As Casa Grande’s co-ed badminton team prepares for a new season, they welcome a new coach to the roster. Vance Truong, a marine veteran from San Diego, will be stepping in as the head coach of the badminton team. Last school year, he lived in the East Bay and coached at a high school in Piedmont. His wife is in the Marines, and after relocating to Sonoma County this year, he’s taking on a team ready to have fun. New to the geographic area but not the sport, Truong has been introduced tos a badminton team that is ready to show him what our school spirit and sportsmanship is all about.

Senior and team captain Sarah Beck has played badminton the past four years. After only a week of practice, there wasn’t a lot of opportunity for her to get to know the new coach, but she did comment on her first impressions of him.

“He seems really nice, but because practices just started there hasn’t been a lot of interaction. He does seem cool, though,” said Beck.

While the coach has endured many surgeries and subsequent scars after his years of serving his country, he still runs with the team and participates in drills alongside them. Junior Olga Cotter shared her thoughts.

“Coach V is a super cool person! First off, he is a marine which makes him awesome when we do our workouts, he does it with us. On top of that he played badminton in college and gives us great pointers. With his experience and knowledge of the sport, even the returning players are learning something new every practice.” said Cotter.

Practices for the team began in the third week of February with their new coach. The team will officially begin their season with their first match on March 2. With an unbalanced roster of five boys and more than 20 girls, they will be hard-pressed to have a successful season when forced to forfeit boys double matches. The loss of points may affect their standings, but it won’t affect the team’s spirits about the sport they love.

“It’s not about losing and winning for us, it’s about having fun,” said Beck.