Blue Devil Boys’ & Girls’ Badminton Recruiting Players

Huntington High School’s new varsity boys’ and girls’ badminton teams will begin practicing on Monday, March 13 in the gym. A schedule of 19 matches will follow and run until mid-May.

The two teams will practice and play in the high school gym. Lines for eight courts have been painted on the floor. Uniforms and equipment have been delivered. Two coaches have been approve by the board of education to coach the teams with Alex Nelson serving as head coach and Jordan Ioviero as the assistant coach.

The Blue Devil badminton program is going to be pure fun for players. It will be a total stress-reliever and an all-around enjoyable experience for participants. Friends should encourage friends to sign up now in the nurse’s office.

The Blue Devils will compete in Section XI’s League II with home and away matches against Smithtown East, Northport, Miller Place, Connetquot, Lindenhurst and Smithtown West and mandatory non-league matches against Patchogue-Medford, Walt Whitman, Commack, Ward Melville, Brentwood, Half Hollow Hills and Central Islip.

Huntington UFSD decided to offer the sport after students petitioned the athletic office. Superintendent James W. Polansky has spearheaded the development of more than a 15 new teams at both J. Taylor Finley Middle School and Huntington High School.

Mr. Nelson has been a Huntington physical education teacher since September 2017.  A graduate of Smithtown High School East, he obtained his undergraduate degree at Adelphi University, where he dual majored in physical education and accounting. He earned a master’s degree in coaching and exercise science at Concordia University Irvine in California. He played on Smithtown East’s badminton team throughout high school.

Licensed by Eastern New York Youth Soccer as a professional soccer trainer working for Long Island Professional Soccer, Mr. Nelson has coached middle school and JV soccer, middle school basketball and JV softball. He trains travel soccer teams for the Long Island Junior Soccer League.

Mr. Ioviero has been a Huntington physical education teacher since September 2019. He has also taught adaptive physical education and health for the district. Prior to coming to Huntington, he taught physical education in Corona Queens for three years. A graduate of John Glenn High School, he earned an undergraduate degree in physical education at Dowling College. He obtained a master’s degree in general and special education, K-6 at Touro College. He also holds a health education license. He has coached varsity and middle school football and basketball and varsity Unified basketball. He is also the varsity boys’ and girls’ badminton team’s assistant coach.

Interested in playing badminton for the Blue Devils? Seek out Mr. Nelson at the high school or send him a message to him at anelson@hufsd.edu.