Glendale Eliminates Badminton

Citing waning student interest and a coaching void, Glendale High announced that it will drop its badminton team, a Southern Section power for the past eight seasons .

School administrators decided to drop the team--at least for the upcoming spring season--after Pat Rogerson, the co-ed team’s coach since 1984, resigned after last season and no successor applied for the position.

Moreover, Rogerson said, interest among students has steadily declined the past few years.

“Last year, I really had to scrounge for players, particularly girls,” said Rogerson, who will remain as the girls’ tennis coach. “In past years, we’ve had 60 kids out for the team.”

Rogerson, who compiled a 126-17 record while leading the Dynamiters to six consecutive Pacific League titles from 1984-89 and a Southern Section 4-A Division championship in 1987, also cited a waning interest in badminton among local schools.

Pacific rivals Crescenta Valley and Canyon dropped badminton in 1989 and 1990. Muir, Pasadena and Alhambra remain as the only league schools that field teams.

“Most of the competition is in the beach cities,” Rogerson said. “The distance to cover in order to play was getting to be too big.”

Rogerson said that the school might reinstate the program next season.

Badminton has been sanctioned by the Southern Section since 1976. Eighty section schools field teams, which compete at the 4-A and 3-A levels and are composed of both girls and boys.

According to the Southern Section office, the number of schools offering badminton has held steady over the past few years. The sport remains popular among Orange County schools.

Glendale, which was 23-0 in 1987, is the only school in Southern Section history to post an undefeated record.

In 1989, Glendale’s Angela and Christiane Armendariz and Jung Lee and Eric Chu won Southern Section girls’ and boys’ doubles titles.

Last season, Glendale was 15-3 and finished second to Alhambra in the Pacific League.