Three years ago, Michael Buxton was looking for something different. He’d been an assistant coach for the Del Norte High track and cross country teams, but he wanted his own team.

“I asked the athletic director if we had any head coaching openings,” said Buxton, who teaches business. “She said ‘how about beach volleyball?’ I said ‘no, thanks.’ Then she said she had been getting a lot of interest in starting a badminton team, would I be interested?

“When I was in high school, I played badminton — I was the worst player on the team — but that seemed like a good fit. To tell you the truth, playing badminton saved my life, it’s a journey, it gave me direction.”

Buxton did what he is asking his players to do — stick with it. By the time he was a senior at Santa Rosa Montgomery High, he and his teammate won the league doubles title.

But little did he know when he accepted the job that a couple of freshmen, Mihir Thaha and Pradyun Gowda, were among the 40 to 50 players who answered the call. The first year they teamed up to win the section and Southern California Regional boys’ double titles.

Last year, ninth-grader Meghana Nishant, who also brought previous experience, was one of 75 candidates. She and Thaha teamed up to win the section mixed doubles title while Gowda rolled to the boys’ singles crown.

Both Gowda and the team of Thaha and Nishant earned third place honors in the SoCals.

Although the Nighthawks gave section powerhouse Patrick Henry a scare in the section team championships, the Patriots came through to win, 10-7.

This year, more than 100 potential badminton players tried out, and Buxton said those are the kinds of numbers he and player development coach Joseph Tsang are looking for to have competitive varsity, junior varsity and a couple of novice teams.

Buxton says the players range from novices to veterans like Thaha, who started playing 10 years ago after watching the 2016 Olympic Games.

“I was in the third grade and I loved it,” said the 5-foot-8, 165-pound Thaha, who also played tennis and basketball, which he dropped when one of his coaches told him that if he kept playing all three, he’d be good but not be great at any of them.

“I wanted to be great, and badminton was the most fun. Now, I practice 20 to 30 hours a week and sometimes 30 to 40 in the summer. My parents are from India and when we go there to visit, I find a training center to practice.”

Thaha sad it’s the speed of the game that attracted him and since it’s even faster in doubles, he favors that.

“It’s the pace of doubles that I like and splitting the court makes it smaller,” he explained. “In badminton there is a lot of anticipation. When I’m playing someone I’ve never played against, I usually have some long volleys the first 11 points or so to get an idea what that opponent does best.

“You would think scouting opponents would be good, but that player may not play the same way against you. No two opponents are the same, so you have to be able to adjust. You study your opponent and start to anticipate what they’re going to do.”

It works out well because since Thaha prefers doubles, he was more than happy to team with Nishant last season while Gowda stepped in to win the singles title.

Another reason he chose doubles was two months before the season he jumped and landed wrong, breaking the navicular bone in his foot. He was on crutches and a boot for seven weeks, but he got back in time to team up with Nishant for the section mixed doubles title and repeat as section boys’ doubles titlist with Gowda.

He’s back at 100 percent and hopes the Nighthawks can challenge Patrick Henry.

“We beat a good Canyon Hills team in the semifinals,” Thaha said. “If we play our cards right, we should be in good shape.”

Buxton said this group is tighter and louder than any he’s heard.

“As a team, they’re a community and that’s one of the things I wanted to develop,” he said. “Sports are like life and you can learn so much. It’s a physical activity, which students need.”

At the end of each practice, the Nighthawks gather together and shout, “Nighthawks on me, Nighthawks on three, 1-2-3 Nighthawks!”

“I’ve never heard any team cheer as loud as they cheer,” he said proudly.