I was about to take the court against ISU women’s basketball guard Bridget Carleton.

And it wasn’t in basketball. It was in badminton. 

As Carleton and I stood next to the court, our stark differences became apparent. 

Carleton was a multi-sport athlete in her native of Canada. She excelled in basketball but succeeded in badminton, track and field, hockey and volleyball in high school. Her athleticism far exceeded mine and her height almost matched. 

Then there’s me: an out-of-shape sports journalists who spends more time running down an interview than on a track. 

I stepped on the badminton court outlined by red tape and looked at Carleton behind the net. At that moment, I was struck with a mixture of excitement and nervousness.  

The excitement: I haven’t played badminton since high school, where I finished runner-up my senior year in my physical education class. In seventh grade, one of my best friends and I were badminton champions, but those were in the glory days. I was ready to bring those memories back. 

The nervousness: I was going against Carleton, who is a far better athlete than me and a champion in the sport. She is listed at 6 foot 1, an inch shorter than me, but an inch that she more than makes up for with superb hand-eye coordination.

A self-proclaimed, high school physical education all-star, this was showdown that, although I knew I wouldn’t win, I thought I could put up a fight in. 

During the pregame warmups, the birdie flew through the air at what seemed like 100 mph, but I’m sure it was at most 40.

I was trying my hardest in warmups, and I thought that she was trying hard as well. 

The thwack of the racket connecting with the birdie filled the air as we rallied for about a minute at a time.

At this point, I felt confident. If I could hang with her warmups, I should be able to keep up in the real game.

That confidence soared after a particularly long rally. That’s when I hastily decided to start the game. 

But I was wrong. 

I wish I had known that a warmup for her was, well, a warmup. 

I threw the birdie up in the air and readied to underhand it over the net for the first serve. As it approached Carleton’s side, I saw her eyes light up. It was at that moment that I knew this wasn’t going to end well for me.

Spike. Carleton laughed. 

That couldn’t have gone any worse.

I attempted a few more serves but ended up with the same result. 

“When I played, we tried to hit it to the back of the square so we couldn’t just spike it like that,” Carleton said, trying to be kind, but I could tell the advice was beginner’s knowledge. 

I could do that — or at least, that’s what I thought.

I experimented with the new shot, and it worked to an extent. I was able to hit the birdie back for the first time, but Carleton stymied my enthusiasm when she hit a perfect shot to the corner of the court.

“That’s in, isn’t it?” I asked, halfway hoping to receive a break.

“Yep,” she said with a small smile.

The next 5 minutes went like this: me running around the court frantically trying hit the birdie. And her standing in the center of the court, barely moving for her shot. 

There were a few plays that were vintage seventh-grade me, but they were few and far between.

While picking myself off the ground multiple times and chasing the birdie all this time, I developed my winning strategy: Wear her down so I could eventually grab some points.

But, that was wishful thinking. This is a Division I basketball player who doesn’t tire easily.

“This will be a good warmup for basketball practice,” Carleton said, erasing all comeback hopes. 

That dream was crushed.

***

Carleton started her badminton career in the sixth grade.

A native of Chatham, Ontario, Carleton was always an all-around athlete. She played on the volleyball, badminton, track and field, hockey and basketball teams in high school.

She hopped on the badminton team for John McGregor Secondary after playing in elementary school. The team was an equivalent of a varsity team in U.S. high school sports.

She originally joined badminton for fun, but it became one of her most proficient sports.

Carleton and her doubles partner, Ashley Herfst, were as competitive as could be when it came to playing other teams.

“We were pretty tough with it,” Carelton said. “We sure did not like losing.”

And they didn’t lose much when they played.

In the ninth grade, the pair won the Lambton Kent Secondary School Athletic Association (LKSSAA) title. The two split in the 10th grade after Carleton moved up to the senior team to play with her sister, Sarah, but it was back to their usual winning ways when they reunited in their junior seasons.

They won the LKSSAA title once again and went on to win the regional championship. In their senior seasons, they won the LKSSAA championship but placed third in regionals.

“It’s pretty competitive,” Herfst said in a skype interview. “When you get to the level of [regionals], it definitely gets a little more competitive. Maybe in Chatham specifically it isn’t, but once you get up there it’s such a fast sport that people underestimate.”

Badminton also offered Carleton a chance to perfect footwork and hand-eye coordination for basketball, which was her main focus.

“Basketball is a lot of hand-eye coordination, it’s a lot of footwork and agility that are important,” Carleton said. “The footwork and agility is almost as important in badminton so it helped in badminton and basketball.”

Carleton and Herfst were as close as could be and still talk almost every day while the two are in different countries.

Although Herfst still plays badminton at Charleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Carleton doesn’t play at Iowa State.

She hadn’t played badminton since April before facing me in late October, which made me feel great about my crushing defeat.

***

For the final 10 minutes or so of our game, we decided to wrap up the session with a first-to-10 game. I didn’t have much hope after my dismal performance.

At this point, I had beads of sweat coming down my forehead.

The first six points went much like the rest of the game — all Carleton. But then it was time for some luck to come my way.

I hit a soaring birdie off the end of my racket, promptly creating a metal twang sound from the aluminum hitting the hard part of the birdie.

The birdie just crept over the net and fell in front of a lunging Carleton. It was finally a point, and I pulled within five: 6-1.

My excitement was shortly quelled as Carleton returned and won all four of the last points, the last one landing right on the line.

“That one’s in,” Carleton said. She seemed happy with her blowout victory. 

I was defeated, but at least I got one.

After we shook hands under the net, she left for 2-3 hours of basketball practice, and I left with two sore hamstrings.