Three years ago, Michael Buxton was looking for something different.
He had been an assistant coach for the Del Norte High School track and cross country programs, but he wanted his own team.
“I asked the athletic director if we had any head coaching openings,” said Buxton, who teaches business classes at Del Norte. “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.”
Del Norte Badminton coach Michael Buxton talks to his team before a game against Vista April 13, 2026 in Poway, Calif. (Photo by Denis Poroy)
Buxton did what he’s asking his players to do. He stuck with it. By the time he was a senior at Santa Rosa’s Montgomery High School, he and his teammate won the league doubles title.
Little did he know when he accepted the job at Del Norte that a couple of freshmen, Mihir Thaha and Pradyun Gowda, were among the 40 to 50 players who answered the tryout call.
The first year, Thaha and Gowda teamed to win the CIF San Diego Section and Southern California Regional boys double titles.
Last year, Meghana Nishant teamed with Thaha to win the San Diego Section mixed doubles title, while Gowda rolled to the boys singles championship.
This year, more than 100 potential players tried out. 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.
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,” Thaha said.
He also played tennis and basketball, but dropped basketball when one of his coaches told him that if he kept playing all three sports, he’d be good but not be great at any of them.
“I wanted to be great, and badminton was the most fun,” Thana said. “Now, I practice 20-30 hours a week and sometimes 30-40 in the summer. My parents are from India and when we go there to visit, I find a training center to practice.”
Del Norte’s Meghana Nshant plays during a high school badminton game against Vista April 13, 2026 in Poway, Calif. (Photo by Denis Poroy)
In early April, Thaha and Nishant advanced to the mixed doubles quarterfinals of the YONEX U.S. Selection Event for the Pan Am Junior Championships and World Junior Championships in Boston. They finished one win short of being considered for the team.
Gowda played well but was eliminated earlier.
Thaha said the speed of the game is what attracted him. 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 said. “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.”
The Nighthawks are 7-0; 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 and shout, “Nighthawks on me! Nighthawks on three! One, two, three, Nighthawks!”
“I’ve never heard any team cheer as loud as they cheer,” Buxton said.