story by Laurie McLaughlin
image by Jeanne Hill
Howard Bach is the first to admit that most of us think of badminton as a backyard sport. "Typically, Americans think of it as a weekend cookout activity where we play with a Miller Light in one hand and the racket in the other," Bach says.
But Bach '07 (B.A. business administration-finance) plays badminton professionally, and he is ranked in the international Top 20 and ranked No. 1 in both doubles and mixed doubles in the United States. He averages two competitions a week and participates in months-long tournaments around the world in his quest to compete in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games.
At the Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2007, Bach took home both gold and silver medals; he won bronze in the 2006 China Masters. At the World Championships in Anaheim in 2005, Bach was the champion, and took home the gold. "That's the victory I'm most proud of, of course. It was a dream come true because I was victorious in front of 9,000 Americans," he says.
His father, a Vietnamese immigrant, encouraged him to play when Bach was just 6 years old. He now lives in Orange and trains at the Orange County Badminton Club. As a sponsor of the Games, Home Depot employs Bach part-time but pays him a full-time salary so that he may compete. "I love the sport because it demands lightning-quick reflexes, endurance and tremendous flexibility," says Bach. "Did you know that the fastest clocked speed of badminton shuttle is 207 miles per hour? I'm not joking, and I can get it to around 190."
Howard Bach
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