Family Badminton Night at Finley
on March 27
Badminton anyone? J. Taylor Finley Middle School physical education teachers are organizing a family badminton night for Tuesday, March 27 at 7 p.m. in the school gym. It's open to every Finley student and their parents/guardians.
"We are encouraging all students to team up with the mom or dad or guardian and challenge other families in the great game of badminton," said Tim Madden, a Finley physical education teacher who along with colleagues Travis Smith and Mary Paar is coordinating the evening.
Teachers will provide a quick introduction to the sport and badminton rules before the games begin. While spacious, the Finley gym can only accommodate a limited number of players. Therefore, registration is required. Students are requested to sign-up for the evening's activities with Mr. Madden as soon as possible.
"Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players (singles) or two opposing pairs (doubles), who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net," according to an entry on the Wikipedia website. "Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their opponents' half of the court. Each side may only strike the shuttlecock once before it passes over the net. A rally ends once the shuttlecock has struck the floor."
According to www.badminton-information.com the birthplace of the "official" game of badminton is the estate of the Duke of Beaufort in Gloucestershire, England. It's the fastest racket sport with the shuttlecock being clocked at speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour. The "best" shuttlecocks are made from feathers coming from the left wing of a goose. The sport was first introduced in America in the 1890's and finally found popularity in the 1930's. It is said to be the second most popular sport in the world after soccer. It debuted as an Olympic sport at the 1992 Barcelona summer games. More than 1.1 billion people watched the badminton competition on television during those Olympics. Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan the United States and China have dominated international competition for the past half-century.
Contact Mr. Madden at tmadden@hufsd.edufor more information.