Juanita High School seniors Marla Enciso and Isabel Gregorio know how to raise a racket.
During this most recent badminton season, the two took fourth place at the KingCo Tournament, the highest of any team from the Lake Washington School District, and it’s their second time placing fourth, according to coach Peter Cheng. Their season record secured First Team All-KingCo honors.
Gregorio grew up playing badminton in the Philippines with her father, who took a class with a friend and would regularly defeat her. In an effort to change that, Gregorio joined a team in eighth grade while attending Kamiakin Middle School along with Enciso. At Juanita High, Gregorio played for a year before being joined by Enciso.
Badminton matches consist of three games, with the winner being the first to reach 21 points, but they must also win by at least two points.
While recreational play can be competitive, as evidenced by her own family, Gregorio said that players take it to a whole new level and things, such as communication between partners, becomes much more critical.
“Everyone thinks it’s really easy, but once you get on the court, you have to work for it,” she said. “Everyone has a mentality of winning. It’s a lot more mental. There also has to be some chemistry between you and your partner.”
Part of what made them successful on the court was their yin-yang relationship, one’s strengths being the other’s weaknesses, and vice versa. Whereas Enciso preferred smashing and was able to hit farther from the net, Gregorio focused on more subtle approaches, such as tipping the shuttlecock, a.k.a the birdie, over the net.
Playing their first year together, they were able to advance to the KingCo tournament and took fourth. In preparation for the next season, they focused on improving where they had had trouble while anticipating tough matches against particular schools. One of the things they sought to improve was communication, as well as staying active throughout the matches. They also developed their own codewords to avoid giving away their plans.
“We knew we had to step up, seeing how it was our last year,” Gregorio said.
“We were more dedicated,” Enciso said.
The preparation paid off in the regular season, losing only three matches.
“I think we had a lot better strategy this year,” Gregorio said. “We knew which teams were really good.”
Advancing yet again to the KingCo tournament in April, they lost their first match against Interlake, which ultimately walked away with the championship, and then to Newport over third and fourth place.
Gregorio and Enciso said they also benefited from strong chemistry with their other teammates.
“We know everyone’s names, everyone’s numbers,” Gregorio said. “We know how to have fun with them.”
The Juanita badminton team is also coached by Shaun Tarantola.
