Badminton has a rich history in the United States. The first
badminton club in this country, the Badminton Club of New York, was
formed in 1878 and became a weekend meeting place for New York's
society leaders. Badminton's popularity boomed in the 1930s as
educational institutions, YMCAs, and hundreds of newly formed clubs
offered badminton instruction. Also spurring the sport's popularity
in the 1930s was the avid play by several Hollywood personalities
including James Cagney, Bette Davis, Boris Karloff, Dick Powell,
Ginger Rogers, Joan Crawford, and Douglas Fairbanks. The American
Badminton Association was organized in 1936 (changed to USBA in
1978), when Donald Wilbur, Robert McMillan, and twins Donald and
Phillip Richardson, all of Brookline, Massachusetts, decided to
unite the nation's various badminton groups. Programs from New York,
Massachusetts, Chicago, and the West Coast came together to form one
voice and standardize rules and regulations of the game. The ABA
held its first National Championships in 1937, and became a member
of the International Badminton Federation (IBF) in 1938. The year
1949 brought the United States its first world champions as David
Freeman of Pasadena, California, won men's singles at the
prestigious All-England Championships (considered the unofficial
world championships until 1977 when World Championships were
instituted). Americans Clinton and Patsy Stevens won the All-England
mixed doubles title the same year.

The United States?international success continued. Between 1949 and
1967, the United States won 23 world individual championships (one
men's singles, 12 women's singles, one men's doubles, eight women's
doubles, and one mixed doubles) and three women's world team
championships. The U.S. men's team was also world runner-up during
this period. Sports Illustrated acknowledged the United States?
badminton success by featuring top male player Joe Alston on the
cover of its March 7, 1955 issue.

The number of U.S. clubs declined slightly in the 1970s; however,
high school and collegiate play expanded.

Nearly 2,700 members belong to the USBA (as of September 1995). The
USBA estimates there are thousands more recreational badminton
players in the United States. The Sporting Goods Manufacturers
Association (SGMA) reports in its 1993 study that 300,000 people
play badminton weekly in the United States, and 760,000 people call
badminton their favorite sport.

The USBA in 1991 moved its National Office from Papillion, Nebraska,
to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Currently the USBA has six staff members, including two national
coaches. The USBA's mission is to serve as the national governing
body of the sport, to increase participation in the sport, to
provide the highest possible quality of service to its members, and
to achieve outstanding performance in international competition.

The USBA solidified its commitment to improve international
performance by forming the Olympic Player Development Committee in
1993. The USBA High Performance Plan, drafted in April 1994, is a
detailed, comprehensive plan to achieve Olympic medals by the 2004
Games. Integral parts of that plan include establishing a resident
training program at the Olympic Training Center and acquiring a
fulltime internationally recognized National Coach -- both of which
the USBA accomplished in 1994.

In accordance with this mission, the USBA sends players to the World
Championships, Sudirman Cup (world mixed team championship), Thomas
Cup and Uber Cup (world men's and women's team championships,
respectively), World Junior Championships, and Pan American Games.
Major U.S. competitions conducted by the USBA include the annual
U.S. National Championships, U.S. Junior National Championships, and
U.S. Senior National Championships, and the U.S. Open.

The USBA's goals leading up to 1996 and beyond reflect its
commitment to supporting U.S. badminton athletes in their quest for
increased international success.