Core values of family and personal accountability have allowed the Mt. Eden High School badminton team to achieve their most successful season last year ending with a 150 game winning streak, Head Coach Gary Duran said.

The Monarchs began their spring season with a solid five wins, bumping their winning streak up to 155 before losing their first game in 13 years. In spite of the loss, Duran hopes the team can continue their run of excellence not only to gain more wins, but to foster individual improvement as well.

“We’ve had a lot of success, but my goals are always the same and it’s never about wins or loses,” said Duran. “Our goals are always to improve as people, to improve as players, and to become a family so we’re tight knit and care for each other and work hard together. That’s always the main goal. To win is obviously a goal, but if we take care of the other things, we usually win.”

At the beginning of the season, the team faced the challenge of losing many of their talented players. However, with only five returning varsity players, Duran is relying on the younger players to build the team. By focusing on encouragement and equal treatment, Duran has managed to build a team that can function together as a family-type support system.

“Everybody is treated the same, there is no primadonna,” said Duran. “Our number one player doesn’t have any more privilege than a freshman girl who is just learning to play. They all do the same drills and the same things. In fact, we make it so the better players actually help coach the other players, so there’s a lot of teamwork that way.”

The alumni also play a huge role in the team’s family support system. They treat the players as if they are their younger brother or sister, and buy them shoes, birds, and rackets, for those who can’t afford to buy their own.

“We try to create an environment where it’s all about giving back,” said Duran. “The players treat the alumni with respect and the alumni treat the players with respect as well. All of this helps build family over the long haul.”

After four years of playing badminton for Mt. Eden, 20-year-old alumni, Dane Ocampo, has found that the family environment continues to draw him back to the sport.

“What keeps me coming back here for badminton isn’t just because I’m interested in the sport and because I have a love for it,” said Ocampo. “It’s like a big family, even when you are an alumni, you are always welcome.”

Another factor that draws players back to the badminton court is the competitiveness of the game. During a match, players will rally to the score of 21 in either a pair of singles, doubles, or mixed doubles. Girls and boys will get to play in both singles and doubles, while one girl and one boy will duel in a mixed doubles match.

Duran insists that every player on the team will get to play. The varsity members play 15 varsity matches, while the others get to compete in courtesy matches or JV matches.

“My favorite part of the sport was the competitiveness,” Ocampo told The Pioneer, “In most sports; people will get excited to play on game day. To me, yeah that’s exciting, but when you play for this team it’s competitive with each other. When the alumni or other players challenge you, we will play back to back and there’s a real competitiveness that is different from a game setting.”

Ocampo remembers the first time he played a match against his coach and how it influenced him to become more serious about the game.

“I called him an old man when we were playing in the doubles,” he said. “I was still a beginning player and it kind of offended him, so he whipped my butt pretty hard. From then, I began to take the game more seriously.”

Aside from creating a family oriented environment, Duran conducts drills during practices to push the team to perform to the best of their abilities, such as running liners, wall sits, and sit-ups.

“Coach does not allow us to give up at any time,” said sophomore Nhi Vo, “He pushes us to do our best, we cannot just stop and say we are tired. He makes us keep going.”

The team considers its biggest rivals this season to be the Arroyo Knights and Castro Valley Trojans.

“Castro Valley is a tough match,” said Duran, “They have a lot of strong girls, which is kind of our weakness. So if we can win against them I will be happy.”

The Monarchs have four more games until their WACC championships on May 11, and the NCS championships which follows on March 18.