Annually, UCLA Badminton gets to compete against other collegiate teams like UCSD, UCI, USC, etc. in the Southern California Collegiate Badminton League (SCCBL) striving for top rankings, and securing a spot in the Yonex National Collegiate Team Badminton Championships Division 1 Playoff, scheduled for April 11-12 in Naperville, Illinois this year.
Each SCCBL meet features competition against three different colleges, with matches spanning five events: Women's Singles, Men's Singles, Women's Doubles, Men's Doubles, and Mixed Doubles. UCLA typically sends two representatives per event, allowing the team members to showcase their range of play styles across all events.
"I thought the league meets were a well-run series of events and a great opportunity to meet players from other schools. Coming from Singapore, it was also nice to get a feel for the Badminton scene in California and the players here. It was great receiving coaching from my upperclassmen on the court, and I look forward to watching their performance at nationals." - Jake Alesi, 1st Year Competitive Team Member
The season kicked off at UC San Diego during the fall quarter, where UCLA built early momentum with a string of consistent victories. That energy carried straight into the winter quarter when Meets 3 and 4 were hosted at UCLA, providing a special opportunity for the team to compete and close out the season on home courts!
Throughout these meets, players competed to accumulate team points and determine overall standings within the league, with different lineups contributing key wins throughout the season. This year, UCLA Badminton delivered an exceptional performance yet again, going undefeated with a 12-0 record, securing the top overall ranking, and guaranteeing the team a place in the Division 1 National Playoff Bracket.
"​​It's always great to see all these schools come together to compete. This year, two meets were organized by UCSD and the other two by us, and we had a great turnout at all four. Badminton isn't an NCAA sport, but people care so much about it that we still find ways to come together and play, and this year was no exception. I'm really looking forward to seeing what nationals brings." - Annabelle Zhang, Events Coordinator
At Nationals, UCLA will compete against other top collegiate teams from different conferences across the country, including but not limited to NorCal, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic regions, etc., to ultimately determine the best collegiate badminton team in the country–a title that UCLA proudly earned last year!
"Coming into the school year, we were missing a few key players that had helped us win nationals last year. However, our team managed to continue our success from the previous year, getting first place in the Socal Collegiate Badminton Circle and securing a spot for Nationals. I'm extremely proud of our team's relentless fighting spirit, and I hope we continue this momentum into Nationals to win a consecutive gold medal." - Andrew Wang, Team Captain
We are incredibly grateful to all of our competitive team members who dedicated their time, energy, and effort throughout the season. For every meet, our players consistently showed up ready to compete and represent the team. Their resilience, sportsmanship, and commitment across all four meets made this undefeated season possible. As we head to Nationals, we're excited to carry this competitive edge forward and proudly represent UCLA on the national stage!
Good luck to the following players representing us at Nationals this year:
Alice Wang, Rena Chen, Ellen Zulkarnain, Joline Siu, Annabelle Zhang, Alex Young, Kathleen Laura Emperador, Helen Feng
Ryan Ma, Samuel W. Li, Daniel Zhou, Daniel Bielin, Andrew Wang, Matthew Li, Austin Mao, Samuel J. Li
