WACO, Texas — At the Russell gymnasium, you'll hear the whistles and cracks of rackets as the Baylor badminton club practices.
"We come here practice and then that's it. We love badminton. At least I do. I crazily love badminton," badminton club president Geeth Chandra Ongole said.
"It is fast paced. But, maybe that's one more reason why I really love it. You know, like there's nothing—I don't ever get bored while I'm on the court," Ongole said.
One thing that sticks out from the club is its diversity. Many people from different backgrounds come together to play a sport they love.
"I never expected to see so many people from so many countries here," badminton club member JC Collado said. "I know it's popular in Asia, like from where I'm from in the Philippines. But it's cool, you know, meeting a lot of people from different backgrounds, different countries."
"You learn a lot. You sit down and talk to someone, it might be from someone else and you learn a little bit more about the culture, you learn about the language," Baylor freshman Elam Fox said.
The club itself had to regroup due to the pandemic and since then they have seen members grow every semester.
"We had maybe a few really quiet months. But then I think we are again seeing a lot of new faces around here, which is really good because, I want to see the club grow and then maybe take the sport to like more people around here in Baylor," Ongole said.
"Why try badminton club? It's fun," Fox said. "It's not like a super intense, like football, workout. But if you're trying to exercise and you're trying to have a good time socially too, it's perfect."
Baylor's badminton club is open to anyone associated with Baylor and local to Waco.
