The LT varsity badminton team looks to improve upon its second place finish from last year despite the graduation of seven seniors, creating a less experienced team. Stephanie Lin ‘15 looks to represent LT again with her third consecutive individual first place state title.

“We are going to be young in experience but that will only make us grow stronger over the next three years,” Head Coach Susan McClenahan said. “It’s going to be a building process, just like any [team] goes through when they have that kind of shift.”

Lin, who has been on varsity since freshman year, looks forward to leading warm-ups and cheers as a senior this year and also sharing her knowledge with the younger team.

“We lost a lot of strong players,” Lin said. “It’s going to be a lot of younger players coming in because there are a couple varsity carry-overs, but I feel like it’s a chance for me to share my knowledge and experience with them.”

Lin trains year round for about eight hours each week at Midwest Badminton Club. Her coach, Ilian Perez, used to be ranked number one in the country, she said.

“Since she has outside training with drills and training of a higher caliber we are going to let her lead more to show others what it’s like to train at that level because that’s how you become a champion,” McClenahan said.

Last season the team had an undefeated regular season and then received fourth place in the state tournament, resulting in second place overall, tying them with York High School.

“We are hoping to maintain what we’ve done there or of course to improve our placement in the conference tournament this year,” McClenahan said.

McClenahan has been coaching varsity level badminton for five years and enjoys a smaller team because it allows everyone to really get to know each other, she said.

“Badminton is a challenging sport, more difficult than people realize when just watching,” McClenahan said. “The game is fast, requires good shot selection, strategy and reflexes. It’s great exercise and the girls really have fun.”