The badminton club is in the midst of hosting its first-ever tournament, taking place from Nov. 1 to Nov. 23, 2025, thanks to President Avani Mathur, a junior majoring in neuroscience. She has worked tirelessly to bring the badminton club to where it is today and has collaborated with Intramural, Club Sport and Summer Programs Coordinator Greg Cross to create a tournament that satisfies the needs of the club members.
This first tournament is free and is being hosted with the intention of sparking interest in badminton on SLU’s campus. As a lesser-known sport compared to soccer or basketball, the tournament offers a great opportunity to gain more involvement from SLU students.
The club meets from 6 to 8 p.m. on Mondays and 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursdays. The front desk of the rec center also has birdies to rent for students, offering those who cannot come on club days the birdies they would need.
“When I first started the badminton club, I was the undergraduate representative of our class. It was a position where I could reach out to students and bring more people into the club. Using social media and the club fair has helped us grow considerably,” Mathur said.
Since starting the club, Mathur has worked around the clock to grow student participation in the club. She has thought of many strategies, starting by offering more time for people to play to accommodate students who cannot practice during the normal hours.
“We’re going to host another tournament during the second semester and have started an intramural session where we hope to see more competition,” Mathur said.
Much of this success is thanks to Cross, who helped the club with the work of setting up the tournament and intramurals, guiding them during their first time hosting these events.
Emily La, a sophomore majoring in international business, is one of the club members competing in the tournament.
“The tournament has been really fun so far. I’m glad to be involved in this sport. It’s fun playing with others,” La said.
La is one of the regulars who attends almost every club practice. She is always enthusiastic and ready to play, which is why she was so excited to learn about the club’s first tournament. La expressed her excitement for future matches and explained that her biggest desires for the club are to keep hosting tournaments, and to gain more members and participation in the events and club meetings.
Sai Kandule, a freshman majoring in computer science who has been playing badminton for over a year and a half, is also playing in the tournament. Kandule learned about the club from the tournament while he was searching for other players. He said the tournament gave him good competition to learn and grow from.
“It was satisfying playing with friends and having a competition with someone better than you. Playing with friends and the feeling of hitting the shuttle dead center on the racket are the things I love most about the club,” Kandule said.
Kandule explained that the club has helped him improve so much because it is a way for all the badminton talent of SLU to gather together and play against each other.
Since the tournament ends this week, head to the Simon Rec Center at 11 a.m. this Sunday to get a glance at SLU’s growing badminton club.