Edina High School Girls’ Badminton gained its first state championship in 2023 after being established 12 years prior, and it has achieved a state championship every year since then, currently holding three titles. The team flourished under their last head coach, Steve Henke, and assistant Margo Henke. But this year, a new head coach has stepped in. Now continuing to carry the state title will lie in the hands of Zoe Chan.
Like prior coaches, Chan’s goal is to win as many games as possible. She believes many things can be learned through badminton beyond just athletic skills.
“There are lots of different skills you could develop, such as leadership, collaboration, and organization skills,” Chan said, “just different types of soft skills that you could learn from sports and leverage those skills in your college life or even in your career life.”
Team members are also looking forward to what Chan has in store for their team. So far, their preseason training has been going well. Chan invited Minnesota’s top player, Reuben Tan, to one of their practices to help the team.
“She’s my coach outside of school, and she’s really, really nice,” sophomore Evelyn Ge said. “She’s a really good coach, and she has good resources… and good connections.”
“[Our old coaches] didn’t really know how to play, so they couldn’t really coach us on the skills,” Ge said.
“Most of the time it was just [the captains] conducting the skills and the warm-ups before practice,” senior and captain Aarushi Bhatnagar said.
The new head coach is bringing many new ideas to the team with her vast experience. Chan has coached other high school-level leagues previously. Additionally, she brought students to major tournaments such as the U.S. National Junior Badminton tournament.
“If a player is in a tough match and loses that match, but they have tried their best, they have put forth all their skills into the game. Is it a bad thing? It is not. It is something that you could learn, and you could actually come back stronger the next time…” Chan said. “We want to win, and we will do our best however we can, and do whatever we can to maintain that state champ status in the state tournament.”
This piece was originally published in Zephyrus’ print edition on April 9, 2026
