For the pre-IB sophomore Nicole Go, after school extracurriculars are natural. When she’s not playing tennis or working on robotics in the fall, or marching for the Armijo Super Band in winter, she’s working on her skills for the school’s badminton team. “It’s really fun playing with my friends after school and it’s something to look forward to every day,” she said. “The game itself is exhilarating and noticing any improvement is really satisfying. The team is like a supportive family as well, even with 42 people.” It is clear that Go is very close to her teammates and listens to her coach and upperclassmen for advice. She mentioned that some of her favorite memories were getting to ride the party bus for two games and singing songs together. The team also spent a lot of time together in the health room before games and drank the Boba.

She first joined badminton as a freshman. “I wanted to be more outgoing and join a sport because I thought it’d be a fun high school experience. I also did it because I wanted to be healthier and a lot of my friends joined as well,” she said. Even when it is not badminton season, Go can be seen practicing on her own time. Not only does she practice by playing and doing drills, but she’s also practices mentally, preparing herself before a game, especially a singles game. “In order to prepare for the season, I tried to practice and learn as much strategy as I could,” said Go. Her biggest motivation to practice is to improve her game. She hopes to accomplish something in the sport later on. In addition, the challenge the sport brings makes it a fun sport to play in her free time.

Her advice to a student contemplating becoming an athlete would be to “try at least one sport in high school to experience all of its benefits.” In addition, she said, “If you think you’d regret not joining a specific sport, than you should join the sport no matter how much hesitation and overthinking you might have. It might be scary at first but it’s all worth it in the end because it’s a great opportunity that provides you with fun, challenges to push yourself, health, a supportive team of friends, and memories.” Go obviously shows no regrets, and is rather enjoying the sport she didn’t know she was joining last season.

When comparing singles and doubles, Nicole Go prefers doubles because she likes working on communication with her doubles partner. She said, “I also get to develop a teamwork bond with my partner. A partner can also support you and give you feedback on your strengths and weaknesses.”

Besides badminton, her hobbies include playing instruments like saxophone and piano, origami, and any sort of puzzles. She’s involved with her community through Key Club and National Honor Society. As for her future career, she is not sure yet, but she plans on somewhere in the STEM or medical field. Of course, she still has two more years of high school, and it helps that she is in the College & Career Club at Armijo. Some of her dream schools include UCLA, UC Irvine, USC, and Stanford. Even though she’s unsure about playing badminton competitively in college, she will most definitely play for fun on her downtime.

While Go does not have a favorite celebrity badminton player, she looks up to many upperclassmen on the team. Some of her role models are her older brother and parents. Her older brother was involved in water polo, swim and dive, cross country, wrestling, and track during high school. Although the standards to be like her brother are high, she strives to be the best she can be and have no regrets during her high school experience.