The 2007 Skyline women’s badminton team is gearing up for a new season starting with a pre-season tournament March 17 at Mission college.

“They’re an enthusiastic bunch and they really want to learn”, says Coach Jan Fosberg, who is coaching a whole new team with no return players from last season. “I think they’re really going to come through and do well.”

After only one full practice session, Fosberg describes her team as comparable to last year’s badminton team which came in third in the conference last season.

Skyline’s badminton team has had great success in the past with a former Olympic stand-by and a national champion from Hong Kong on prior teams. “But those people don’t walk in your door everyday”, Fosberg said.

Fosberg and her team will also have to deal with a new scoring system initiated by the International Badminton Federation (IBF). The new scoring system is called “rally scoring” and was implemented by the IBF in order to make matches more easily televised. Although it’s been a controversial subject, Skyline has to abide by IBF rules. The same scoring system has also recently been applied to volleyball.

Their first regular season game is March 20 at San Francisco City College, which is part of the four member conference that includes Mission College, Fresno City College and Skyline.

“We’d love to get people to come out and watch”, said Fosberg, “It’s a fast paced exciting game.”