This spring sports season, girls will have another school sport to choose from, badminton.
This new sport has garnered enthusiasm from many Inglemoor students, including senior Sabrina Ollestad.
“I’m very excited for the opportunity to be on the first badminton team of Inglemoor, Ollestad said.
It is not clear how many people will turn out for badminton, but it has been very popular at other schools in the KingCo league, according to sports director Lance Gatter.
Presently, girls participate in sports at a slightly lower rate than boys so an additional girls sport was determined to be needed to accommodate the interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex, as required by Title IX. Because of this, there will be no boys team.
Badminton was chosen to be the new sport for a variety of reasons. Firstly, it is inexpensive and only requires the gym for space, which is open during the spring sports season. Also, there are already many girls badminton teams in the KingCo conference; all high schools in Lake Washington and Bellevue School Districts have a team, as do Mount Si and Mercer Island.
The badminton team will play against these teams during its regular season, which will culminate in the KingCo championships. There will be no state or district competition because there are no high school badminton teams in Washington State other than the ones in the KingCo league.
Inglemoor special ed teacher Kyle Dehnert will be the coach.
Those who are interested in joining the girls badminton team must pay the sports fee and fill out a sports packet, which are available in the main office.
