It was an early start Friday morning for the Mira Costa Badminton Program to spotlight our sport for the KTLA Channel 5 News cameras. The KTLA TV segment called School Spirit Spotlight was to feature several Mira Costa High School programs including Badminton, Cheerleading, Link Crew, Comedy Sportz, Drama/Tech and Jazz Band. With 15 student-athletes playing in the background, KTKLA Host Megan Telles interviewed Coach David Levin and Senior Captain Zach Berkes.
“I love the intensity of the sport, something you might not think of, when you think of Badminton,” said Berkes. “It’s great for competition.” Coach Levin pointed out that the new Pavilion, Badminton in PE and a new Badminton Club at Costa has contributed to the increased interest and growth of the program. KTLA Host Telles responded that the South Bay is known for highly competitive sports programs but that you wouldn’t think about Badminton and Cheer together, which is what makes the story compelling. The cheer team performed a special cheer for KTLA Morning News while the Link Crew and Comedy Sportz help up signs and the Jazz band played. One of the signs said, “MCHS BADMINTON ROCKS”. “Our Badminton Program does rock!”, says Coach and PE Teacher Patty Perkinson. “It was great to have Badminton represent sports for this special news spotlight. We had players show up at 6:00am to showcase our sport and Coach Dave and Captain Zach kicked off the story in style!” KTLA also featured segments with Comedy Sportz, Drama/Tech and Jazz Band showcasing the talented Costa students throughout the morning. The cheer team even lifted Host Telles skyward! The undefeated Mustangs take on Long Beach Poly away on Tuesday 3pm start. Then they compete in the tough Arcadia Tournament on Saturday where some of the best teams in Southern California attend. “This is an exciting year for Costa Badminton”, says Coach Cindy Levin. “We have a lot of talented players on Varsity and JV, who are working hard to compete and improve. As coaches we are thrilled to see the sport thrive and represent the Manhattan Beach School District so well!” Be sure to view all of the segments on KTLA’s website: https://ktla.com/.../school-spirit-spotlight-mira.../...
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It may be Oscar Sunday but on Saturday our Badminton athletes earned their own hardware.
In our inaugural Mira Costa Badminton Invitational Tournament, our Mustang student-athletes brought their A-game to the beautiful Pavilion Gym which was the scene for three visiting high schools to challenge the undefeated Mustangs in a four-team tournament format. Long Beach Poly, Mark Keppel and Loara have strong programs and the competition was fierce from the start. Different than our tri-meet to kick off the season, the Invitational placed athletes in double-elimination brackets in Girls and Boys Singles, Mixed Doubles, Boys Doubles and Girls Doubles with two entries per school. Our results were exemplary. In Boys Singles Senior Skylar Irby Senior advanced to face his Junior teammate, James Zhang in the final. In a grueling three-game match Skyler prevailed to win the gold. Isabelle Chen, who placed 3rd in the CIF Southern Section Girls Singles in 2023, dominated Girls Singles and won Mixed Doubles with Freshman Hao Lin, without dropping a game. Hao added a 1st place finish in Boys Doubles with Senior Captain Zach Berkes, they also didn't drop a game. All our Varsity players all won at least one match with Sophomore Evelyn Green rounding out Girls Singles, Seniors TJ Lee and Andrew Pedrotti battled in Boys Doubles, Senior Nadia Kontorovsky Wong competed in Mixed-Doubles with Zach Berkes and Girls Doubles with Sophomore Priscilla Chen. And coming off their gold at the Arcadia JV Tournament, Junior Alyssa Garcia and Freshman Yumi Yamada were moved up to Varsity to round out Girls Doubles. Coaches David and Cindy Levin, a rare husband and wife coaching tandem, led the players though an efficient 6-hour Saturday with little down time. The Badminton Boosters provided hot dogs, snacks and drinks complimentary to all of the school's players, coaches and families. "Our first multi-team Tournament was a huge success," says David Levin, "not just for our Costa players, but for the teams who came to our home court and competed at a high level. This format sets up both our experienced and newer players for the upcoming tournaments in Arcadia and Cerritos heading into the CIF Team and Individual Tournaments where we are looking to make noise this year." Next up for the 5-0 undefeated Mustangs is Animo Venice on Wednesday March 13th at the Costa Pavilion 2:30pm. Come cheer on your Mustangs! It’s only one week into the badminton season and the Mustangs are already 5-0. The last three matches had Costa winning 17-4, 18-3 and 21-0. The fast start is due to a solid group of experienced players and a deep bench of rising stars. The coaches have mixed players up to give younger athletes some varsity experience when the match was in hand.
“Badminton is an Olympic sport, but you don’t have to be an Olympian to play it”, remarked Coach David Levin. “We serve an underserved group of athletes, not economically underserved, we expand opportunities for kids who, if it weren’t for badminton, may not be playing a sport.” According to the Aspen Institute’s Project Play, a think-tank measuring impact and tracking participation in youth sports, 70% of kids quit sports by age 13. Pressure to perform which makes sports not fun anymore is cited as the top reason. Also, once kids enter high school, they may not make the team of a sport they have been playing. Adds Levin, “We’d love to have all of our South Bay neighboring School Districts embrace badminton to give an additional three or four dozen kids an opportunity to play a high school sport. Plus, our badminton players tend to be high performing in the classroom, and involved in other extracurriculars. Playing a sport keeps them well-rounded.” It's also not unusual to see badminton players doing homework in the stands during matches and tournaments. Or balancing their Orchestra or Model United Nations (MUN) schedules with court time. Badminton is certainly an athletic sport, but skill, finesse and shot making can overcome physical stature. After the three successful wins during the week for Varsity, on Saturday the Junior Varsity players competed in a JV Tournament in Arcadia, a powerhouse badminton program. Several players placed in the top four across doubles and singles, all underclassmen, and the future of the program. “The bottom line is that badminton is a sport all kids can try. We have players who have trained at the Manhattan Beach Badminton Club since birth, and players who picked up a racket for the first time in High School. You won’t see coaches yelling and screaming on the sidelines, and all of the kids are having fun,” says Coach Cindy Levin, who along with her husband Coach David and Coach Patty Perkinson, guided the players for hours in Arcadia. This Saturday the Mustangs host their first Tournament at the Mira Costa Pavilion with Mark Keppel, Long Beach Poly and Loara High Schools looking to put a dent in the Costa record. Start time is 8:30am. Come out cheer on the Mustangs! Check out our schedule on miracostabadminton.com Follow us on Instagram and Facebook Saturday was a landmark day for Mira Costa Badminton. Hosting a tri-meet at the beautiful Pavilion Gym on campus, Costa came out on top winning 14 matches to Redlands’ 10 and Long Beach Poly’s 9. But it wasn’t just the success on the court, it was the journey the program has taken since Covid that should be spotlighted.
With sports shut down in 2020 and only 12 players in the spring of 2021, the storied history of great badminton players, born from the Manhattan Beach Badminton Club (MBBC), seemed like a distant memory. Coach Cindy Levin, who has 25 years of experience coaching badminton reflects, “we had CIF champions, club and international players to lead the team, and then after Covid we barely had enough players to field one varsity team. This year, we actually had to limit the team to 36 players after having 45 last year, so we can give everyone more individual coaching and playing time.” The new Mira Costa Sports Complex helped the growth of the program by allowing kids to practice and play right after school in the Pavilion gym instead of traveling off-site to the MBBC. And with a tri-meet like Saturday and six other matches scheduled for home, including the first Mira Costa Badminton Tournament at our new Pavilion Gym on March 9th, badminton is truly integrated into the Mira Costa sports community. “It was great to play on campus while volleyball, baseball, swimming and lacrosse were also competing,” says Patty Perkinson, who took over as Badminton faculty Coach with the passing of Mike McAvin, who helped steel the program through Covid. Perkinson, a PE teacher at Costa, coached Costa girls’ soccer for 33 years and stepped up to work with the badminton team on strength and conditioning before taking on head coach duties this year. “Badminton is the only true co-ed sport, where we train together and compete in mixed-doubles. We’re also inclusive for different level of players, first timers and experienced players are welcome.” To say that badminton is fun to watch is an understatement. Matches are fast and furious, with the top players executing smashes and drop shots, while needing lighting fast reflexes on defense. Senior Captain Zach Berkes played all of the traditional sports before picking up a badminton racquet for the first time in 9th grade. “The team needed players and I was immediately accepted by coaches and teammates, despite never having played before. I was encouraged to learn and am honored to be named captain the last two years.” Berkes and his mixed-doubles partner Senior Isabelle Chen and boys doubles partner Freshman Hao Lin swept their matches Saturday. Chen and Senior Jaclyn Wang swept girls singles as Lin and Wang swept their mixed-doubles matches also. Seniors TJ Lee and Andrew Pedrotti swept their two boys-doubles matches and Junior James Zhang and Freshman Luka Wong won one of their boys-singles matches each to give Costa 14 wins and the match. “Saturday TJ and Andrew won two close battles which last year, they lost similar close matches”, remarked David Levin, Costa Badminton coach who also coaches the girls program at El Camino College, “It was their hard work at the MBBC in the off-season that made the difference. We’re so excited for this year’s squad, deep with senior talent but sprinkled with underclass players to build for the future.” One thing Covid did for athletes was make them appreciate their sport and the opportunity to compete and have fun in the process. “Badminton has changed my life”, says Berkes, in his fourth year on Varsity and who hopes to play club or rec at college next year. “Many skills that I learned in other sports come into play, and it's so much fun. Our season is off to a great start!” Check out our schedule on miracostabadminton.com Follow us on Instagram and Facebook |
AuthorAlan Berkes is a Costa parent who has coached multiple youth sports in Manhattan Beach ArchivesCategories |