHS only started conditioning a couple weeks ago.

Tran’s 2011 team will feature a mixture of girls from all four grades, though the team has lost a horde of players to graduation. And though the Devils could use some veteran leadership in their first year in the Monticello Empire League, the coach is excited about the possibilities of a fresh team.

“I feel a lot of potential in the team this year even though there aren’t a lot of returning players,” said Tran. “It gets kind of boring if you just have all the same players year after year, and they sometimes stop listening to you. This year it’s a little new for me, so I’m really excited.”

Gone are former Davis co-captains Jennifer Chen and Kit Ho, as well as ranked players Maryam Hosseini, Rebekah Lee, Vivian Lok and Blossom Raychauchuri. But this year’s crop of seniors — starting with Catherine Ho — is expected to make up for a lot of what the Blue Devils lost. Catherine Ho alternated between the No. 1 and No. 2 singles spot for DHS in 2010, but should anchor the team from the top time around.

She will be aided by fellow seniors Jing Feng, May Zhang, Angelica Chan and Shuang Lin, a gifted athlete who made up half of last season’s No. 2 doubles team. The juniors will also be well-represented as doubles partners Amy Yordduangjun and Yuriko Oto return, along with Lisa Kitson and Samantha Lung.

Overall, Tran has seen around 25 to 30 players come out for the new season, a strong pull from a town with an unusually large amount of sporting opportunities. Unfortunately, the team hasn’t been able to gain access to either of the gyms at DHS, and because of the rainy weather, chances for outside conditioning haven’t been as plentiful as expected.

Whatever happens, though, Tran knows that this year will be her last. Throughout the season, she says, that she will worker harder than last year to find a replacement for after her graduation in the spring.

“I have a few people in mind to take my place, but I won’t be able to talk to them until we start playing games, so they can see our team,” Tran noted. “If they decide they like the environment I’ll refer them to (Athletic Director Dennis Foster), and they can talk it over then.”

Notes: The Blue Devils start their season on March 21 at Armijo, and their home opener is two days later against Vacaville. … The MEL tournament begins May 13, then section playoffs get underway on May 20.

— Reach Benjy Egel at [email protected] Comment on this story at www.davisenterprise.com

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