It started as a way to spend extra time with her sister.

“I just love that sport because it reminds me of all the fun times I had playing with her,” said Tina Chen.

What You Need To Know

  • Tina learned to love badminton starting with weekends in the park playing with her sister

  • Now as a captain, she hopes to inspire her teammates the way her sister inspired her. Pushing them to try new skills and helping them improve their technique

  • Tina learned a lot about dedication when she picked up table tennis and didn't enjoy it at first. After putting in the work she came to love that sport as well

Gathering with family on the weekend to smash the birdie back and forth. But soon this hobby became a passion for Tina Chen.

“My sister, she’s like my main inspiration,” Chen said.

Chen enrolled at Queens High School for Language Studies at her sister’s suggestion, quickly joining the badminton team.

“I do not regret transferring here because I’ve made so many new friends and I’ve gotten close with my guidance counselor,” Chen commented.

Her guidance counselor, who is also her badminton coach, was the inspiration behind Chen’s decision to pick up another sport, table tennis.

“She’s such a good role model for other people playing as well. So they follow her lead a lot. So I had to get her on my team," Jeffrey Ku, the girl's table tennis coach, commented.

“I think it’s really inspiring because when I first started playing the sport, I just felt really frustrated and I didn’t even want to play the sport anymore but then my coach was like, “Keep trying, keep swinging, and eventually you’ll get it. And I learned to love the sport,” Chem laughed.

The determination to never give up pushed this high school senior to excel across the board. Her four advanced placement courses keep her busy in between practices. She’s also trying to perfect her Mandarin in an effort to erase the language barrier between her parents and some of her teammates.

Chen captains the badminton team, pushing her teammates to do their very best.

“It’s like one of those big sister moments. ‘If you need something I’m here. If you want to talk about something, I’m also here,” Chen said.

Inspiring her coach and teammates alike.

“She’s willing to try new things, fix it, work on it and then try to make her teammates do the same thing. So it’s her, it’s all her, at all her aptitude," said Jeffrey Ku, who also coaches the badminton team.

Chen heads to Boston University in the fall where she is looking forward to learning, leading, and playing on a new badminton team.