Spring Break
Badminton attracts dedicated members
One student battles injury to play
Jon Xavier
Issue date: 12/2/08 Section: Sports
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The serve, when it comes, is slow and arched, tracing a lazy parabola over the net.
Pham's eyes track the shuttlecock. His muscles tense.
Then, he explodes, body surging upward, hand following arm following shoulder, bringing the racket forward with a whip-crack of force that sends the shuttlecock sailing back over the net.
Were it not for a three-inch scar running the length of his right heel, one would never know that six months ago, doctors told him he might never play badminton again.
"It was a pretty standard return," Pham said of his accident.
He said he leapt up to hit the shuttlecock, and when he landed, he felt something in his heel rip.
"I didn't realize anything was wrong until I landed, and I felt it snap," Pham said.
Pham had torn his Achilles tendon, a potentially crippling injury.
He said his doctors told him that the chances of re-injury were high, especially in badminton, which puts a lot of stress
on the legs.
But they also told him that, because he was younger than most people who normally tear it, there was a chance he could return to sports, if he was willing to risk it.
He was willing to risk it.
Three months later, following reconstructive surgery and intensive physical therapy, he joined the SJSU badminton club.
Now, when the club has meets, Pham and his partner are the No. 2 team, said Alex Chan, a senior marketing major and club marketing officer.
Last month, when they played UC Davis, Pham's team won the doubles divisions.
"It was just three months (of rehabilitation); I can deal with that," Pham said. "But never playing again - that I can't handle."
Everyone in the club is pretty dedicated to the sport, Chan said.
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